Dia tidak mahu menyakiti saya.

he/she

Breakdown of Dia tidak mahu menyakiti saya.

• mahu: to want
• tidak: not
• saya: me

Questions & Answers about Dia tidak mahu menyakiti saya.

Why does dia mean both he and she?

In Malay, dia is a third-person singular pronoun that does not show gender. So dia can mean he or she, and context tells you which one is meant.

For example, if you already know the person being talked about is a woman, then dia means she. If it is a man, it means he.

Why is tidak used here instead of bukan?

Tidak is used to negate verbs and adjectives, while bukan is mainly used to negate nouns or noun phrases.

In this sentence, mahu is a verb-like word meaning want, so the correct negation is tidak:

• dia tidak mahu = he/she does not want

You would not normally say dia bukan mahu here.

A simple rule:

• tidak
  • verb/adjective
• bukan
  • noun

What does mahu mean, and is it the same as ingin?