Learn Hardcore Malay: Saya suka tempat duduknya kerana ruang kakinya luas. - I like his/her seat because its legroom is wide.

As a third-person possessive pronoun (“his/her/its”), so ruang kakinya literally means “its leg space.”
As a definite marker (like “the”), so tempat duduknya can mean “the seat” (or “its seat,” depending on context).

In your sentence, tempat duduknya refers to “that/the seat,” and ruang kakinya tells you whose leg space you’re talking about (i.e. the seat’s).

Why is the adjective luas placed after the noun ruang kaki instead of before it?

In Malay, adjectives normally follow the noun they describe. So you say ruang kaki luas (“leg space wide”) rather than luas ruang kaki. This word order (Noun + Adjective) is consistent across most adjective-noun pairs, e.g. kereta baru (new car), rumah besar (big house).

Why aren’t there any articles like “the,” “a,” or “an” in the sentence?

Malay does not have direct equivalents of English articles. Definiteness and indefiniteness are shown by:

Context (we already know which seat we’re talking about)
Demonstratives like ini (this) or itu (that)
The suffix -nya (as a definite marker)

So you simply say tempat duduknya for “the/that seat,” without needing “the.”

Can I replace kerana with sebab or karena? What’s the difference?

All three can mean “because,” but their usage varies by register and region:

kerana: Formal/written Malay (Malaysia)
sebab: More colloquial in Malaysia; also a noun meaning “reason.”
karena: Standard in Indonesian (Bahasa Indonesia).

In everyday Malaysian speech you might hear Saya suka tempat duduknya sebab ruang kakinya luas. In formal writing you’d stick with kerana.

Is suka in Saya suka tempat duduknya a verb? Could I use menyukai instead?

Yes, suka is a base verb “to like.” You can use menyukai (the meN- prefix form) to make it explicitly transitive and a bit more formal:

Saya suka tempat duduknya. (I like the seat.)
Saya menyukai tempat duduk itu. (I like that seat.)

Both are correct; suka is more common in everyday speech.

What’s the difference between tempat duduknya and tempat duduk itu?

tempat duduknya uses the suffix -nya, marking it as “the/its seat.”
tempat duduk itu uses the demonstrative itu, meaning “that seat.”

The nuance is subtle: -nya often feels more fluent or natural if the seat has already been introduced. itu explicitly points out “that one.”

Why is ruang kaki written as two separate words instead of one word?

Malay compound nouns are usually written as separate words (e.g. rumah sakit, meja tulis). Over time some compounds fuse into single words, but ruang kaki (literally “space” + “leg”) remains two words to show its composition clearly.

Could I drop kerana and just connect the clauses with a comma or dan (“and”)?

Informally, yes. You might hear:

Saya suka tempat duduknya, ruang kakinya luas.
Saya suka tempat duduknya dan ruang kakinya luas.

However, kerana clearly marks the cause (“because”), so it’s preferred in formal or written contexts to avoid any ambiguity.