Learn Hardcore Malay: Dia kata suami dan isteri yang selalu sokong satu sama lain biasanya lebih bahagia. - He/She says husbands and wives who always support each other are usually happier.

dia kata
- Very common, neutral, everyday speech.
- Slightly more to the casual side, but still fine in most situations.
- Structure: dia (he/she) + kata (said).
dia cakap
- Also very common and informal.
- Feels a bit more colloquial and spoken.
- Often used more like “he/she was talking / saying” rather than reporting a specific statement.
dia berkata
- Sounds more formal or written, like in news reports, essays, or speeches.
- Often used with bahawa: Dia berkata bahawa… (“He/She said that…”).

So if you changed the sentence:

Dia kata suami dan isteri… – casual/neutral.
Dia cakap suami dan isteri… – more colloquial.
Dia berkata suami dan isteri… – grammatical but feels a bit incomplete; more natural as Dia berkata bahawa suami dan isteri… in formal contexts.

In English we say “He/She said that…”. Why is there no “that” after dia kata?

Malay can use a word similar to “that”: bahawa.

Formal: Dia berkata bahawa suami dan isteri…
But in everyday Malay, bahawa is usually dropped unless the style is formal.

So in speech, Dia kata suami dan isteri… already implies “He/She said that husbands and wives…”.
The conjunction bahawa is optional in most casual or neutral sentences.

Does suami dan isteri mean “a husband and (a) wife” or “husbands and wives”? How do you know singular vs plural?

Malay usually does not mark singular vs plural explicitly; context does the work.

suami dan isteri can mean:
- “a husband and (a) wife” (one specific couple), or
- “husbands and wives” (couples in general).

In this sentence:
Dia kata suami dan isteri yang selalu sokong satu sama lain biasanya lebih bahagia.
The meaning is general (“husbands and wives who always support each other are usually happier”), so suami dan isteri is being understood in a general, plural sense.

If you really wanted to stress plurality, you might see:

para suami dan isteri – “all the husbands and wives” (formal, written).
suami-isteri – as a compound meaning “married couples” or “husband and wife” as a unit:
- Pasangan suami-isteri yang… – “Married couples who…”

Why doesn’t Malay use words like “a” or “the” in suami dan isteri?

Malay has no articles like English a / an / the. Nouns usually appear without any article:

suami – “a husband / the husband / husbands” (depending on context)
isteri – “a wife / the wife / wives”

To be more specific, Malay uses other methods:

Demonstratives:
- suami itu – “that/the husband”
- isteri ini – “this/the wife”
Numerals:
- seorang suami – “a husband / one husband”
- seorang isteri – “a wife / one wife”
Context often does the rest without any marker.

What is the function of yang in suami dan isteri yang selalu sokong satu sama lain?

Yang introduces a relative clause, similar to English “who / that / which”.

Structure here:

suami dan isteri – husbands and wives
yang selalu sokong satu sama lain – who always support each other

So:

suami dan isteri yang selalu sokong satu sama lain
= “husbands and wives who always support each other”

General pattern:

orang yang rajin – people who are hardworking
rumah yang besar – house that is big
buku yang saya baca – the book that I read

Yang links the noun to the describing clause.

Why is it sokong and not menyokong? Are both correct?

Both sokong and menyokong come from the same root and are related:

sokong – root form; often used in casual speech.
menyokong – meN- verb form; feels slightly more formal or “standard”.

In this sentence, both are grammatically fine:

…yang selalu sokong satu sama lain… – casual/neutral.
…yang sentiasa menyokong satu sama lain… – a touch more formal.

In conversation, you will very often hear the root form sokong used as a verb:

Saya sokong awak. – I support you.
Kami sokong keputusan itu. – We support that decision.

In writing or formal speech, menyokong appears more often, but the meaning is the same here.

What does satu sama lain mean exactly, and how does it work? Is it the same as “each other”?

Yes, satu sama lain corresponds to “each other / one another”.

satu – one
sama – same
lain – other

Literally something like “one (and) the same other”, but as a unit it just means each other.

In the sentence:

sokong satu sama lain – “support each other”

You may also see:

saling menyokong – mutually support / support each other
saling membantu – help each other
saling menghormati – respect each other

And sometimes, especially in more formal Malay:

saling menyokong antara satu sama lain – literally “mutually support among one another” (a bit wordy but common in formal style).

Why is the word order selalu sokong and not sokong selalu?

Adverbs of frequency like selalu (“always”) usually come before the verb:

selalu sokong – always support
selalu datang lewat – always come late
jarang pergi – seldom go

sokong selalu would sound odd or would need a different context; it’s not the normal place for a frequency adverb.

