Breakdown of Tajuk utama dalam surat khabar itu tentang perjalanan murah.
adalah
to be
itu
that
tentang
about
murah
cheap
surat khabar
the newspaper
dalam
in
utama
main
tajuk
the headline
perjalanan
the travel
Elon.io is an online learning platform
We have an entire course teaching Malay grammar and vocabulary.
Questions & Answers about Tajuk utama dalam surat khabar itu tentang perjalanan murah.
What does tajuk utama mean in Malay?
Tajuk means “title” or “heading,” and utama means “main” or “primary.” Together, tajuk utama literally means “main heading,” which corresponds to the English word headline.
Why is it dalam surat khabar itu and not di surat khabar itu?
Both dalam and di can express location, but there’s a subtle nuance:
- dalam emphasizes being “inside” something (the content of the paper).
- di is a more general locative marker (“at” or “on”).
In everyday Malay you’ll often hear tajuk utama dalam surat khabar, but you can also say tajuk utama di surat khabar itu without changing the meaning.
Why is the demonstrative itu placed after surat khabar?
In Malay, demonstratives ini (this) and itu (that) follow the noun they modify.
English puts them before (“that newspaper”), Malay puts them after (surat khabar itu).
Why is there no word for the or a in this sentence?
Malay does not have specific articles like a, an, or the. Definiteness or indefiniteness is understood from context or added through words like itu (that) or sebuah (a/one, for countable nouns). Here, surat khabar itu makes it definite (“that newspaper”), and no article is needed for tajuk utama or perjalanan murah.
Why is the adjective murah placed after perjalanan instead of before?
In Malay, adjectives typically follow the noun they describe. So you say perjalanan murah (“travel cheap”) rather than murah perjalanan. This is the normal noun–adjective order.
Why doesn’t the sentence say perjalanan yang murah?
Using yang before an adjective turns it into a relative clause (“that is cheap”). It’s not wrong to say perjalanan yang murah, but Malay allows you to drop yang when the adjective directly modifies the noun. The shorter form perjalanan murah is more natural in headlines.
What’s the difference between tentang and mengenai?
Both mean “about” or “regarding.”
- tentang is more common in everyday speech and writing.
- mengenai is slightly more formal or literary.
You could say tajuk utama dalam surat khabar itu mengenai perjalanan murah with virtually the same meaning.
Could we use berita utama instead of tajuk utama?
Yes. Berita utama literally means “main news” and is often used to refer to the leading story. Tajuk utama focuses on the “headline” itself, while berita utama emphasizes the news content. In practice, both are heard and understood as “headline” in newspapers or broadcasts.