Tanah liat ini lembut.

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

• tanah liat ini = this clay
• buku itu = that book

So Malay says something closer to clay this than this clay.

Because tanah liat is a fixed noun phrase meaning clay, ini comes after the whole phrase, not between the two words.

Word by word:

• tanah = earth, soil, land
• liat = sticky, tough, plastic-like

But together, tanah liat is a set phrase meaning clay.
So you should learn it as one vocabulary item, not just as two separate words combined freely.

Malay often does not use a verb like is/are in simple descriptive sentences.

So:

• Tanah liat ini lembut. literally: This clay soft. natural English: This clay is soft.

This is normal in Malay. When the predicate is an adjective, noun, or sometimes a phrase giving description or identity, Malay often leaves out a copula.

Yes. Lembut means soft, and here it functions as an adjective describing tanah liat ini.

The structure is:

• Tanah liat ini = subject
• lembut = adjective/predicate

So the sentence pattern is basically:

• [noun phrase] + [adjective]

Example:

• Air ini sejuk. = This water is cold.
• Kain itu lembut. = That cloth is soft.

No, that would not be the normal way to say it.

The natural order is:

• Tanah liat ini lembut.

Malay normally puts ini after the noun phrase it modifies.
So ini tanah liat sounds wrong for standard basic usage if you mean this clay.

It specifically means this clay.

Malay does not use articles like a, an, and the in the same way English does.
So:

• tanah liat can mean clay, the clay, or some clay, depending on context
• tanah liat ini clearly means this clay

The word ini makes the reference specific and near the speaker.

Not in this sentence structure.

In basic Malay, adjectives usually come after the noun when they directly modify it:

• tanah liat lembut = soft clay

But in your sentence, lembut is not just modifying the noun inside a noun phrase; it is the predicate of the whole sentence:

• Tanah liat ini lembut. = This clay is soft.

So the two patterns are:

• tanah liat lembut = soft clay
• tanah liat ini lembut = this clay is soft

Because it is the thing being talked about, and lembut gives information about it.

So:

• Tanah liat ini = what the sentence is about
• lembut = what is being said about it

This is a very common Malay sentence pattern:

• [subject] + [description]

For example:

• Rumah itu besar. = That house is big.
• Kopi ini panas. = This coffee is hot.

No explicit tense is marked here.

Tanah liat ini lembut can mean:

• This clay is soft
• This clay feels soft

Malay often leaves tense to context unless a time word or aspect marker is added.

For example:

• Tanah liat ini lembut semalam. = This clay was soft yesterday.
• Tanah liat ini akan lembut. = This clay will be soft.

So the base sentence itself is tenseless.

A simple approximate pronunciation is:

• tanah ≈ TAH-nah
• liat ≈ LEE-aht

A few notes:

• Malay pronunciation is usually fairly phonetic.
• t is a clear t sound.
• a is usually like the a in father, not the English day sound.
• In liat, the vowels are pronounced separately enough that it does not sound exactly like one English syllable.

Yes.

• Tanah liat ini lembut. = This clay is soft.
• Tanah liat itu lembut. = That clay is soft.

The sentence structure stays the same. Only the demonstrative changes:

• ini = this
• itu = that

It is a complete and natural Malay sentence. It is simple, but perfectly normal.

Malay often expresses ideas in a very compact way, so a short sentence like this is fully acceptable:

• Tanah liat ini lembut.

A native speaker would understand it immediately.