Learn Hardcore Malay: Dia berlatih tenis dengan raket lama, tetapi bermain lebih baik daripada saya. - He/She practices tennis with an old racket, but plays better than me.

Belajar means “to learn” or “to study” (acquiring new knowledge), whereas berlatih means “to practise” or “to train” (repeating an activity to improve skill). In this sentence, berlatih tenis means “practise tennis,” not “learn tennis.”

What role does dengan play in this sentence?

Dengan is a preposition that marks the instrument or tool used. Here it means “with” or “using,” introducing raket lama as the instrument for practising tennis.

Why isn’t there an article like “a” or “the” before raket lama?

Malay does not use definite or indefinite articles (a/the). You simply say raket lama for “an old racket” or “the old racket.” If you want to be explicit, you can add sebuah (“a”) or itu (“that”), but it’s not required.

Why is the adjective lama placed after the noun instead of before it?

Malay grammar typically places adjectives after the noun they modify. So you say raket lama (“racket old”) rather than lama raket. This order is the norm for descriptive phrases.

Could you add yang in raket lama? When would you use it?

Yes. You can say raket yang lama, literally “the racket that is old.” Yang makes the description more explicit or emphatic. In everyday speech, however, Malaysians often drop yang for simple noun–adjective pairs.

What’s the distinction between tetapi and tapi?

Both mean “but.” Tetapi is more formal or book-style; tapi is the colloquial short form used in everyday conversation.

How do you form a comparison? Why lebih baik daripada?

To compare in Malay you place lebih (“more”) before an adjective and daripada (“than”) before what you’re comparing to. So:

bermain lebih baik = “play better”
daripada saya = “than me”

Why use daripada and not dari when comparing?

Daripada is the comparative “than.” Dari functions as “from” (origin, source) or as a preposition in other contexts. In comparisons, always use daripada.

Why is saya chosen instead of aku or ku?

Saya is the standard polite first-person pronoun in Malay.

Aku is informal/intimate and used among close friends or in certain dialects.
-ku is a possessive suffix (e.g., daripadaku in old literature) and sounds very formal or poetic.

Why is Dia capitalised at the start?

Because it’s the first word of the sentence. In Malay, only the initial word of a sentence and proper nouns are capitalised; otherwise dia remains lowercase.