Saya minum air dua kali setiap hari.

I drink water two times every day.

Breakdown of Saya minum air dua kali setiap hari.

• saya: I
• air: the water
• minum: to drink
• setiap: every
• hari: the day
• dua: two
• kali: the time

Questions & Answers about Saya minum air dua kali setiap hari.

What does dua kali mean, and how is it formed?

Dua means “two” and kali means “times,” so together dua kali means twice. To say “three times,” you say tiga kali, and so on.

Why doesn’t minum change for tense like English verbs do?

Malay verbs are not inflected for tense. The same form is used for past, present, and future, and you rely on time words to clarify. For example:

• Saya sudah minum. (I have already drunk.)
• Saya akan minum. (I will drink.)

Can I omit saya here and still be understood?

Yes. Malay often drops pronouns when the subject is clear from context.

• Minum air dua kali setiap hari still means “I drink water twice every day.”

What is the function of setiap in setiap hari?

Setiap means each or every, so setiap hari is every day. It indicates the action happens on each and every day.

Why doesn’t hari take a plural marker?

Malay does not use plural suffixes (like English –s) on nouns. Plurality or repetition is shown through context, numbers, or words like setiap. You can also see repetition by reduplication: hari-hari (“days” or “daily”).

Is the word order always Subject–Verb–Object–Frequency–Time in Malay?

That is the most common pattern for a frequency statement. In Saya minum air dua kali setiap hari you have:
Subject (Saya), Verb (minum), Object (air), Frequency (dua kali), Time expression (setiap hari).

How do I say “three times a week” instead?

Replace dua (“two”) with tiga (“three”) and hari (“day”) with minggu (“week”):
Saya minum air tiga kali setiap minggu.

Can I say “I drink water twice a day” without using setiap?

Yes. You can use sehari (“in a day”) instead:
Saya minum air dua kali sehari.

How do you count actual cups or bottles of water instead of drinking events?

Use classifiers like segelas air (“a glass of water”) or sebotol air (“a bottle of water”). For example:
Saya minum tiga gelas air. (“I drink three glasses of water.”)