Learn Hardcore Malay: Saya semak bajet saya setiap bulan di telefon sebelum makan di restoran mahal. - I check my budget every month on my phone before eating at an expensive restaurant.

Saya menyemak bajet saya…
- This is the fully inflected, more formal/standard form.
- The verb root is semak, and when you add the meN- prefix, it becomes menyemak.
Saya semak bajet saya…
- This is very common in everyday spoken Malay.
- In casual speech, Malays often drop the meN- prefix, especially after pronouns like saya, kami, dia, etc.
- It sounds natural in conversation, messages, and informal writing, but slightly informal for very formal texts.

So:

For speaking or informal writing: Saya semak bajet saya… is fine.
For formal writing (essays, reports, exams): Saya menyemak bajet saya… is safer.

Does the word semak also mean “bushes / scrub”? Isn’t that confusing?

Yes, semak has two main meanings:

Noun: semak = scrub / bushes / undergrowth.
- Example: Belukar dan semak di belakang rumah itu sangat tebal.
  (The bushes and undergrowth behind that house are very thick.)
Verb root: semak = to check / review / go through.
- Verb forms: menyemak, disemak, etc.
- Your sentence uses this meaning: semak bajet = check/review the budget.

Malay relies on context to disambiguate:

If it comes after a verb prefix (meN-, di-, ter-) or directly after a subject as an action, it’s the verb.
If it appears like a thing in the sentence (ada semak, dalam semak), it’s the noun.

In Saya semak bajet saya…, the presence of saya as subject and bajet as object makes it clearly a verb (“I check”). There’s no real confusion for native speakers.

Is it necessary to repeat saya in “Saya semak bajet saya”? Can I say “Saya semak bajet setiap bulan…” instead?

You don’t have to repeat saya in bajet saya. Both are correct, with a small nuance:

Saya semak bajet saya setiap bulan…
- Literally: I check my budget every month…
- Emphasises that the budget belongs to me.
- Useful if there could be confusion about whose budget it is.
Saya semak bajet setiap bulan…
- Literally: I check the budget every month…
- In context, it will still usually be understood as my budget, unless a shared/company budget is being discussed.

So yes, “Saya semak bajet setiap bulan…” is fine and natural, especially when context already makes it clear whose budget it is.

Why is it bajet and not belanjawan? Which word should I use for “budget”?

Both are valid, but they differ in usage and feel:

bajet
- Loanword from English “budget”.
- Very common in everyday speech and informal writing.
- Typical for personal finance:
  - bajet bulanan, bajet saya, bajet makan (monthly budget, my budget, food budget).
belanjawan
- More formal and used mainly in official / government contexts:
  - Belanjawan Negara (National Budget), belanjawan kerajaan (government budget).
- Sounds quite formal for a personal money-tracking context.

In your sentence about checking your budget on your phone, bajet is the most natural choice.

Is the word order “… bajet saya setiap bulan di telefon …” fixed? Could I say “… bajet saya di telefon setiap bulan …” instead?

The word order here is not fixed, and Malay allows some flexibility with adverbials (time, place, manner).

Your original:

Saya semak bajet saya setiap bulan di telefon sebelum makan di restoran mahal.
- Time: setiap bulan
- Place/manner: di telefon

Alternative, also correct:

Saya semak bajet saya di telefon setiap bulan sebelum makan di restoran mahal.

Both are grammatical and natural. Subtle tendencies:

Many speakers like placing time before place:
- … bajet saya setiap bulan di telefon …
But … di telefon setiap bulan … does not sound wrong and will be understood.

In practice, both orders are used; context and rhythm of speech decide which feels nicer.

Why is it di telefon for “on the phone”? Should it be pada telefon or dalam telefon?

For “on my phone” / “on the phone” in the sense of using the phone as a device, Malay typically uses di.

di telefon
- Most natural, broad meaning: on/by phone, on the phone (device).
- In your sentence: … di telefon = using the phone (probably an app, notes, etc.) to check the budget.

Alternatives and nuances:

di telefon saya
- On my phone (makes the ownership explicit).
dalam telefon
- Literally inside the phone; used more when emphasising something stored in the phone (contacts, data).
- E.g. Nombor itu ada dalam telefon saya. (The number is in my phone.)
pada telefon
- Grammatically possible, but sounds stiff for this context and is not the usual way to say “on the phone”.

So di telefon is the best, most natural choice here.

Can I say “sebelum saya makan di restoran mahal” instead of “sebelum makan di restoran mahal”? Why is the subject missing in sebelum makan?

