Saya minum air empat kali setiap hari.

I drink water four times every day.

Breakdown of Saya minum air empat kali setiap hari.

• saya: I
• air: the water
• minum: to drink
• setiap: every
• hari: the day
• kali: the time
• empat: four

Questions & Answers about Saya minum air empat kali setiap hari.

Can I omit the subject Saya in this sentence?

Yes. Malay is a “pro-drop” language, which means you can leave out the subject pronoun if it’s clear from context. So instead of Saya minum air empat kali setiap hari, you could just say Minum air empat kali setiap hari and a Malay speaker would understand “I drink water four times a day.”

Why isn’t there any tense marking on minum?

Malay verbs are not inflected for tense. You don’t change the verb form to show past, present or future. Instead, you rely on:

• Time adverbs (like setiap hari, kemarin, nanti)
• Context
  So minum can be “drink,” “drank,” or “will drink,” depending on surrounding words.

What is the word order in this sentence?

The basic order is Subject–Verb–Object (SVO), and adverbials (time, frequency, manner) usually come after the object. In Saya minum air empat kali setiap hari, the structure is:

1. Saya (Subject)
2. minum (Verb)
3. air (Object)
4. empat kali setiap hari (Frequency + Time adverbial)

What does kali mean and why is it used after empat?

Kali means “times” (as in “number of times”). When you count how often something happens, you use a numeral + kali. For example:

• dua kali = two times
• sepuluh kali = ten times
  So empat kali = four times.

Could I move setiap hari to the beginning of the sentence?

Yes. Malay adverbials are fairly flexible. You could say:

• Setiap hari saya minum air empat kali.
• Empat kali setiap hari saya minum air.
  All these mean essentially the same thing; placing the time phrase first simply shifts the emphasis a bit to “every day.”

Is there a difference between setiap hari and hari-hari?

Both can mean “every day,” but:

• setiap hari is neutral/formal (“each day”)
• hari-hari is colloquial and expresses a habitual feel (“day after day”)
  You can use either to convey daily frequency, though setiap hari is more standard in writing.

Why aren’t there any articles (like “the” or “a”) before air?

Malay does not use definite or indefinite articles. Nouns stand alone without “a,” “an,” or “the.” So:

• air can mean “water,” “some water,” or “the water,” depending on context.
  If you need “some,” you might add sedikit air (“a little water”) or segelas air (“a glass of water”).

Can I use the digit 4 instead of spelling out empat?

In informal contexts (text messages, notes) it’s common to write 4 kali. In formal writing or exams you should spell it out as empat kali. Both are understood the same way in speech.