Saya beli sebuah kereta baru.

I buy a new car.

Breakdown of Saya beli sebuah kereta baru.

• saya: I
• beli: to buy
• kereta: the car
• baru: new
• sebuah: a

Questions & Answers about Saya beli sebuah kereta baru.

Why do we use beli here instead of membeli?

In Malay, you can often drop the prefix mem- in everyday conversation. Beli and membeli both mean “to buy,” but beli is more casual or colloquial. Membeli is more formal and is often used in writing or more official contexts.

What is the purpose of sebuah in the sentence?

Sebuah is a classifier or measure word that indicates a single object, much like “a” or “one” in English. In Malay, classifiers are often used before nouns, especially when referring to countable objects like cars, books, or houses.

Why is baru placed after kereta instead of before it?

In Malay, adjectives usually come after the noun they describe. So kereta baru literally translates to “car new.” This is standard structure in Malay: noun + adjective.

Could I say Saya membeli kereta baru sebuah instead?

No, that would break the usual word order of Malay. The classifier sebuah typically comes right before the noun, and the adjective baru follows the noun. The standard structure is sebuah kereta baru, not kereta baru sebuah at the end.

Is the word order flexible in this sentence?

Malay does allow some flexibility, but generally the subject (here, saya) comes first, followed by the verb (beli), and then the object with its classifier and adjective (sebuah kereta baru). Rearranging them too much can sound unnatural or overly formal, so it’s best to keep the typical Subject-Verb-Object order.