Learn Hardcore Malay: Dia tidak benci kerja; sebaliknya dia benci jadual yang tidak jelas. - He/She does not hate work; instead he/she hates a schedule that is not clear.

Dia guru matematik itu. – He/She is that math teacher.
If you really need to be explicit, you can add words like lelaki (male) or perempuan (female):
Dia lelaki itu. – That man / He (male)
Dia perempuan itu. – That woman / She (female)

But in everyday Malay, dia alone is usually enough; the listener infers gender from the situation.

Why is tidak used here and not bukan?

In Malay:

tidak is used to negate verbs and adjectives.
bukan is used to negate nouns or equative statements (X is not Y).

In dia tidak benci kerja:

benci kerja = “hate work” → this is a verb phrase (“to hate work”).
So you use tidak:
dia tidak benci kerja – he/she does not hate work

Examples with bukan for contrast:

Dia bukan doktor. – He/She is not a doctor. (noun)
Itu bukan kerjanya. – That is not his/her work. (noun phrase)

Why is benci repeated? Could we avoid saying dia benci twice?

Malay often repeats the verb for clarity and rhythm, especially when contrasting two things:

Dia tidak benci kerja; sebaliknya dia benci jadual yang tidak jelas.
→ He doesn’t hate work; instead, he hates the unclear schedule.

You normally do not replace the verb with something like “it” as in English. You also wouldn’t usually omit it:

✗ …; sebaliknya jadual yang tidak jelas. – feels incomplete.

You could rephrase to avoid repeating benci, for example:

Dia bukannya benci kerja, cuma dia tidak suka jadual yang tidak jelas.
– He doesn’t actually hate the work, he just doesn’t like the unclear schedule.

But in the original structure, repeating benci is very natural and clear.

What is the difference between kerja and pekerjaan?

Both relate to “work”, but with different typical uses:

kerja
- noun: work (in general), job, tasks
  - Saya ada banyak kerja. – I have a lot of work.
- verb: to work
  - Saya kerja di Kuala Lumpur. – I work in Kuala Lumpur.
pekerjaan
- noun: job / occupation / employment (more formal or specific)
  - Apa pekerjaan kamu? – What is your occupation?

In dia tidak benci kerja, kerja means the work itself / the act of working.
If you used pekerjaan there, it would sound more like “He doesn’t hate his job (position/occupation)” rather than the work activity.

What exactly does sebaliknya mean, and how is it used?

Sebaliknya roughly means “instead”, “on the contrary”, or “rather”. It introduces a contrast.

In the sentence:

…; sebaliknya dia benci jadual yang tidak jelas.
– …; instead, he hates the unclear schedule.

Typical positions and patterns:

After a semicolon or period:
- Dia tidak setuju; sebaliknya dia membantah dengan kuat.
At the start of a new sentence:
- Saya tidak marah. Sebaliknya, saya faham. – I’m not angry. Instead, I understand.

It works much like “instead / on the contrary” in English.

Why is there a semicolon (;) in this Malay sentence? Could we use a comma or a full stop instead?

The semicolon works in Malay very similarly to English: it links two closely related independent clauses.

Here, it separates:

Dia tidak benci kerja;
sebaliknya dia benci jadual yang tidak jelas.

You could also write:

Dia tidak benci kerja. Sebaliknya dia benci jadual yang tidak jelas.
(full stop, more separation)
or
Dia tidak benci kerja, sebaliknya dia benci jadual yang tidak jelas.
(comma, also common in everyday writing)

The semicolon is stylistic; it’s not a special Malay-only rule.

What is the role of yang in jadual yang tidak jelas?

Yang introduces a relative clause or descriptive phrase that explains or describes the noun before it.

jadual – schedule
tidak jelas – not clear
jadual yang tidak jelas – the schedule that is not clear / an unclear schedule

So yang here works like “that is / which is” in English:

literally: schedule that is not clear

This noun + yang + description pattern is very common in Malay:

orang yang baik – person who is good / a kind person
rumah yang besar – house that is big / a big house
peraturan yang ketat – rules that are strict / strict rules

Can we drop yang and say dia benci jadual tidak jelas?

In this case, you should keep yang.

Jadual yang tidak jelas is the natural way to say “an unclear schedule”. Without yang,

jadual tidak jelas sounds awkward and less grammatical in standard Malay.

Some short, very common adjectives can appear directly after a noun without yang, but many descriptive phrases (especially longer ones like tidak jelas) normally use yang:

lelaki tinggi (sometimes heard) vs lelaki yang tinggi (standard)
but with tidak jelas, you’d strongly prefer jadual yang tidak jelas.

Can tidak be shortened to tak here? What’s the difference?

Yes, you could say:

Dia tak benci kerja; sebaliknya dia benci jadual yang tak jelas.

Differences:

tidak – standard, neutral, suitable for formal and informal contexts.
tak – informal/colloquial, very common in speech and casual writing (texts, chats).

In formal writing (essays, official documents, exams), prefer tidak.
In everyday conversation, tak is extremely common and sounds natural.

What does jadual cover in Malay? Does it mean “timetable”, “schedule”, or something else?

Jadual is quite flexible. It usually means schedule / timetable / plan of times. Common uses:

jadual kerja – work schedule
jadual kelas – class timetable
jadual penerbangan – flight schedule

It can also refer to things like tables in documents (e.g. jadual 1, jadual 2 = table 1, table 2), but in everyday life it usually means a time-based schedule.

In the sentence, jadual is best understood as work schedule / timetable, depending on context.

How do you show plural for jadual? Is jadual here “schedule” or “schedules”?

Malay usually doesn’t mark plural with an ending. Jadual can mean “schedule” or “schedules”, depending on context.

In dia benci jadual yang tidak jelas, it could mean:

the schedule that is unclear, or
schedules that are unclear

If you really need to emphasize plural, you can use:

jadual-jadual – repeated form (formal/written)
beberapa jadual – several schedules
semua jadual – all the schedules

Example:

Dia benci semua jadual yang tidak jelas. – He/She hates all the schedules that are not clear.