Saya berasa kasihan terhadap pesakit itu.

The structure is:

• Saya = I
• berasa = feel
• kasihan = pity / sympathy / sorry
• terhadap = towards / toward
• pesakit itu = that patient / the patient

So the sentence is built like this:

Subject + verb + feeling + preposition + noun phrase

That makes it a very natural Malay way to say that the speaker feels pity or sympathy toward the patient.

Yes. Berasa means to feel in the sense of experiencing an emotion or sensation.

In this sentence, berasa kasihan means to feel pity / to feel sorry for someone.

A learner may also notice merasa, which is related. Both can sometimes be translated as feel, but:

• berasa often sounds a bit more standard or formal for emotional states
• merasa can also mean to taste or to experience

So in this sentence, berasa is a good, clear choice.

Kasihan is a very common Malay word that expresses:

• pity
• sympathy
• feeling sorry for someone
• compassion, depending on context

In this sentence, it means the speaker feels sorry for the patient.

A useful thing to know is that kasihan is very flexible in Malay. It can appear in different kinds of sentences, for example:

• Saya kasihan kepada dia. = I feel sorry for him/her.
• Kasihan budak itu. = Poor child.

So here, berasa kasihan is basically to feel pity/sympathy.

Terhadap means something like towards and is often used with feelings, attitudes, or actions directed at someone or something.

So kasihan terhadap pesakit itu means pity toward that patient.

Yes, in many cases you may also hear:

• kasihan kepada
• kasihan pada

Those are common too, especially in less formal speech.

Very roughly:

• terhadap = a bit more formal, often used in writing and careful speech
• kepada / pada = very common and natural in everyday use

So these are all possible depending on style:

• Saya berasa kasihan terhadap pesakit itu.
• Saya berasa kasihan kepada pesakit itu.
• Saya kasihan pada pesakit itu.

They are similar in meaning, but the original sentence sounds a little more formal.

Literally:

• pesakit = patient or sick person
• itu = that

So pesakit itu literally means that patient.

However, in natural English translation, it can also be the patient, depending on context. Malay does not use articles like a and the in the same way English does, so itu can sometimes help make a noun more specific or definite.

That is a very normal Malay pattern.

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

• pesakit itu = that patient
• rumah ini = this house
• buku itu = that book

So even though it looks reversed from English, it is completely standard Malay word order.

Yes, it can.

Malay often allows emotional expressions to be said more directly, so:

• Saya kasihan terhadap pesakit itu
• Saya kasihan pada pesakit itu

are also natural.

Adding berasa makes the sentence a bit more explicit: I feel pity / I feel sorry. Without berasa, the sentence is slightly more compact but still natural.

So:

• Saya berasa kasihan ... = a bit fuller, slightly more formal
• Saya kasihan ... = simpler, very common

It sounds somewhat standard and a little formal, mainly because of:

• berasa
• terhadap

In everyday conversation, many speakers would more likely say something like:

• Saya kasihan pada pesakit itu.
• Saya rasa kasihan pada pesakit itu.

The original sentence is absolutely correct, but it feels a bit more polished or written than very casual spoken Malay.

This is a good question because Malay word classes are often more flexible than in English.

In this sentence, kasihan behaves like the name of a feeling or emotional state. You do not have to force it into a single English-style category.

It can act in ways that English might express with:

• an adjective: sorry
• a noun: pity
• an exclamation: Poor thing!

That flexibility is very common in Malay, so learners should focus more on how the word is used in sentences than on assigning it one rigid label.

It means pity/sympathy, not romantic love.

Kasihan is specifically about feeling sorry for someone, having compassion, or pitying them. It is not the word for romantic love or affectionate love.

For example:

• sayang = affection, dear, love
• cinta = love, usually romantic
• kasihan = pity, sympathy, compassion

So the emotional tone here is clearly compassion for someone suffering.

A very natural conversational version would be:

• Saya kasihan pada pesakit itu.
• Saya rasa kasihan pada pesakit itu.

These are especially common in speech.

The original sentence:

• Saya berasa kasihan terhadap pesakit itu

is still correct and natural, but sounds slightly more formal or careful.

So as a learner, it is useful to know both:

• the original sentence is good standard Malay
• shorter versions are often more common in daily conversation

Both relate to someone who is sick, but they are not exactly the same.

• pesakit = patient; often someone receiving medical care, or a patient in a medical context
• orang sakit = sick person; more general

So pesakit itu strongly suggests a medical or hospital-type context, while orang sakit itu would focus more generally on the fact that the person is ill.

A simple pronunciation guide is:

Saya berasa kasihan terhadap pesakit itu
SAH-yuh buh-RAH-suh KAH-see-han tuh-HDAHP puh-SAH-kit EE-too

A few helpful notes:

• saya often sounds like saye in casual speech
• kasihan has three clear syllables: ka-si-han
• pesakit is pe-sa-kit
• itu is i-tu

Malay pronunciation is usually quite regular, so once you know the sound of each letter, reading becomes much easier.

Yes, very often.

Although itu literally means that, in many contexts noun + itu can be translated more naturally as the + noun in English.

So:

• pesakit itu can be that patient
• but it can also be the patient

The best translation depends on context. If the patient has already been identified in the conversation, English may prefer the patient even though Malay uses itu.