Dia tertarik kepada cahaya terang itu.

In Malay, dia is a gender-neutral third-person singular pronoun. It can mean he, she, or sometimes even they in very informal context when the person is already clear.

So:

• Dia tertarik kepada cahaya terang itu could mean He is attracted to that bright light or She is attracted to that bright light.
• You only know the gender from context, not from the pronoun itself.

Here, tertarik means attracted, drawn, or interested.

In this sentence, it does not have to be romantic. It can simply mean that the person’s attention was drawn to something.

So Dia tertarik kepada cahaya terang itu means something like:

• He/She was attracted to that bright light
• He/She was drawn to that bright light

Yes. The root tarik means pull.

From that same root:

• menarik = attractive, interesting; also to pull
• tertarik = attracted, interested, drawn to

So the basic idea is that something seems to pull someone’s attention.

A very useful pair to remember is:

• menarik = interesting / attractive
• tertarik = interested / attracted

For example:

• Cahaya itu menarik. = That light is attractive/interesting.
• Dia tertarik kepada cahaya itu. = He/She is attracted to the light.

The prefix ter- can do several different things in Malay, so it is not always easy to translate with one fixed rule.

In tertarik, it helps form a state meaning be attracted / become attracted. In this sentence, it is best learned as a whole word: tertarik = attracted / interested.

Important point:
Although ter- sometimes gives meanings like accidentally or most, that is not what it means here.

So in this sentence, do not read tertarik as accidentally pulled. It is simply the normal word for being attracted/interested.

Kepada is the preposition meaning to / toward in many contexts, especially when the feeling or action is directed toward someone or something.

With tertarik, Malay commonly uses kepada:

• tertarik kepada sesuatu = attracted to something

So:

• Dia tertarik kepada cahaya terang itu = He/She is attracted to that bright light

For a learner, tertarik kepada is a very good pattern to memorize.

Yes, you may hear tertarik dengan in everyday speech, and many speakers use it naturally.

But there is a slight difference in feel:

• tertarik kepada is often taught as the more standard or careful form for attracted to
• tertarik dengan is very common in conversation and can sound a bit more informal

So both may occur, but if you want the safest textbook-style choice here, use tertarik kepada.

Because Malay usually puts the adjective after the noun.

So:

• cahaya = light
• terang = bright

Together:

• cahaya terang = literally light bright, but naturally bright light

This noun + adjective order is very normal in Malay:

• rumah besar = big house
• kereta merah = red car
• cahaya terang = bright light

In Malay, demonstratives such as ini and itu usually come after the noun phrase.

So:

• cahaya itu = that light
• cahaya terang itu = that bright light

This is the normal Malay pattern:

• noun + adjective + itu
• noun + adjective + ini

Compare:

• rumah besar itu = that big house
• buku baru ini = this new book

You do not need yang here.

A simple adjective normally comes directly after the noun:

• cahaya terang itu = that bright light

You can sometimes say:

• cahaya yang terang itu

but that sounds a bit heavier and more explicitly descriptive, almost like that light which is bright. In many everyday cases, just using the adjective directly is more natural.

So for a basic sentence, cahaya terang itu is perfectly fine.

Malay verbs do not change form for tense the way English verbs do.

So Dia tertarik kepada cahaya terang itu could mean:

• He/She is attracted to that bright light
• He/She was attracted to that bright light

The exact time usually comes from context, or from extra time words such as:

• sedang = in progress
• telah / sudah = already
• akan = will

Without those markers, the sentence is neutral about tense.

Literally, itu means that. But in real translation, it can also help make something definite, so in some contexts English may translate it more naturally as the.

So cahaya terang itu most directly means:

• that bright light

But depending on the situation, an English translation might sometimes be:

• the bright light

This happens because Malay and English handle definiteness differently. Malay does not have articles like the and a, so words like ini and itu often help identify a specific thing.

That would not sound right in standard Malay.

After tertarik, you normally need a preposition such as kepada:

• Dia tertarik kepada cahaya terang itu.

Without kepada, the sentence feels incomplete. So it is best to learn tertarik kepada as a set pattern.