Learn Hardcore Malay: Kelmarin juga, dia kirim roti kepada saya dari gerai kegemarannya. - The day before yesterday too, he/she sent bread to me from his/her favorite stall.

“Yesterday too / as well”
- Implies that on top of some other time or action, this also happened yesterday.
- Rough equivalent: “Yesterday as well, he/she sent me bread...”
Emphatic “just yesterday”
- Used to stress how recent it was.
- Rough equivalent: “Only yesterday, he/she sent me bread...” or “Just yesterday, he/she sent me bread...”

So juga here is not adding new information alone; it’s colouring kelmarin with either an “also” or “even/just” kind of emphasis, depending on context.

Why is it kirim and not mengirim or menghantar?

All three are possible; the differences are about formality and style:

kirim
- Base verb (no prefix), very common in spoken Malay.
- Neutral and natural in everyday conversation.
- This sentence sounds conversational: “dia kirim roti...”
mengirim
- Prefixed form meN- + kirim.
- Slightly more formal / standard, often seen in writing, news, etc.
- Dia mengirim roti kepada saya... is perfectly correct and a bit more formal.
menghantar
- Another verb meaning to send / to deliver.
- Often used when someone physically brings or delivers something, not just via post or courier.
- Dia menghantar roti kepada saya... = “He/She delivered/ sent (over) bread to me.”

So the choice of kirim here simply makes the sentence sound casual and conversational.

How is past tense shown here, since there is no word like “did” or “sent” with -ed?

Malay generally does not mark tense on the verb (no equivalent of English -ed or will).

Instead, Malay shows time using time expressions and optional particles:

Kelmarin = yesterday, which already signals past time.
The verb kirim itself is tenseless; its time is understood from context.

You can add optional markers for completed actions:

Dia sudah/telah kirim roti...
= “He/She has already sent the bread...”

But in this sentence, Kelmarin is enough to tell you it’s in the past, so no extra tense word is needed.

What is the difference between kepada and ke, and why is it kepada saya here?

Both kepada and ke can translate as to, but they’re used differently:

ke
- Mainly used for physical destinations (places).
- Examples:
  - ke sekolah = to school
  - ke rumah saya = to my house
kepada
- Used mainly for people or abstract recipients.
- Examples:
  - kepada saya = to me
  - kepada mereka = to them
  - kepada Tuhan = to God
  - kepada semua pelajar = to all students

In dia kirim roti kepada saya, the recipient is a person (me), so kepada is the natural choice.

Saying kirim roti ke saya might be heard in casual speech, but kepada saya is more standard and correct.

Why is it dia instead of something that specifies gender, like “he” or “she”?

Malay does not mark gender in third-person pronouns:

dia = he / she / him / her (for humans)
mereka = they

The gender is understood from context, or sometimes it simply isn’t important to the speaker.

If you must specify gender, you describe it explicitly:

lelaki itu = that man
perempuan itu = that woman
Dia lelaki. = He is male.
Dia perempuan. = She is female.

But the ordinary pronoun dia itself remains gender-neutral.

What does kegemarannya mean exactly, and how is it formed?

Kegemarannya can be broken down like this:

gemar = to like / be fond of
kegemaran = favourite (noun)
- ke- ... -an is a common noun-forming pattern.
kegemarannya = his/her favourite (thing)
- -nya is a third-person possessive suffix: his / her / its / their (in some contexts).

So:

gerai kegemarannya = his/her favourite stall

This is equivalent to: gerai kegemaran dia, where dia is separate instead of attached as -nya.

Could I say gerai kegemaran dia instead of gerai kegemarannya? Is there any difference?

Yes, both are correct and natural:

gerai kegemarannya
- Uses the -nya suffix joined to the noun.
- Slightly more compact and often sounds a bit more formal or written.
gerai kegemaran dia
- Uses dia as a separate word.
- Very common in spoken Malay and in informal writing.

Meaning-wise, both are “his/her favourite stall”.
The difference is mainly style, not meaning.

What role does the -nya suffix play in kegemarannya? Does it always mean possession?

In this sentence, -nya is clearly possessive:

kegemarannya = his/her favourite

Common functions of -nya:

Possessive (very common)
- bukunya = his/her book
- ibunya = his/her mother
Object pronoun or topic marker (in other structures)
- Saya sukakannya. = I like him/her/it.
- Rumahnya besar. = His/her house is big.

So in gerai kegemarannya, -nya is attaching “his/her” to kegemaran (“favourite”).

Can the word order be different? For example, can I move kelmarin juga to the end?

Yes, Malay word order is relatively flexible for time expressions like kelmarin juga.

All of these are possible (with slightly different emphasis):

Kelmarin juga, dia kirim roti kepada saya dari gerai kegemarannya.
- Emphasis on “yesterday (too/just)”.
Dia kelmarin juga kirim roti kepada saya dari gerai kegemarannya.
- Less common; sounds a bit awkward in careful speech.
Dia kirim roti kepada saya dari gerai kegemarannya kelmarin juga.
- Neutral main clause; time info comes at the end, like “... yesterday as well.”

Common patterns:

Time at the beginning: Kelmarin, dia...
Time at the end: Dia ... kelmarin.

The original sentence puts Kelmarin juga at the front to highlight the recency.

Is roti countable? How would you say “a loaf of bread” or “a piece of bread” in Malay?

Roti by itself just means bread, without specifying quantity:

roti = bread / some bread

To be more precise, Malay often uses classifiers:

sebuku roti = a loaf of bread
- buku here is a classifier meaning “loaf-shaped block”.
sekeping roti = a slice/piece of bread
- keping is a classifier for flat pieces.

So you could expand the sentence:

Kelmarin juga, dia kirim sebuku roti kepada saya...
= “Just yesterday, he/she sent me a loaf of bread...”

Is kepada saya necessary, or could you drop kepada or saya?

You cannot drop saya if you still want to say “to me”.
You should not drop kepada in standard Malay, because the verb kirim normally expects a marker before the recipient when it is an indirect object.

Compare:

Dia kirim roti kepada saya.
= He/She sent bread to me.

If you say:

Dia kirim roti saya.

Then it changes meaning to:

“He/She sent my bread” (here saya = possessive “my”, not “to me”).

So kepada saya is important to keep the meaning “to me” clear.

What is the difference between kelmarin and semalam? Could I say Semalam juga instead?

Both kelmarin and semalam are related to “yesterday”, but usage varies by region and speaker.

In many Malay contexts:

semalam
- Commonly used for “last night” or “yesterday (in general)”
- Very frequent in everyday speech.
kelmarin
- Often used for “yesterday”, especially in more standard/formal Malay.
- In some dialects or older usage, it can mean “the day before yesterday”, but in modern Malay it’s usually “yesterday”.

You can say:

Semalam juga, dia kirim roti kepada saya dari gerai kegemarannya.

This will usually be understood as:

“Last night / yesterday as well, he/she sent me bread from his/her favourite stall.”

The choice between kelmarin and semalam can be a matter of style, region, and whether you want to stress “yesterday” as a day or “last night”.