Mana tahu tembikar retak dan rapuh itu masih cantik.

Because mana tahu is an idiomatic expression. You should not interpret it word by word here.

In this sentence, mana tahu works like:

• who knows
• you never know
• perhaps
• it may turn out that

So although mana often relates to where / which, the phrase mana tahu has its own fixed meaning in everyday Malay.

A close alternative is siapa tahu, which also means who knows.

No. In this sentence, it is being used as a statement, not a real question.

It expresses possibility or surprise, similar to:

• Who knows, that cracked and brittle pottery may still be beautiful.
• You never know, that cracked and brittle pottery might still be beautiful.

So even though tahu means to know, the whole sentence is declarative in meaning.

That is normal Malay word order.

In Malay, adjectives usually come after the noun:

• rumah besar = big house
• bunga cantik = beautiful flower
• tembikar retak dan rapuh = cracked and brittle pottery

So English often does:

• adjective + noun

but Malay often does:

• noun + adjective

That is why you get tembikar retak dan rapuh, not the equivalent of retak dan rapuh tembikar.

Itu is the demonstrative that, but in Malay it usually comes at the end of the noun phrase.

So:

• tembikar retak dan rapuh itu

means:

• that cracked and brittle pottery
• or sometimes simply the cracked and brittle pottery, depending on context

This placement is very normal in Malay:

• rumah besar itu = that big house
• lelaki tua itu = that old man

So itu comes after the noun and its descriptive words, not before them.

Because in Malay, the demonstrative usually comes after the entire noun phrase, not just after the noun alone.

So the structure is:

• tembikar = noun
• retak dan rapuh = modifiers
• itu = demonstrative

Together:

• tembikar retak dan rapuh itu

This is the normal pattern:

• kereta merah itu = that red car
• buku lama itu = that old book

Putting itu after all the modifiers is standard Malay noun phrase order.

Yes, you could.

Tembikar yang retak dan rapuh itu is also grammatical and may sound a bit more explicit or slightly more formal.

Compare:

• tembikar retak dan rapuh itu
• tembikar yang retak dan rapuh itu

The version with yang makes the descriptive part feel more like a relative clause: the pottery that is cracked and brittle.

The version without yang is more compact. In many contexts, both are acceptable, but yang can make the relationship clearer.

Malay often leaves out the verb to be in sentences like this.

So where English says:

• the pottery is still beautiful

Malay can simply say:

• tembikar itu masih cantik

There is no need for a separate word meaning is here.

This is very common in Malay with adjectives and noun-based predicates:

• Dia cantik = She is beautiful
• Rumah itu besar = That house is big
• Tembikar itu masih cantik = That pottery is still beautiful

Masih means still.

It shows that something continues to be true despite expectations or despite some change. Here it suggests:

• even though it is cracked and brittle, it remains beautiful

So masih cantik means:

• still beautiful
• beautiful nevertheless

That word is important because it creates the contrast between the damage and the remaining beauty.

In this sentence, yes, they are functioning as descriptive words.

• retak = cracked
• rapuh = brittle / fragile
• cantik = beautiful / pretty

Malay words are often flexible, so some can function in more than one way depending on context. For example:

• retak can describe a state: cracked
• it can also be part of a verbal idea in other contexts: to crack / become cracked

But here, all three are describing the pottery.

It depends on context. Malay nouns usually do not show singular/plural the way English does.

So tembikar can refer to:

• a piece of pottery
• pottery as a material/object category
• pottery items in general

In this sentence, many learners will naturally understand it as that piece of cracked and brittle pottery, but the exact number is not marked by the noun itself.

Malay often leaves number to context unless it really needs to be specified.

It is grammatical and understandable, but it has a slightly compact, polished feel.

A more conversational version might be something like:

• Mana tahu, tembikar itu masih cantik walaupun retak dan rapuh.

That version makes the contrast more explicit with walaupun (although / even though).

The original sentence is still fine, but it compresses the description into the noun phrase tembikar retak dan rapuh itu, which can feel a little more literary or written.

It gives a sense of possibility, unexpectedness, or openness.

The speaker is basically saying:

• Don’t rule it out
• It might still be the case
• You never know

So the sentence does not sound like a firm claim. It sounds more like the speaker is gently suggesting that appearances may be misleading.