Saya letak gelas di atas meja.

I put the glass on the table.

Breakdown of Saya letak gelas di atas meja.

• saya: I
• meja: the table
• di atas: on
• gelas: the glass
• letak: to put

Questions & Answers about Saya letak gelas di atas meja.

What does Saya mean and can it be omitted?

Saya is the first person singular pronoun meaning I in Malay. It’s the polite/formal way to say I. You can often omit Saya because Malay allows dropping the subject when context is clear, but including it adds clarity or politeness.

Why is letak not conjugated for past or present tense?

Malay verbs are uninflected—letak remains the same in past, present, or future. Tense is indicated by context or by using aspect/time markers such as:

• sudah – already (past)
• sedang – in the process of (continuous present)
• akan – will (future)

What’s the difference between letak and meletakkan?

• letak is the verb root meaning to put/place, commonly used in everyday speech.
• meletakkan is the standard/formal transitive form with prefix me- and suffix -kan, meaning to place something. In informal contexts, speakers often drop the affixes and simply say letak.

Why is there no word for the before gelas?

Malay does not have definite or indefinite articles. Specificity is understood from context. To clarify you can add:

• gelas itu – that glass (definite)
• sebuah gelas – a glass (indefinite)

What does di atas meja literally mean and how does di function here?

• di is a prepositional marker meaning at/on.
• atas means top/above.
• meja means table.
  Putting them together, di atas meja literally means on top of the table. Here, di is not a verb prefix but a separate preposition.

Why is the sentence word order Subject–Verb–Object?

Standard Malay follows the SVO (Subject–Verb–Object) order, just like English:

• Subject: Saya
• Verb: letak
• Object: gelas
  Adverbial or locative phrases (e.g., di atas meja) follow the object.

How would you express I am putting the glass on the table in Malay?

Use the continuous aspect marker sedang:

• Informal: Saya sedang letak gelas di atas meja.
• Formal: Saya sedang meletakkan gelas di atas meja.

How do you make this sentence negative?

Insert tidak before the verb:

• Informal: Saya tidak letak gelas di atas meja.
• Formal: Saya tidak meletakkan gelas di atas meja.

How can you ask Where did I put the glass in Malay?

Use the question word Di mana (where) with SVO:
Di mana saya letak gelas?

If you want to emphasize gelas, can you front it in the sentence?

Yes, you can topicalize the object:

• Gelas itu saya letak di atas meja. – As for that glass, I put it on the table
  You can also use the focus particle -lah for emphasis:
• Gelas-lah saya letak di atas meja.

Is it acceptable to drop di and say Saya letak gelas atas meja?

In informal spoken Malay, speakers sometimes omit di, but this is not correct in standard Malay. It’s better to use di atas meja for clarity.

How would you say I put four glasses on the table in Malay?

Place the number before the noun:

• Informal: Saya letak empat gelas di atas meja.
• Formal: Saya letakkan empat buah gelas di atas meja.
  Here, buah is a classifier used for counting objects like glasses.