So the natural order is:

(Subject) + (Adverb of frequency) + (Verb)
- Mereka selalu sokong – They always support.
- Dia jarang marah – He/She rarely gets angry.

There is no word like “are” or “is” before biasanya lebih bahagia. How is “are” expressed in Malay?

Malay often omits “to be” (am/is/are) in simple descriptive sentences, especially with adjectives.

In English:

“They are happy.”

In Malay:

Mereka bahagia. – literally “They happy.”

In the sentence:

…yang selalu sokong satu sama lain biasanya lebih bahagia.
– literally: “…who always support each other usually more happy.”

The idea of “are” is implied. You don’t need a separate verb for “are” here.

This is very common:

Dia tinggi. – He/She is tall.
Rumah itu besar. – That house is big.
Makanan ini sedap. – This food is delicious.

No separate “is/are” word is used.

What is the role of biasanya here? Could it go in a different position?

Biasanya means “usually / generally”. It is an adverb that comments on how often or how typical something is.

In the sentence:

…yang selalu sokong satu sama lain biasanya lebih bahagia.
– “…who always support each other are usually happier.”

Placement:

Current position (natural and common):
- …yang selalu sokong satu sama lain biasanya lebih bahagia.
You can also put it at the very start of the whole comment, especially in speech:
- Biasanya, suami dan isteri yang selalu sokong satu sama lain lebih bahagia.

Putting biasanya right before lebih bahagia is smooth and very natural.

How does lebih bahagia work? Is lebih like “more”? How is comparison made?

Yes, lebih means “more” and is used to make comparatives:

lebih bahagia – happier / more happy
lebih besar – bigger
lebih cepat – faster

Examples:

Dia lebih tinggi daripada adiknya. – He/She is taller than his/her younger sibling.
Bandar ini lebih bersih sekarang. – This city is cleaner now.

For the superlative (“the most”), you usually use paling:

paling bahagia – happiest / most happy
paling besar – biggest

In this sentence, lebih bahagia has a general comparative sense: “are usually happier (than those who don’t support each other, implicitly).”

Malay doesn’t show past tense here. How do we know if dia kata means “he/she said” or “he/she says”?

Malay verbs usually do not change form for tense. Kata can mean “say / says / said”, depending on context.

Dia kata… can be:

“He says…” (present)
“He said…” (past)

We know from context, time expressions, or the surrounding text. Examples:

Tadi dia kata dia tak boleh datang. – Just now he/she said he/she couldn’t come. (past, signaled by tadi.)
Setiap kali, dia kata benda yang sama. – Every time, he/she says the same thing. (habitual.)

In your sentence, if it’s telling a story that happened earlier, we interpret dia kata as “he/she said”. If it’s reporting something he/she regularly says, it could be understood as “he/she says”.

Could we say mereka instead of repeating suami dan isteri? For example, mereka biasanya lebih bahagia?

Yes, it’s possible to continue with mereka (“they”), but you need to place it carefully.

Current structure:

suami dan isteri yang selalu sokong satu sama lain biasanya lebih bahagia.

If you use mereka, you could say:

Suami dan isteri yang selalu sokong satu sama lain biasanya mereka lebih bahagia. – This is grammatical but sounds a bit clumsy and redundant.
More natural:
- Suami dan isteri yang selalu sokong satu sama lain biasanya lebih bahagia. (original)
- or split into two sentences:
  - Suami dan isteri yang selalu sokong satu sama lain – mereka biasanya lebih bahagia.

Malay often just leaves the noun phrase in place without switching to a pronoun unless it helps clarity or avoids repetition in longer passages. In this short sentence, repeating suami dan isteri is not necessary, so the original is smooth.

Is there a more formal way to say this whole sentence? What would it look like in formal Malay?

Yes. A more formal, “written” version might look like:

Beliau berkata bahawa pasangan suami isteri yang sentiasa saling menyokong antara satu sama lain lazimnya lebih bahagia.

Changes and their effects:

Beliau – very polite/formal “he/she” (used for respected persons, in news, etc.).
berkata bahawa – formal “said that”.
pasangan suami isteri – “married couple(s)”; more formal and explicit.
sentiasa instead of selalu – both mean “always”, sentiasa is a bit more formal.
saling menyokong antara satu sama lain – a more explicitly mutual “support one another”; typical formal phrase.
lazimnya instead of biasanya – both mean “usually”, lazimnya sounds more formal.

Your original:

Dia kata suami dan isteri yang selalu sokong satu sama lain biasanya lebih bahagia.

is natural, clear, and suitable for everyday spoken or neutral written Malay.