Dia memutar roda tembikar dan membentuk tanah liat.

Yes. Dia can mean he or she. Malay third-person singular pronouns do not usually mark gender the way English does.

A few useful notes:

• dia = he/she
• Dia is common in everyday language.
• In more formal writing, you may also see ia for he/she/it, but dia is very common in speech and general writing.

So in this sentence, dia could refer to either a man or a woman.

Putar is the root word, meaning something like turn, spin, or rotate.

The form memutar is a verb made with the prefix meN-, which often creates an active verb. So:

• putar = turn / rotate / spin
• memutar = to turn / to spin something

In this sentence, dia memutar roda tembikar means the person is actively turning the pottery wheel.

This is very common in Malay:

• baca → membaca = read
• bentuk → membentuk = shape / form
• putar → memutar = turn / spin

This happens because of how the meN- prefix changes shape depending on the first sound of the root word.

With roots beginning with p, the p is usually dropped, and meN- becomes mem-.

So:

• putar → memutar
• pakai → memakai
• pilih → memilih

This is a normal sound pattern in Malay verb formation.

Roda means wheel, and tembikar relates to pottery or earthenware.

So roda tembikar means pottery wheel or potter’s wheel.

Malay often puts the main noun first and the describing noun after it. So:

• roda tembikar = literally wheel pottery
• natural English translation = pottery wheel

This noun order is very common in Malay.

In Malay, the usual pattern is:

noun + modifier

So the main thing comes first, and the word describing it comes after.

Examples:

• rumah kayu = wooden house
• air panas = hot water
• roda tembikar = pottery wheel

In English, we often put the describing word first, but Malay usually puts it after the noun.

Membentuk comes from the root bentuk, which means shape, form, or structure.

With the prefix meN-, it becomes an active verb:

• bentuk = shape / form
• membentuk = to shape / to form

So membentuk tanah liat means shaping the clay.

This is parallel to memutar:

• memutar = turning/spinning
• membentuk = shaping/forming

Literally:

• tanah = soil / earth / land
• liat = sticky / tough / plastic-like in texture

Together, tanah liat means clay.

So even though the literal parts may suggest something like sticky earth, the whole phrase is the normal Malay word for clay.

This is a fixed expression, so learners should remember tanah liat as one vocabulary item meaning clay.

Malay does not use articles like a, an, and the the way English does.

So:

• roda tembikar can mean a pottery wheel or the pottery wheel
• tanah liat can mean clay, the clay, or some clay

The exact meaning depends on context.

That is very normal in Malay. If the meaning has already been established, English may use the, but Malay often just uses the noun by itself.

Malay verbs do not change form for tense the way English verbs do. So memutar and membentuk do not themselves mean specifically is turning, turned, or will turn.

The sentence could be understood as:

• He/She turns...
• He/She is turning...
• He/She turned...

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

• sedang = currently / in the middle of
• sudah = already
• telah = already / has
• akan = will

For example:

• Dia sedang memutar roda tembikar... = He/She is turning the pottery wheel...
• Dia sudah memutar roda tembikar... = He/She has turned / already turned the pottery wheel...

So your sentence is neutral unless context tells you the time.

Because both actions have the same subject.

In English, we can say:

• She turns the pottery wheel and shapes the clay.

Malay works the same way. Once the subject dia has been stated, you do not need to repeat it before the second verb if it is still the same person doing both actions.

So:

• Dia memutar roda tembikar dan membentuk tanah liat.

is perfectly natural.

If you repeated dia, it would sound more emphatic or stylistically different:

• Dia memutar roda tembikar dan dia membentuk tanah liat.

That is possible, but less natural in a simple sentence like this.

Yes. Dan means and.

It joins:

• words
• phrases
• clauses

In this sentence, it joins two verb phrases:

• memutar roda tembikar
• membentuk tanah liat

So the structure is:

• Dia = subject
• memutar roda tembikar = first action
• dan
• membentuk tanah liat = second action

Very straightforwardly, dan works much like English and.

Yes, it is natural and grammatical.

It clearly describes one person doing two actions:

1. turning the pottery wheel
2. shaping the clay

The sentence is simple, standard Malay.

If you wanted to make the ongoing action even clearer, you could say:

• Dia sedang memutar roda tembikar dan membentuk tanah liat.

That would mean:

• He/She is turning the pottery wheel and shaping the clay.

But the original sentence is already perfectly fine.

Sometimes, yes, depending on style and context.

For example:

• tanah liat is the normal common term for clay
• In some contexts, other technical or regional words may exist, but tanah liat is the safest everyday choice

For pottery wheel, roda tembikar is understandable and natural. Depending on context, people might also use longer descriptive phrases, but roda tembikar works well for learners and in general usage.

So for this sentence, the vocabulary choices are good and standard.