Bos adil kepada semua ahli kelab.

The boss is fair to all club members.

Breakdown of Bos adil kepada semua ahli kelab.

• adalah: to be
• kepada: to
• bos: the boss
• semua: all
• kelab: the club
• ahli: the member
• adil: fair

Questions & Answers about Bos adil kepada semua ahli kelab.

What is a word‑by‑word breakdown of Bos adil kepada semua ahli kelab?

Here is the approximate breakdown:

• Bos – boss
• adil – fair / just (an adjective)
• kepada – to / towards (preposition, usually used with people or pronouns)
• semua – all
• ahli – member(s)
• kelab – club

So the structure is roughly: Boss fair to all member(s) club → The boss is fair to all the club members.

Why is there no word for “is” (like “is fair”) in this Malay sentence?

Malay usually does not use a separate verb for “to be” (like am / is / are) when linking a subject to an adjective or a noun.

So instead of saying:

• Bos adalah adil…

you normally just say:

• Bos adil…

The linking idea “is” is understood from the structure:
[subject] + [adjective] → “subject is adjective.”

Adalah exists but is more formal and is mostly used before nouns, not ordinary adjectives, and even then it can often be omitted.

Does Bos here mean “my boss” or “the boss”? There is no word for “the” or “my”.

Malay has no articles like “a / an / the”, and it often leaves out possessive words when the context makes things clear.

• Bos adil kepada semua ahli kelab.
  → Usually understood as “The boss is fair…” (a specific boss everyone knows about in that context).

If you want to be explicit:

• Bos saya adil kepada semua ahli kelab. – My boss is fair to all the club members.
• Seorang bos adil… – A boss is fair… (describing a type, more generic).

So Bos on its own is flexible; context decides whether the listener hears “the boss” or “my boss”.

Is bos just the English word “boss”, or is it a proper Malay word? Are there alternatives?

Bos is a loanword from English, but it is now fully naturalised in Malay and very common in everyday speech.

Other options include:

• ketua – leader, head (more neutral/formal: ketua kelab = club leader)
• majikan – employer (specifically the person who employs you)
• pengurus – manager
• presiden – president (of a club, association)
• pengerusi – chairperson

In a club context:

• Bos adil kepada semua ahli kelab. – informal, casual tone.
• Ketua kelab berlaku adil kepada semua ahli. – more formal, “The club leader acts fairly to all members.”

What part of speech is adil, and how else can it be used?

Adil is an adjective meaning fair / just / impartial.

Examples:

• Hakim itu adil. – The judge is fair.
• Sistem ini tidak adil. – This system is not fair.

From adil you also get related words:

• keadilan – justice, fairness (noun)
  
  • Menuntut keadilan. – To demand justice.
• mengadili – to judge (in a legal or evaluative sense)
  
  • Mahkamah akan mengadili kes itu. – The court will judge that case.

In your sentence, adil describes bos: “(The) boss (is) fair.”

Why do we say adil kepada and not just adil semua ahli kelab?

In Malay, adjectives like adil often use a preposition to show who is affected.

• adil kepada [someone] – fair to [someone]
• adil terhadap [something/someone] – fair towards [something/someone]

So:

• Bos adil kepada semua ahli kelab.
  → The boss is fair to all the club members.

If you said adil semua ahli kelab (without kepada), it would sound ungrammatical. Kepada is needed to introduce the people receiving the fairness.

What is the difference between kepada and terhadap here? Could I say adil terhadap semua ahli kelab?

Both kepada and terhadap can appear after adil, but there is a nuance:

• kepada – literally “to”, often used with people/pronouns, slightly more natural in many everyday sentences.
• terhadap – “towards”, more formal / abstract, often used in writing or when talking about attitudes, policies, or treatment.

In your sentence, both are grammatically possible:

• Bos adil kepada semua ahli kelab. – Very natural in everyday speech.
• Bos adil terhadap semua ahli kelab. – Sounds a bit more formal.

For casual spoken Malay, kepada is a very safe choice with adil when talking about people.

