Learn Hardcore Malay: Saya beri hadiah kecil kepada pensyarah kerana membantu saya. - I give a small gift to the lecturer for helping me.

beri is the root (basic) verb “to give.” memberi is the formal/dictionary form with the me- prefix, often used in writing or very formal speech. berikan adds the –kan suffix to make the verb causative or to form a command (“give it!”). In everyday conversation, Malays tend to drop the prefixes/suffixes and just say beri. You could, however, write Saya memberikan hadiah in a more formal context.

Why is the adjective kecil placed after hadiah, and not before?

In Malay, adjectives normally follow the noun they modify. So hadiah kecil literally reads “gift small.” If you said kecil hadiah, it would sound unnatural or archaic. The noun-then-adjective order is the standard pattern.

Why do we use kepada before pensyarah?

kepada functions like English “to” when marking an indirect object. Here you’re giving something to the lecturer, so you need kepada pensyarah. Without kepada, the listener might think pensyarah is the direct object (what is being given), which would confuse the meaning.

Could we use untuk instead of kepada here?

untuk generally means “for” in the sense of purpose or intended recipient, not the action of giving itself. If you say hadiah kecil untuk pensyarah, it’s more like “a small gift intended for the lecturer” rather than “I gave a small gift to the lecturer.” To show the act of giving to someone, kepada is the correct choice.

In kerana membantu saya, why is there no subject for membantu? Who helped me?

Malay often drops the subject in subordinate clauses when it’s clear from context. Here the helper is the pensyarah mentioned just before. So “kerana membantu saya” is understood as “because the lecturer helped me.” If you need to be explicit, you can say kerana pensyarah membantu saya or kerana dia membantu saya.

Why is kerana used instead of sebab?

Both kerana and sebab mean “because.” kerana is slightly more formal or literary, while sebab is common in everyday speech. You could say Saya beri hadiah kecil kepada pensyarah sebab dia membantu saya in a casual conversation.

There’s no tense marker. How do we know this is past (“gave”) and not present or future?

Malay verbs don’t change form for past, present, or future. Time is understood from context or through time words/particles. To signal past, you could add sudah (already): Saya sudah beri hadiah. For future, you’d use akan: Saya akan beri hadiah. Without these, the listener infers tense from the situation.

Why isn’t hadiah pluralized as hadiah-hadiah or with banyak if more than one gift was given?

Malay does not use an “-s” suffix for plurals. If you did give multiple gifts, you could say banyak hadiah kecil (“many small gifts”) or use reduplication hadiah-hadiah kecil for emphasis or a more literary feel. In the example, it’s understood as a single gift.

Is it correct to say Saya beri pensyarah hadiah kecil without kepada?

No. When the indirect object is a noun phrase (like pensyarah), you need kepada to mark it: Saya beri hadiah kecil kepada pensyarah. You may drop kepada only if the indirect object is a pronoun: Saya beri dia hadiah kecil (“I gave him/her a small gift”).