Kanak-kanak itu takut terhadap jin.

That child is afraid of jinn.

Breakdown of Kanak-kanak itu takut terhadap jin.

• itu: that
• takut: afraid
• kanak-kanak: the child
• terhadap: towards

Questions & Answers about Kanak-kanak itu takut terhadap jin.

Why is kanak-kanak repeated?

Malay often uses reduplication (repeating a word) to show plurality, variety, or a collective idea.

In this case, kanak-kanak is the normal standard word for children or young children as a group. The base form kanak is not normally used by itself in everyday standard Malay, so it is best to learn kanak-kanak as a fixed word.

Does kanak-kanak itu mean that child, those children, or the children?

Usually, kanak-kanak itu means those children or the children, depending on context.

Malay does not have articles like the and a, so itu often helps make a noun definite. It can mean a literal that/those, but in many sentences it is also naturally translated as the.

If you want to be clearly singular, Malay would usually use something like budak itu or another singular expression, rather than relying on kanak-kanak alone.

Why does itu come after the noun instead of before it?

That is normal Malay word order.

Demonstratives such as ini (this/these) and itu (that/those) usually come after the noun:

• rumah itu = that house / the house
• orang ini = this person
• kanak-kanak itu = those children / the children

So kanak-kanak itu is exactly the expected order in Malay.