Polis melihat tahanan itu.

Malay usually does not use articles like English the and a/an.

So:

• polis can mean police, a police officer, or the police, depending on context.
• tahanan can mean a detainee/prisoner or the detainee/prisoner, again depending on context.

In this sentence, itu helps make tahanan itu more specific, so it often feels like that detainee or the detainee.

In Malay, demonstratives like ini (this) and itu (that) usually come after the noun.

So:

• tahanan itu = that detainee / the detainee
• rumah itu = that house
• buku ini = this book

This is normal Malay word order.

It can feel like either one in translation.

Literally, itu means that, but in many real sentences it also helps make a noun definite, so English may translate it as the.

So:

• tahanan itu can be understood as that detainee
• or more naturally in some contexts, the detainee

The exact English choice depends on context.

It can be a little flexible.

polis is the normal Malay word for police. Depending on context, it may refer to:

• a police officer
• the police
• police officers in general

If you want to be very explicit about one officer, Malay often uses:

• seorang polis = a police officer

So this sentence could be interpreted as:

• A police officer sees/saw that detainee
• or The police see/saw that detainee

Context decides.

Lihat is the root word meaning see.
Melihat is the verb form built with the prefix meN-.

This prefix often marks an active verb, especially in more standard or formal Malay.

So:

• lihat = root
• melihat = to see / sees / saw

In everyday casual speech, people may sometimes use the shorter root form, but melihat is the standard full verb form.

It forms an active verb.

In a sentence like Polis melihat tahanan itu, the subject (polis) is doing the action. That is why the active verb form melihat is used.

A very simple way to think about it:

• lihat = the basic idea see
• melihat = to see, used as the main active verb in a sentence

This is extremely common in Malay:

• baca → membaca = read
• dengar → mendengar = hear/listen
• tulis → menulis = write

Malay verbs do not usually change form for tense the way English verbs do.

So melihat by itself can mean:

• see
• sees
• saw
• sometimes even is seeing

The time is usually understood from context, or shown with time words such as:

• semalam = yesterday
• sekarang = now
• esok = tomorrow
• sudah/telah = already
• akan = will

So without extra context, Polis melihat tahanan itu is tense-neutral.

Malay usually uses word order very clearly.

In this sentence:

• Polis = subject, the doer
• melihat = verb
• tahanan itu = object, the person being seen

So the pattern is:

Subject + Verb + Object

That means:

• Polis melihat tahanan itu = The police / a police officer sees/saw that detainee not
• That detainee sees/saw the police

Not with this word order.

Because Malay normally uses subject–verb–object, polis is understood as the one doing the seeing.

If you wanted The detainee sees the police, you would say:

• Tahanan itu melihat polis

So in this sentence, the order matters a lot.

Tahanan usually means someone who is being held, such as a:

• detainee
• prisoner
• person in custody

The best English translation depends on context.
In many learning examples, detainee is a good neutral choice.

It comes from the idea of being held or detained.

It sounds neutral to fairly standard.

The verb melihat is a normal standard Malay verb form. In more casual speech, speakers may sometimes choose simpler or more conversational wording, but this sentence is completely natural as a standard example.

So it is a good sentence for learning basic grammar.

Not exactly.

Both can relate to seeing, but they are used a bit differently.

• melihat = to look at / to see in a deliberate or neutral sense
• nampak = to be visible / to seem / to notice / can see

For example:

• Saya melihat burung itu = I saw/looked at that bird
• Saya nampak burung itu = I saw/could see that bird

In many contexts they overlap, but melihat is the clearer basic transitive verb here.

You usually put tidak before the verb.

So:

• Polis tidak melihat tahanan itu. = The police / police officer did not see that detainee or does not see that detainee

If you are negating a noun phrase rather than a verb, Malay often uses bukan, but for this sentence tidak is the right choice.

A very common way is to add Adakah at the beginning:

• Adakah polis melihat tahanan itu? = Did the police see that detainee? / Does the police officer see that detainee?

In speech, Malay can also rely on intonation:

• Polis melihat tahanan itu?

But Adakah is the clearer textbook-style way.