Kenderaan itu baru.

that

Breakdown of Kenderaan itu baru.

• baru: new
• kenderaan: a vehicle

Questions & Answers about Kenderaan itu baru.

Why is itu placed after kenderaan instead of before it?

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

So:

• kenderaan itu = that vehicle / the vehicle
• rumah ini = this house
• buku itu = that book

This is different from English, where this/that comes before the noun.

In this sentence, kenderaan itu refers to a specific vehicle already known from context, so it can mean either that vehicle or the vehicle, depending on the situation.

Does itu mean that or the here?

It can function like either one in translation, depending on context.

In Malay, itu literally means that, but in many sentences it also helps mark something as specific, so in natural English it may be translated as the.

So Kenderaan itu baru could be understood as:

• That vehicle is new
• The vehicle is new

Malay often does not make as sharp a distinction as English does here.

Why is there no word for is in the sentence?