Kelmarin, saya kirim mesej kepada kakak.

The day before yesterday, I sent a message to my older sister.

Breakdown of Kelmarin, saya kirim mesej kepada kakak.

• saya: I
• kepada: to
• kakak: the older sister
• mesej: the message
• kelmarin: the day before yesterday
• kirim: to send

Questions & Answers about Kelmarin, saya kirim mesej kepada kakak.

What does kelmarin mean, and is it the same as semalam?

Kelmarin means yesterday.

In practice in Malaysia:

• kelmarin – “yesterday” (the whole previous day), slightly more formal/standard.
• semalam – literally “last night”, but in everyday speech people often use it to mean “yesterday” in general.

So:

• Kelmarin, saya kirim mesej kepada kakak.
• Semalam, saya kirim mesej kepada kakak.

Both will normally be understood as “Yesterday, I sent a message to my older sister.”

In some regional speech, kelmarin can be used for “the day before yesterday”, but that is not standard, so as a learner it’s safe to treat kelmarin = yesterday.

Why is there a comma after Kelmarin? Is it necessary?

The comma marks Kelmarin as an introductory time phrase:

• Kelmarin, saya kirim mesej kepada kakak.
  = “Yesterday, I sent a message to my older sister.”

In writing, the comma is recommended but not absolutely required. You will also see:

• Kelmarin saya kirim mesej kepada kakak.

Both are acceptable. The natural speech pause usually comes after kelmarin, which is why the comma is common.

How do we know this sentence is in the past? There is no past tense ending on kirim.

Malay verbs do not change form for tense (no -ed, no -s, no conjugation).

Instead, past, present, and future are usually shown by:

• Time words:
  
  • kelmarin (yesterday), tadi (earlier), esok (tomorrow), etc.
• Optional aspect words like:
  • sudah / telah = already / have done
  • akan = will / going to
  • sedang = currently doing

In this sentence:

• Kelmarin tells us it happened in the past.
• kirim stays in its basic form.

So saya kirim can mean “I send” or “I sent” depending on context. Here, kelmarin makes it “I sent”.

Why is the verb just kirim and not mengirim?

Both kirim and mengirim exist, but they are used differently:

• kirim – bare verb; very common in colloquial Malay, especially in Malaysia.

  • Saya kirim mesej. = I send / sent a message.

• mengirim – the meN- verb form; more formal, more typical of standard / written Malay and also used in Indonesian.

  • Saya mengirim mesej. (more formal)

In everyday Malaysian speech:

• Saya kirim mesej kepada kakak.
  is perfectly natural.

In more formal writing (e.g. essays, official documents), you might prefer:

• Kelmarin, saya mengirim mesej kepada kakak.

What does saya mean, and could I use aku instead?

Saya means “I / me” and is the polite, neutral first-person pronoun. It’s safe in almost all situations: with strangers, teachers, older people, in writing, etc.

Aku also means “I / me”, but:

• It is informal / intimate.
• Used with close friends, siblings, people your age or younger (depending on social norms), and often in songs.

You could say:

• Kelmarin, aku kirim mesej kepada kakak.

Grammatically correct, but it sounds more casual and depends on your relationship and context. As a learner, default to saya unless you know aku is appropriate.

Does mesej specifically mean a text message (SMS/WhatsApp), or any kind of message?

Mesej is a loanword from English “message” and can mean:

• any kind of message, in general; and
• very often, a digital or phone message (SMS, WhatsApp, Telegram, etc.), depending on context.

Examples:

• Saya kirim mesej kepada kakak.
  Usually understood as a text / chat message nowadays.
• Mesej itu jelas. – The message is clear. (more abstract)

If you need to be very specific:

• mesej teks – text message (SMS)
• mesej WhatsApp – WhatsApp message
• mesej suara – voice message

But in many everyday contexts, mesej by itself is enough.

What is the function of kepada here, and how is it different from untuk or pada?

In this sentence:

• kepada introduces the recipient of the action:
  • saya kirim mesej kepada kakak
    = I sent a message to my older sister.

Rough guide:

• kepada

  • “to” (someone), especially as recipient of a message, gift, statement, etc.
  • tulis surat kepada guru – write a letter to the teacher

• untuk

  • “for” (intended for someone or a purpose).
  • Hadiah ini untuk kakak. – This present is for my older sister.
  • You would not normally say kirim mesej untuk kakak in the sense of sending directly to her; kepada is more natural.

• pada

  • Mostly “at / on / in” for time and location, and also for certain abstract “to”.
  • pada pukul tiga – at three o’clock
  • pada hari Isnin – on Monday
  • With people as recipients, kepada is strongly preferred.

So here kepada = “to (a person as recipient)”, which is exactly the role it plays in English.

Who is kakak in this sentence? Do I need to say kakak saya to mean “my older sister”?

kakak literally means:

• older sister (female sibling older than the speaker).