What exactly does semua mean, and where does it usually go in the sentence?

Semua means “all / every (of)”.

Typical patterns:

1. semua + noun

   • semua ahli kelab – all (the) club members
   • semua pelajar – all (the) students

2. semua + pronoun

   • semua mereka – all of them
   • Semua kami datang. – We all came.

3. After the noun, but less common in daily speech (more emphasis / certain structures):

   • ahli kelab semua – all the club members (with a slightly different feel, often used in speech with prosodic emphasis).

In your sentence, semua comes before the noun phrase it quantifies:

• semua ahli kelab – all club members.

Why isn’t there a plural ending or word to show that ahli is plural (members)?

Malay usually does not mark plural explicitly. A noun can be singular or plural depending on context or words like semua, banyak, beberapa, dua, tiga etc.

Here:

• semua ahli kelab
  → semua already tells you it is plural (“all members”).

You can sometimes add reduplication to emphasise plurality:

• ahli-ahli kelab – member-member of the club → “(all) the members of the club”

So:

• Bos adil kepada semua ahli kelab.
• Bos adil kepada semua ahli-ahli kelab. (grammatical but sounds a bit heavy/redundant; usually you don’t need both semua and the reduplication together in everyday use).

What does ahli mean, and where else might I see this word?

Ahli generally means “member” or “expert/specialist”, depending on context.

Common uses:

• ahli kelab – club member
• ahli keluarga – family member
• ahli politik – politician
• ahli muzik – musician (literally “music expert”)
• ahli sejarah – historian

In your sentence, ahli kelab clearly means club members.

Why is it ahli kelab and not kelab ahli? In English we say “club members”, but “club” comes first.

Malay noun phrases usually follow this pattern:

[head noun] + [describing noun/phrase]

So:

• ahli kelab
  
  • ahli – head noun (“member”)
  • kelab – describes what kind of member (of a club)
    → “club member(s)”

If you said kelab ahli, it would mean something like “a club of (some) members” and is not how you normally say “club members”.

Other examples:

• baju sekolah – school uniform (lit. “clothes [of] school”)
• guru matematik – math teacher
• ahli keluarga – family member

The thing being described almost always comes first in Malay.

Is this sentence formal or informal? Would it be okay in a formal text?

The sentence is grammatically correct, but the word bos gives it a more informal / conversational tone.

For everyday speech:

• Bos adil kepada semua ahli kelab. – completely fine.

For something more formal (e.g. a report or official statement), you might see:

• Ketua kelab berlaku adil kepada semua ahli.
• Ketua bersikap adil terhadap semua ahli kelab.

So: structure is fine, but the choice of vocabulary (especially bos) controls the level of formality.

How would I make this sentence negative, like “The boss is not fair to all the club members”?

To negate an adjective in Malay, use tidak before the adjective.

• Bos tidak adil kepada semua ahli kelab.
  → The boss is not fair to all the club members.

If you just want “The boss is not fair”:

• Bos tidak adil.

How do I talk about past or future with this sentence, since there is no tense marking?

Malay verbs and adjectives do not change form for past, present, or future. You usually show time with time expressions or optional particles.

Same basic sentence:

• Bos adil kepada semua ahli kelab.

Add time words:

• Semalam, bos adil kepada semua ahli kelab.
  – Yesterday, the boss was fair to all the club members.

• Esok, bos akan adil kepada semua ahli kelab.
  – Tomorrow, the boss will be fair to all the club members.
  (akan = will / shall, optional but common for future.)

You can also add sudah / telah for completed actions in more formal style:

• Bos telah/‌sudah adil kepada semua ahli kelab.
  – The boss has been fair to all the club members. (context decides exact English tense.)

How can I say “The boss is very fair to all the club members”?

Add an intensifier before adil, such as sangat, amat, or begitu.

Examples:

• Bos sangat adil kepada semua ahli kelab.
• Bos amat adil kepada semua ahli kelab.

Both mean: “The boss is very fair to all the club members.”