Learn Hardcore Malay: Bajet kecil saya memaksa saya menyimpan lebih banyak duit dan berbelanja dengan hati-hati. - My small budget forces me to save more money and spend carefully.

Bajet – budget. A noun, borrowed from English.
kecil – small. An adjective describing bajet.
saya – my / I / me. Here, after the noun, it means my (possessor of the budget).
→ bajet kecil saya = my small budget.
memaksa – forces / compels. Verb. From the root paksa (force) with the prefix meN-, making it an active/transitive verb: memaksa = to force.
saya – me. Object pronoun of memaksa.
→ memaksa saya = forces me.
menyimpan – to save / to keep / to put away. Verb. From simpan with meN- → menyimpan.
lebih – more.
banyak – many / much. Often used together with lebih.
→ lebih banyak duit = more money (literally: more many money).
duit – money. Common, everyday word.
dan – and.
berbelanja – to spend (money) / to shop. Intransitive verb. From belanja (expense) with prefix ber-.
dengan – with. Used here to form an adverbial phrase: with X = in an X way.
hati-hati – carefully / cautious. Literally heart-heart (reduplication of hati, but functionally means careful).

So structurally:

Bajet kecil saya – subject (my small budget)
memaksa – main verb (forces)
saya – object (me)
menyimpan lebih banyak duit dan berbelanja dengan hati-hati – verb phrase complement (to save more money and spend carefully).

Why is the order bajet kecil saya and not saya bajet kecil or something like that?

In Malay, the usual order for noun + adjective + possessor is:

Noun + Adjective + Possessive pronoun
bajet kecil saya = budget small my = my small budget

So:

bajet – main noun (head)
kecil – adjective describing the noun
saya – possessive pronoun (my), placed after the noun phrase it owns

Alternatives and how they differ:

bajet saya yang kecil – my budget that is small
This emphasizes smallness more strongly, almost like you are contrasting it with another possible size.
bajet saya kecil – my budget is small
This is a full clause (subject + predicate), not a noun phrase. It would usually start a new sentence, e.g.
Bajet saya kecil, jadi saya perlu menyimpan lebih banyak duit.
“My budget is small, so I need to save more money.”

So bajet kecil saya is a noun phrase used as the subject of the sentence, not a full clause.

Why is saya used twice: bajet kecil saya memaksa saya…? Isn’t that redundant?

It’s not redundant; each saya has a different grammatical role:

First saya (bajet kecil saya) = possessive pronoun (my), showing who owns the budget.
Second saya (memaksa saya) = object pronoun (me), showing who is being forced.

Grammatically:

Subject: bajet kecil saya – my small budget
Verb: memaksa – forces
Object: saya – me

Literal structure:
My small budget forces me to save more money and spend carefully.

If you removed the second saya, you’d get:

✗ Bajet kecil saya memaksa menyimpan lebih banyak duit… – ungrammatical/unnatural, because memaksa normally needs an object (forces whom?).

Could I say memaksa saya untuk menyimpan… instead of memaksa saya menyimpan…? Is untuk needed?

Both are correct, but untuk is optional here.

memaksa saya menyimpan…
Very natural, especially in speech and normal writing. The second verb (menyimpan) directly follows memaksa saya.
memaksa saya untuk menyimpan…
Also correct. untuk works like “to / in order to” and makes the structure slightly more explicit or formal: forces me *to save…*

General pattern:

Verb that causes someone to do something:
memaksa / menyuruh / mengajak / menggalakkan + [object] + (untuk) + [verb]

So you can say:

Dia memaksa saya pergi.
Dia memaksa saya untuk pergi.

Both mean “He/She forced me to go,” with untuk being stylistic rather than required.

What is the nuance of menyimpan here? Does it just mean “to save money”?

menyimpan literally means to keep, to store, to put away, and by extension to save (especially money).

Nuances:

menyimpan duit – to keep/put away money (can mean “to save money” in a practical sense).
menyimpan barang – to store/keep items.
menyimpan rahsia – to keep a secret.

Other words related to “saving money”:

menabung – to save money specifically by putting it into a savings account / piggy bank, usually regularly.
berjimat or berjimat cermat – to be thrifty, to economize / cut down spending.

In your sentence:

…memaksa saya menyimpan lebih banyak duit…
= forces me to put away/save more money (general sense of saving money, not spending it).

Why is it lebih banyak duit and not just lebih duit or duit lebih?

lebih banyak duit is the clearest and most standard way to say “more money”:

lebih – more
banyak – many/much
duit – money

So lebih banyak duit = more (in quantity) money.

Other possibilities:

lebih duit
- Exists in colloquial speech.
- Can sound a bit less careful/less standard.
- Sometimes feels slightly incomplete or vague compared to lebih banyak duit.
duit lebih
- Usually means “extra money / leftover money”, not just “more money than before”.
- Example: Kalau ada duit lebih, saya akan melancong.
  “If I have extra money, I will travel.”

