Pengecut itu sangat takut.

In Malay, demonstratives like ini and itu usually come after the noun.

• pengecut itu = that coward
• rumah itu = that house

So the order is different from English. Malay says noun + itu, not that + noun.

Also, in real usage, itu can sometimes feel closer to the than to strongly emphatic that, depending on context.

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

So:

• Pengecut itu sangat takut. literally: That coward very afraid.

Malay does not need a separate word for is here. This is completely normal.

They are related, but they are not the same.

• pengecut = coward, a person who is cowardly
• takut = afraid / scared, a feeling or state

So pengecut labels the person, while takut describes how the person feels.

The sentence is basically saying that the coward is very scared.

A little, yes—but it is still understandable and grammatical.

It can sound like:

• The coward is very afraid
• That coward is really scared

The idea is that a person who is already described as a coward is, in this situation, very frightened. So it is not wrong; it just has some semantic overlap.

Sangat means very.

It intensifies the word that follows it:

• sangat takut = very afraid

This is a very common pattern in Malay:

• sangat besar = very big
• sangat baik = very good
• sangat letih = very tired

Because in Malay, intensifiers like sangat usually come before the adjective or stative word they modify.

So:

• sangat takut = very afraid

That is the normal standard order.

Yes, you may hear takut sangat, especially in speech.

Both are understandable, but they can feel slightly different:

• sangat takut = more neutral / standard
• takut sangat = often more conversational or emphatic, like so scared

So Pengecut itu sangat takut is a good standard sentence.

In Malay, words like takut are often treated flexibly. In this sentence, it works as the predicate describing the subject’s state.

A useful way for English speakers to think about it is:

• takut here behaves like afraid

Since Malay does not need is, takut can stand directly after the subject:

• Dia takut = He/She is afraid

So you do not need to force a strict English-style adjective/verb distinction every time.

It can do both, depending on context.

Strictly speaking, itu is the demonstrative that. But in natural Malay, noun + itu often refers to something already known, identified, or specific, so in English it may be translated as:

• that coward
• the coward

So pengecut itu could be interpreted as either one, depending on the situation.

Malay does not use articles the way English does.

English needs words like:

• a
• an
• the

Malay usually does not. A bare noun can often work by itself, and words like itu can help make it specific.

So Malay expresses definiteness differently from English, not with a separate article system.

The structure is:

• Pengecut itu = subject
• sangat takut = predicate

So the pattern is basically:

• Subject + description/state

This is a very common Malay sentence type, especially when describing people or things.