Caj pembatalan itu mahal.

In Malay, you often do not need a verb like is/are when linking a noun to an adjective.

So:

• Caj pembatalan itu mahal
• literally: that cancellation fee expensive
• natural meaning: That cancellation fee is expensive / The cancellation fee is expensive

This is very normal in Malay. Adjectives can come directly after the noun phrase.

Caj means charge or fee. It is a loanword from English charge, but its spelling and pronunciation have been adapted to Malay.

Examples:

• caj perkhidmatan = service charge
• caj penghantaran = delivery fee
• caj pembatalan = cancellation fee

So in this sentence, caj is the main noun: fee/charge.

Pembatalan means cancellation.

It comes from the root batal, which means cancelled, invalid, or to cancel depending on context.

The form pem- ... -an often turns a root into a noun related to an action or process.

So:

• batal = cancelled / cancel
• pembatalan = cancellation

In caj pembatalan, the second noun describes the first one, so together it means cancellation fee.

In Malay, a noun that describes another noun often comes after the main noun.

So:

• caj pembatalan
• literally: fee cancellation
• natural English: cancellation fee

This is a common pattern in Malay:

• bilik hotel = hotel room
• kad kredit = credit card
• yuran pendaftaran = registration fee

English often puts the describing noun first, but Malay usually puts it second.

Itu usually means that, but in many sentences it can also make something feel more definite, like the in English.

So caj pembatalan itu can mean:

• that cancellation fee
• the cancellation fee

Which one sounds best depends on context.

If you are pointing out a specific fee, that cancellation fee fits well. If both speakers already know which fee is being discussed, the cancellation fee may sound more natural in English.

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

So:

• caj itu = that fee
• caj pembatalan itu = that cancellation fee

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

Compare:

• English: that house
• Malay: rumah itu

Mahal means expensive.

In Malay, adjectives usually come after the noun or noun phrase they describe.

So:

• caj pembatalan itu mahal
• literally: that cancellation fee expensive
• natural English: That cancellation fee is expensive

More examples:

• rumah besar = big house
• kereta mahal = expensive car
• makanan sedap = delicious food

So the basic pattern here is:

noun phrase + adjective

Yes, it is natural and correct.

Depending on context, Malay speakers might also say:

• Caj untuk pembatalan itu mahal. = The fee for cancellation is expensive.
• Yuran pembatalan itu mahal. = That cancellation fee is expensive.

The original sentence is concise and natural, especially in general or formal contexts.

A small vocabulary note:

• caj = charge/fee
• yuran = fee, often for official or structured payments

Both can work, but caj pembatalan is very common.

Yes. You could say:

• Caj pembatalan mahal.

This would mean something like:

• Cancellation fees are expensive
• The cancellation fee is expensive

Without itu, the phrase is less specific. It sounds more general or less anchored to a particular fee already known in the conversation.

Adding itu makes it more definite or points to a specific one.

Caj is usually pronounced roughly like charge without the final -rge sound, or more simply like chaj.

A simple English approximation is:

• caj ≈ chaj

Malay spelling is generally quite regular, so:

• c is pronounced like ch
• j is pronounced like the j in jam

So caj sounds close to chaj.

By itself, Caj pembatalan itu mahal is normally understood as present tense: The cancellation fee is expensive.

Malay verbs and predicates usually do not change form for tense the way English does. Time is often understood from context or shown with time words.

If you want to make the past clearer, you could add context such as:

• Dulu, caj pembatalan itu mahal. = Back then, the cancellation fee was expensive.
• Semalam saya tengok caj pembatalan itu mahal. = Yesterday I saw that the cancellation fee was expensive.

So the sentence itself does not explicitly mark tense.

The structure is:

Caj pembatalan itu + mahal

That is:

• subject / noun phrase: caj pembatalan itu = that/the cancellation fee
• predicate adjective: mahal = expensive

So a useful model is:

[noun phrase] + [adjective]

For example:

• Hotel itu mahal. = That hotel is expensive.
• Makanan ini sedap. = This food is delicious.
• Bilik mereka besar. = Their room is big.

This sentence follows a very common Malay pattern.