Teman saya kata matahari di sini paling terang pada musim panas.

My friend says the sun here is brightest in the summer.

Breakdown of Teman saya kata matahari di sini paling terang pada musim panas.

• saya: I
• sini: here
• di: at
• teman: the friend
• pada: in
• matahari: the sun
• terang: bright
• paling: most
• kata: to say
• musim panas: the summer

Questions & Answers about Teman saya kata matahari di sini paling terang pada musim panas.

What does kata mean here, and why not berkata or mengatakan?

Kata is the root verb “say.” In everyday colloquial Malay, you can use kata for both “says” and “said.” The other forms are more formal:

• berkata = “to speak/say” (intransitive, often in written or formal contexts)
• mengatakan = “to state something” (transitive, more formal)
  So Teman saya kata is the casual way to report speech. In a formal text you might see Teman saya berkata or Teman saya mengatakan bahawa ….

How do we show reported speech in Malay? Why don’t we use quotation marks?

Malay uses a saying-verb + clause construction for indirect speech, without quotation marks.
• Direct: Dia kata, “Matahari di sini paling terang.”
• Indirect: Dia kata matahari di sini paling terang.
If you want to insert “that,” you add bahawa: Teman saya mengatakan bahawa matahari di sini paling terang pada musim panas.
Quotation marks are reserved for direct quotes only.

Why is there no copula like is or adalah in the clause matahari di sini paling terang?

Malay normally omits the copula “to be” in simple statements. For formality or emphasis you can add adalah, but it isn’t required:

• Colloquial: Matahari di sini paling terang.
• Formal: Matahari di sini adalah paling terang.
  Dropping adalah is the everyday norm.

How do we form the superlative in Malay? Why paling terang?

The most common way is paling + adjective. Here, paling terang means “most bright.”
Some adjectives can alternatively take the ter- prefix (e.g., tercerah from cerah) to mean “brightest,” but paling cerah/terang is more widely used.
For “very bright” (not strictly “most bright”) you can say terang sekali.

Why do we say di sini here? Can we drop the di and just say sini?

di is the preposition for location (“at/in/on”), so di sini = “here.”
In standard and written Malay you always use di sini, but in casual speech people often drop di and say sini: “Sini panas.”

Why do we use pada musim panas? Could we just say musim panas without pada?

pada is the preposition for time expressions, so pada musim panas = “in the summer.”
In very informal contexts you might drop pada and say Musim panas matahari di sini paling terang, but including pada is more standard and clear.

Why is there no article like “the” before matahari?

Malay does not use definite or indefinite articles (a/an/the). Nouns stand alone, and context indicates specificity.

Is word order flexible here? Could we say Teman saya kata pada musim panas matahari di sini paling terang?

Yes. Malay allows you to move time or place phrases to the front for emphasis:

• Pada musim panas, teman saya kata matahari di sini paling terang.
  The core structure [Subject] kata [Clause] remains the same; you’re just shifting the adverbial.