Yes, you can say “sebelum saya makan di restoran mahal”. The difference:

sebelum makan di restoran mahal
- Literally: before eating at an expensive restaurant
- The subject (“I”) is understood from context, because the previous clause already has Saya.
- Very natural and common in Malay to omit the repeated subject in linked clauses, as long as it’s clear who is doing the action.
sebelum saya makan di restoran mahal
- Literally: before I eat at an expensive restaurant
- Also correct; just repeats the subject explicitly.
- Slightly more formal/explicit; might be used if there could be ambiguity about who is eating.

In everyday speech, sebelum makan… is perfectly natural after a clause with Saya.

Why is it “di restoran mahal” and not “di sebuah restoran mahal”? Don’t we need a word like “a” in Malay?

Malay generally does not require an article equivalent to English “a” or “an”.

di restoran mahal
- Can mean “at expensive restaurants” in a general sense, or “at an expensive restaurant” depending on context.
- Very natural way to talk generally about eating at expensive restaurants.

If you want to emphasise one restaurant (more like “at an expensive restaurant, one restaurant at a time”), you can add a classifier:

di sebuah restoran mahal
- sebuah is a classifier often used for buildings, objects, etc.
- This sounds like at an (individual) expensive restaurant, but in this sentence it’s still not necessary.

So di restoran mahal is fully correct and idiomatic, and Malay often leaves the “a/an” idea to be inferred from context.

Why is there no yang before mahal? When do I need to say “restoran yang mahal”?

In Malay, adjectives usually come directly after the noun without any linking word:

restoran mahal = expensive restaurant
baju baru = new shirt
rumah besar = big house

So restoran mahal is the normal way to say “an expensive restaurant”.

You use yang mainly:

To introduce relative clauses:
- restoran yang saya suka (the restaurant that I like)
- restoran yang mahal itu (that restaurant which is expensive)
To add special emphasis or focus on the adjective:
- Saya tak suka restoran yang mahal.
  (Here yang mahal can feel more contrastive/emphatic: the ones that are expensive.)

In your sentence, the simple description restoran mahal (noun + adjective) is the most natural form.

Is “setiap bulan” the only way to say “every month”? What about “tiap-tiap bulan”?

There are several ways to say “every month” in Malay, with slightly different feels:

setiap bulan
- Very common and neutral, works in both formal and informal contexts.
- Used in your sentence correctly.
tiap-tiap bulan
- More colloquial; the reduplication adds emphasis.
- Sounds like every single month.
- Common in speech: Saya semak bajet tiap-tiap bulan.
tiap bulan
- Shorter, also common in speech.
sebulan sekali
- Literally: once a month.
- Describes frequency, not literally every month (though often functionally similar).

Your choice setiap bulan sounds natural and clear.

Is this sentence formal, informal, or neutral overall?

Your sentence is mostly neutral with a slight informal feel, because of semak without the meN- prefix:

Neutral elements:
- Saya (formal/neutral “I”)
- bajet, setiap bulan, di telefon, sebelum makan, di restoran mahal — all fine in most contexts.
Slightly informal element:
- Saya semak instead of Saya menyemak.

To make it more formal, you could say:

Saya menyemak bajet saya setiap bulan di telefon sebelum makan di restoran mahal.

To make it more casual, you might also change saya to aku in the right social context:

Aku semak bajet aku setiap bulan dalam telefon sebelum makan kat restoran mahal.
(This version adds more colloquial elements like aku, dalam telefon, kat.)

Could I say “makan di restoran yang mahal” instead of “makan di restoran mahal”?

Yes, makan di restoran yang mahal is grammatically correct, but it changes the nuance slightly:

makan di restoran mahal
- Simple description: eat at expensive restaurants / an expensive restaurant in general.
- Feels more descriptive and neutral.
makan di restoran yang mahal
- yang mahal more strongly picks out the ones that are expensive — a bit more contrastive or emphatic.
- It can imply a contrast with restoran yang murah (cheap restaurants).

In your context (a general habit before eating at expensive restaurants), makan di restoran mahal is smoother and more typical. Use yang when you need relative clause structure or extra emphasis.

Could the sentence start with the time phrase, like “Setiap bulan, saya semak bajet saya…”?

Yes, that’s very natural and often sounds good stylistically:

Setiap bulan, saya semak bajet saya di telefon sebelum makan di restoran mahal.

In Malay, it’s common to place time expressions at the beginning for emphasis or clarity:

Hari ini, saya… (Today, I…)
Pada waktu malam, mereka… (At night, they…)

Placing setiap bulan at the start highlights the regularity of the action. Both orders are correct:

Saya semak bajet saya setiap bulan…
Setiap bulan, saya semak bajet saya…

Choose based on what you want to emphasize.