Breakdown of Hari pertama saya di pejabat sangat penting.
adalah
to be
di
at
penting
important
sangat
very
hari
the day
pejabat
the office
saya
my
pertama
first
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Questions & Answers about Hari pertama saya di pejabat sangat penting.
Why is there no word for “the” before hari pertama in this sentence?
Malay does not use definite or indefinite articles (like “the” or “a/an”). Nouns stand on their own, and specificity comes from context or additional words. Here, hari pertama simply means “first day,” and the listener knows which day from the rest of the sentence.
How does saya function here? Is it “I” or “my”?
In hari pertama saya, saya is a possessive pronoun meaning “my.” Malay places the possessor after the thing possessed, so literally it’s “day first my,” i.e. “my first day.”
Could I say hari pertama di pejabat saya instead of hari pertama saya di pejabat?
You can, but it changes the meaning slightly:
- hari pertama saya di pejabat = “my first day at the office” (office is a location).
- hari pertama di pejabat saya = “the first day in my office” (implies the office belongs to you).
Why is there no verb “is” or adalah in the sentence?
Malay commonly omits the copula adalah (be/is/are) in simple equational or descriptive sentences. It’s perfectly natural to say Hari pertama saya di pejabat sangat penting without inserting adalah.
Why is the preposition di used before pejabat and not ke?
- di pejabat = “at the office” (location)
- ke pejabat = “to the office” (direction/movement)
Here we’re talking about being at the office on that day, so di is correct.
What does pertama mean, and can I use yang pertama instead?
- pertama = “first” (ordinal number)
- yang pertama = “the first one” (used when choosing among items)
In hari pertama, you use pertama to indicate “first day” directly. Adding yang would sound like “the one that is first,” which is less natural here.
Why does sangat penting come after the noun phrase, and how does it work?
Adjectives and adverb-adjective combinations follow the noun in Malay. Here:
- sangat = “very” (adverb)
- penting = “important” (adjective)
Together sangat penting modifies the whole noun phrase (Hari pertama saya di pejabat) by coming after it.
Is it okay to drop saya and just say Hari pertama di pejabat sangat penting?
Yes, context can fill in who’s speaking, so Hari pertama di pejabat sangat penting (“The first day at the office is very important”) is grammatically fine. If you want to stress that it’s your first day, keep saya.