Learn Hardcore Malay: Dia meminta saya bawa kereta ke pejabat esok. - He/She asks me to bring the car to the office tomorrow.

After certain verbs in Malay that introduce another action—such as meminta, suruh, or biar—the following verb appears in its root (bare) form. The pattern is:
subject + meminta + person + root verb + object/complement.
Using membawa (with the me- prefix) in that position would break this construction. If you want to be extra formal or explicit, you can insert untuk and use the prefixed verb: meminta saya untuk membawa.

Do I need to include untuk before bawa?

No. In everyday speech and writing, Malay speakers usually drop untuk when requesting someone to do something. So meminta saya bawa is perfectly natural. Including untuk (…meminta saya untuk membawa) makes the sentence more formal but isn’t required.

Why is saya placed immediately after meminta?

In the structure “ask someone to do something,” the person being asked is the direct object of meminta, so they must come right after it. The formula is:
[meminta] + [person] + [action]
Putting saya elsewhere would confuse who is doing the requested action or sound ungrammatical.

Where can I put the time word esok in this sentence?

Time markers in Malay are quite flexible. You can place esok at the beginning, before the verb phrase, or at the end. All of these are correct and commonly used:
• Esok, dia meminta saya bawa kereta ke pejabat.
• Dia meminta saya esok bawa kereta ke pejabat.
• Dia meminta saya bawa kereta ke pejabat esok.
The original placement at the end is very natural, but you can move it for emphasis.

What’s the difference between meminta and menyuruh?

Meminta means to ask/request and is generally polite or neutral.
Menyuruh means to order/command and is stronger or more forceful.
So dia meminta saya bawa kereta is “he asked me to bring the car,” whereas dia menyuruh saya bawa kereta is closer to “he told me to bring the car.”

Why do we use ke pejabat instead of di pejabat?

Ke indicates movement or direction to a place, while di indicates location at/in a place. Here you’re bringing the car to the office, so ke pejabat is correct. If you were already at the office, you’d say di pejabat.

What’s the difference between minta and meminta?

Minta is the bare root form and often appears in colloquial speech (e.g. dia minta saya bawa). Meminta is the formal active verb with the me- prefix. In casual conversation you’ll hear minta frequently, but in formal writing or polite contexts meminta is preferred.