Saya tersenyum ketika saya lihat kucing comel itu.

I smile when I see that cute cat.

Breakdown of Saya tersenyum ketika saya lihat kucing comel itu.

• saya: I
• itu: that
• kucing: the cat
• ketika: when
• comel: cute
• lihat: to see
• tersenyum: to smile

Questions & Answers about Saya tersenyum ketika saya lihat kucing comel itu.

Why is the verb tersenyum used instead of the plain form senyum?

In Malay senyum is the root verb meaning “smile.” When you add the prefix ter-, forming tersenyum, it often conveys that the action was sudden, involuntary, or unintentional—“to end up smiling” or “to smile unexpectedly.”

• Saya tersenyum suggests the smile just popped up on its own.
• If you simply want to state “I smile” or “I’m smiling” in a neutral sense, you can use the bare root: Saya senyum.

Why is the second verb written as lihat and not melihat?

Malay verbs don’t have to carry the me- active prefix in everyday usage.

• The root form lihat already means “see.”
• Melihat is the more formal “dictionary” form with me-.
  In colloquial speech you’ll often hear bare verbs after pronouns or time words: Saya tengok (look), dia makan (eat), kami pergi (go). Both Saya lihat kucing and Saya melihat kucing are grammatically correct; the former just sounds more casual.

Do I need to repeat saya in both clauses? Could I drop the second one?

You don’t have to. It’s common in Malay to omit a repeated subject when it’s clear from context. You can say:

• Saya tersenyum ketika saya lihat kucing comel itu (repeats saya)
• Saya tersenyum ketika lihat kucing comel itu (drops the second saya)
  Both are fine; dropping the second saya makes the sentence more natural and concise.

What role does ketika play here, and how is it different from bila or apabila?

Ketika is a conjunction meaning “when.” It’s slightly more formal or literary than bila, which is the everyday spoken word for “when.” Apabila is also formal, often found in written or official contexts. In casual speech you could replace ketika with bila:

• Saya tersenyum bila saya lihat kucing comel itu.
  In formal writing you might see ketika or even apabila instead.

Why does comel come after kucing? In English, “cute” comes before “cat.”

Malay adjective order is generally noun + adjective, unlike English. So you say kucing comel literally “cat cute.” The same pattern applies to most adjectives:

• rumah besar (big house)
• baju baru (new shirt)

Why is itu placed at the end of kucing comel itu, and what does it signify?

In Malay the demonstratives ini (this) and itu (that) follow the noun or noun phrase. Here kucing comel itu means “that cute cat.” You can think of itu as a post-noun determiner, just like in:

• rumah itu (“that house”)
• buku putih itu (“that white book”)

How do you know if this sentence refers to past, present, or future? There’s no tense indicator like in English.

Malay doesn’t inflect verbs for tense. Time is conveyed through context, aspect markers, or time words. In this sentence:

• The prefix ter- in tersenyum hints that the action happened (and was perhaps unexpected).
• Ketika (“when”) in combination with that prefix places it in the past: “I smiled when I saw that cat.”
  If you need to be explicit you can add time adverbs, e.g. tadi (earlier), semalam (yesterday), nanti (later). For example:
• Saya tersenyum tadi ketika lihat kucing comel itu.