Dia meneka jawapan itu.

In Malay, dia is a third-person singular pronoun that is usually not marked for gender. So it can mean he, she, or sometimes even they in casual use when referring to one person in context.

Malay relies heavily on context, so you usually know whether dia refers to a man or a woman from the surrounding conversation.

Meneka means to guess.

Its base/root is teka = guess.
When Malay adds the active verb prefix meN-, teka becomes meneka.

So:

• teka = guess / a guess
• meneka = to guess, guesses, guessed, is guessing

This prefix often marks an active verb, especially when the subject is doing the action.

This happens because the meN- prefix changes its form depending on the first sound of the root word.

With roots beginning with t, the t is usually dropped, and meN- becomes men-:

• teka → meneka
• tulis → menulis

This is a common sound pattern in Malay verb formation.

Jawapan means answer.

It comes from the root jawab, which means answer / to answer.
With the suffix -an, it becomes a noun:

• jawab = answer / to answer
• jawapan = an answer / the answer

This -an ending often forms nouns from roots or verbs.

In Malay, itu often comes after the noun when it means that:

• jawapan itu = that answer / the answer

So the normal pattern is:

• buku itu = that book
• rumah itu = that house
• jawapan itu = that answer

If you say Itu jawapan, that usually means something more like That is the answer. So the word order changes the function of the phrase.

It can mean either, depending on context.

Malay does not have articles like a or the, so itu can help make something definite. Because of that:

• jawapan itu can mean that answer
• and in many contexts it can also be understood as the answer

The exact nuance depends on what has already been mentioned.

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

So meneka by itself can mean:

• guesses
• is guessing
• guessed
• will guess

The time is usually understood from context or shown with time words such as:

• semalam = yesterday
• sekarang = now
• esok = tomorrow
• sudah = already
• sedang = currently
• akan = will

For example:

• Dia sedang meneka jawapan itu. = He/She is guessing the answer.
• Dia sudah meneka jawapan itu. = He/She guessed / has guessed the answer.

Yes, this sentence follows a very familiar pattern:

• Dia = subject
• meneka = verb
• jawapan itu = object

So it is basically:

Subject + Verb + Object

That makes Dia meneka jawapan itu structurally close to English:
He/She guesses that/the answer.

Yes, you could, but the meaning becomes less specific.

• Dia meneka jawapan itu = He/She guessed that/the answer
• Dia meneka jawapan = He/She guessed an answer / guessed the answer / guessed answers, depending on context

Adding itu makes the noun phrase more definite and specific.

Yes. In Malay, meneka can directly take an object.

So:

• Dia meneka jawapan itu. = He/She guessed that answer.

No extra preposition is needed between meneka and jawapan itu.

For a verb sentence like this, you normally use tidak before the verb:

• Dia tidak meneka jawapan itu. = He/She did not guess that answer.

If you want to negate a noun phrase instead, Malay often uses bukan, but here tidak is the correct choice because meneka is a verb.

A simple way is to keep the same sentence and use question intonation in speech:

• Dia meneka jawapan itu? = Did he/she guess that answer?

You can also add question words if needed, for example:

• Adakah dia meneka jawapan itu? = Did he/she guess that answer?

Adakah is more formal and explicitly marks the sentence as a yes-no question.

Dia is very natural for he/she in ordinary Malay.

Depending on style and relationship, other forms are possible, such as:

• ia — more formal/literary, and less common in everyday speech
• a person’s name — often preferred in conversation for clarity
• kinship terms or titles — also common in natural speech

But for a basic sentence, dia is the standard and most useful choice to learn first.