So in this sentence, lebih banyak duit is the best choice, because it clearly expresses a greater amount of money rather than extra/spare money.

What’s the difference between duit and wang? Which one should I use?

Both mean money, but they differ in style and context:

duit
- Very common in everyday speech.
- Informal–neutral.
- Used all the time in conversation: tak ada duit, pinjam duit, etc.
wang
- More formal or written style.
- Often appears in official documents, news, banking, etc.
- Example: wang kertas (banknotes), wang tunai (cash).

In this sentence:

menyimpan lebih banyak duit – perfectly natural for spoken language or casual writing.
A more formal version might be: menyimpan lebih banyak wang.

As a learner, duit is safe and very natural in most everyday contexts.

What does berbelanja mean exactly, and how is it different from membelanjakan?

Both come from belanja (expense/spending), but they function differently:

berbelanja
- Intransitive verb.
- Means to spend money / to go shopping.
- Focuses on the activity from the spender’s side.
- Example: Saya suka berbelanja di pasar malam.
  “I like to shop at the night market.”
membelanjakan
- Transitive verb (needs an object).
- Means to spend (something), usually specifying the money or the amount spent.
- Example: Dia membelanjakan RM500 untuk pakaian.
  “He/She spent RM500 on clothes.”

In your sentence:

…dan berbelanja dengan hati-hati.
= and spend (money) carefully / and shop carefully.

If you used membelanjakan, you’d normally expect an object:

…dan membelanjakan duit dengan hati-hati.
(also grammatical, but slightly heavier and more explicit).

What is the structure and meaning of dengan hati-hati? Why is hati repeated?

dengan hati-hati works as an adverbial phrase meaning “carefully”.

Structure:

dengan – with
hati-hati – careful / cautiously

So literally: “with care-care”, functionally “carefully / in a careful way”.

About the repetition:

hati-hati is a reduplicated form of hati (“heart”/“inner feelings”), but in this fixed expression it simply means careful.
Reduplication in Malay often adds nuances like intensity, repetition, or forms a particular lexical meaning (here: “careful”).

Compare:

Dia sangat hati-hati. – “He/She is very careful.”
Berjalanlah dengan hati-hati. – “Walk carefully.”

You might also see:

berhati-hati – a verb-like form: to be careful.
Dia berhati-hati ketika memandu. – “He/She is careful when driving.”

But after dengan, the usual and natural form is dengan hati-hati, not dengan berhati-hati.

Do I need to repeat saya before berbelanja, like …memaksa saya menyimpan… dan saya berbelanja…?

No, you do not need to repeat saya. The original is already natural and correct:

…memaksa saya menyimpan lebih banyak duit dan berbelanja dengan hati-hati.

Here:

saya is the understood subject of both menyimpan and berbelanja.
Structure: memaksa saya [menyimpan … dan berbelanja …]

You would usually only repeat saya if you want to change the structure more drastically, for emphasis or clarity in a more complex sentence, e.g.:

Bajet kecil saya memaksa saya menyimpan lebih banyak duit, dan saya berbelanja dengan hati-hati setiap kali.

But with a simple chain of verbs like in your sentence, one saya is enough and more natural.

Does this sentence show past, present, or future? How do I know the tense?

Malay verbs do not change form for tense (no -ed, -ing, etc.). The bare verb form is used, and time is understood from context or from time words.

So:

Bajet kecil saya memaksa saya menyimpan lebih banyak duit dan berbelanja dengan hati-hati.

can mean, depending on context:

Present/general habit:
“My small budget forces me to save more money and spend carefully.”
(most natural default reading)
Past:
In the right context:
Tahun lepas, bajet kecil saya memaksa saya menyimpan…
“Last year, my small budget forced me to save…”
Future:
With a future marker:
Mulai tahun depan, bajet kecil saya akan memaksa saya menyimpan…
“Starting next year, my small budget will force me to save…”

If no time words appear, the sentence is usually read as present/general truth or ongoing situation.

Is the whole sentence more formal or informal? Would it sound natural in conversation?

The sentence is natural and neutral, suitable for everyday conversation and also for semi-formal writing:

bajet – common and neutral (loanword, but fully integrated)
duit – slightly informal, very natural in speech
memaksa, menyimpan, berbelanja, dengan hati-hati – all standard words

In casual speech, someone might shorten or alter it slightly, for example:

Bajet kecil saya buat saya kena simpan lebih banyak duit dan belanja dengan hati-hati.

But your original sentence:

Bajet kecil saya memaksa saya menyimpan lebih banyak duit dan berbelanja dengan hati-hati.

is perfectly natural, clear, and acceptable in both spoken and written Malay.