But in Malay, words for siblings are also used much more flexibly:

• As a polite form of address to an older young woman (e.g. a shop assistant, neighbour, etc.), especially if she is slightly older but still relatively young.
• When context is clear, kakak can imply “my older sister” without adding saya.

In this sentence:

• Kelmarin, saya kirim mesej kepada kakak.

If you are talking about your own family and the listener knows that, kakak will naturally be understood as “my older sister”.

If you want to be explicit or in more formal language, you can say:

• Kelmarin, saya kirim mesej kepada kakak saya.
  = Yesterday, I sent a message to my older sister.

Both are acceptable; the version without saya is very natural in conversation when context makes the relationship clear.

Could I say Kelmarin, kirim mesej kepada kakak without saya?

You can drop the subject saya in informal speech if it is obvious from context, but the bare sentence:

• Kelmarin, kirim mesej kepada kakak.

is not a full, standard sentence in writing. It sounds like:

• “Yesterday, (I) sent a message to kakak.” (subject omitted)

Spoken Malay often allows the subject to be dropped when everyone knows who you’re talking about:

• A: Semalam buat apa? – What did you do yesterday?
• B: Kelmarin, kirim mesej kepada kakak je. – (I) just sent a message to kakak.

For clear, correct sentences as a learner, keep saya:

• Kelmarin, saya kirim mesej kepada kakak.

Can I move kelmarin to the end: Saya kirim mesej kepada kakak kelmarin?

Yes, that is grammatically correct and natural:

• Kelmarin, saya kirim mesej kepada kakak.
• Saya kirim mesej kepada kakak kelmarin.

Both mean “Yesterday, I sent a message to my older sister.”

Differences:

• Kelmarin at the beginning – puts slight emphasis on time (“As for yesterday…”).
• kelmarin at the end – sounds like an extra detail added after the main information.

In everyday speech, both word orders are used freely. As a learner, you can use either.

Sometimes I see Kakak with a capital K. Is there any difference from kakak here?

Yes, the capital letter can signal a difference in function:

• kakak (lowercase)

  • General noun: “older sister” or “older young woman” (role/relationship).

• Kakak (uppercase)

  • Used like a name / title, especially in writing:
    • In messages or dialogue: Kakak, nanti saya telefon ya.
      = “Big Sis, I’ll call later, ok.”
    • In text where “Kakak” is a specific person’s name-like title.

In your sentence:

• Kelmarin, saya kirim mesej kepada kakak.

you are using kakak as a common noun (“my older sister” in context), so lowercase is normal.

If you were writing the message directly to her, you might write:

• Kelmarin adik kirim mesej kepada Kakak, Kakak dah baca?
  Here Kakak is like addressing her by title/name.

If I want to emphasise that the action was completed, can I say Kelmarin, saya sudah kirim mesej kepada kakak?

Yes, you can.

• sudah and telah both mean roughly “already / have done” and mark completed action.

Possible variants:

• Kelmarin, saya sudah kirim mesej kepada kakak.
• Kelmarin, saya telah kirim mesej kepada kakak.
• Kelmarin, saya sudah mengirim mesej kepada kakak. (more formal)

Nuances:

• sudah – very common in speech, neutral.
• telah – more formal / written / news style.

All of them still mean something like:

• “Yesterday, I have already sent a message to my older sister.”
  or more natural English: “I already sent a message to my older sister yesterday.”

Is Saya hantar mesej kepada kakak also correct? What’s the difference between kirim and hantar?

Yes, it is correct:

• Kelmarin, saya hantar mesej kepada kakak.

In Malaysian usage:

• kirim

  • Often used for sending letters, parcels, messages via some medium (post, phone, online).
  • Slightly more associated with sending through a channel.

• hantar

  • Literally “to deliver / to send / to bring”.
  • Used for sending or delivering people or things, and also for messages:
    • hantar anak ke sekolah – send/bring the child to school
    • hantar surat – deliver/send a letter
    • hantar mesej – send a message

For digital messages, kirim mesej and hantar mesej are both natural; many speakers use them almost interchangeably in casual conversation.

So:

• Kelmarin, saya kirim mesej kepada kakak.
• Kelmarin, saya hantar mesej kepada kakak.

Both are fine; kirim may feel a bit more “send via a channel”, while hantar is a bit more general “send/deliver”, but the difference is subtle in this context.

Could I say Kelmarin, saya kirim kakak mesej like in English “I sent my sister a message”?

No. That word order does not work in Malay.

In Malay, the recipient is normally introduced with a preposition, usually kepada in this context:

• ✅ Saya kirim mesej kepada kakak. – I sent a message to my older sister.
• ❌ Saya kirim kakak mesej. – incorrect / unnatural.

So, always keep:

• [subject] + [verb] + [thing sent] + kepada + [recipient]

as in the original sentence.