Learn Hardcore Malay: Abang saya murah hati dan selalu tambah sedikit duit ke dalam simpanan saya. - My older brother is generous and always adds a bit of money into my savings.

…but this is more colloquial / informal and slightly longer. In most neutral sentences, abang saya is the most natural and standard way to say my older brother.

What does “abang” mean exactly? Is it just “brother”?

Abang specifically means:

older brother (male, older than the speaker)

A few notes:

For older sister, you use kakak.
For younger siblings, adik can mean younger brother or younger sister.
Abang is also often used politely to address an adult man who is a bit older than you (like “big brother” or “bro” in a polite way), especially in Malaysia.

So Abang saya = “my older brother,” not just any brother of any age.

What does “murah hati” literally mean, and why does it mean “generous”?

Literally:

murah = cheap, inexpensive
hati = heart

So murah hati literally looks like “cheap-hearted,” but idiomatically it means kind / generous.

This is a fixed expression in Malay:

Dia sangat murah hati. = He/She is very generous.

You wouldn’t normally translate it word-for-word into English; it’s an idiom meaning generous / kind-hearted, not cheap-hearted.

Why is there no pronoun like “dia” in the second part? Why not “Abang saya murah hati dan dia selalu tambah…”?

Malay often omits repeated subjects when the subject is clear from context.

Your sentence:

Abang saya murah hati dan selalu tambah sedikit duit ke dalam simpanan saya.

Literally: “My older brother is generous and always adds a bit of money to my savings.”

The understood structure is:

Abang saya murah hati
(Abang saya) selalu tambah sedikit duit ke dalam simpanan saya.

Repeating dia (“he”) is optional:

Abang saya murah hati dan dia selalu tambah sedikit duit…

This is also correct, just slightly more explicit. Both are natural.

Why is the verb “tambah” used without the prefix “men-”? What is the difference between “tambah” and “menambah”?

Both tambah and menambah come from the same root and can often mean “to add,” but there’s a nuance:

tambah – base verb, very common in speech; can sound more casual and general.
menambah – meN- prefixed verb; often sounds a bit more formal or “complete” as a transitive verb.

In many everyday sentences, both are acceptable:

Dia tambah duit ke dalam akaun saya.
Dia menambah duit ke dalam akaun saya.

Your sentence uses tambah, which is perfectly natural and common in spoken and informal written Malay. In a very formal context (formal writing, reports), menambah might be preferred.

Why is it “sedikit duit” and not “duit sedikit”? Does word order change the meaning?

Both are possible, but the emphasis is slightly different.

sedikit duit
- “a bit of money / a small amount of money”
- sedikit behaves like a quantifier before the noun
- neutral, common way to say a small amount of X
duit sedikit
- literally “money (that is) a little”
- can sound more like a description of the money as little, sometimes used when contrasting amounts or describing how little you have

In your sentence, sedikit duit is the most natural way to say a bit of money (quantity focus). Using duit sedikit here would sound a bit odd or at least less natural.

What is the difference between “duit” and “wang”?

Both mean money, but usage differs:

duit
- very common in everyday speech
- informal / neutral
- used in conversation, casual writing, etc.
wang
- more formal
- used in formal documents, government forms, banking terms, official language

In your sentence, duit fits well because you’re describing a personal, everyday situation. Saying wang would sound too formal for this context.

What does “ke dalam” mean, and how is it different from just “ke” or just “dalam”?

Basic meanings:

ke = to, towards (direction)
dalam = in, inside

When combined:

ke dalam = into (movement from outside to inside)

So:

ke dalam simpanan saya = into my savings

Comparisons:

ke simpanan saya
- “to my savings” – direction only, less specific about the idea of “into”
dalam simpanan saya
- “in my savings” – location only, not movement

In your sentence, ke dalam is good because it emphasizes the action of putting money into the savings, not just the location.

What exactly does “simpanan” mean? Is it just “savings”?

Simpanan is a noun formed from the verb simpan (to keep, to store, to save).

Common meanings of simpanan:

savings (especially money saved)
things kept / stored away
a reserve / something kept in reserve

In your sentence:

simpanan saya = my savings (usually understood as money saved, e.g., in a bank or a piggy bank)

So yes, here it means savings, not just any random stored items.

Is there any tense marker in this sentence? How do we know it means “always adds” and not “always added” or “will always add”?

Malay generally does not mark tense with verb changes. Instead, it relies on:

context
time words (e.g., semalam = yesterday, esok = tomorrow)
adverbs like selalu (always), sering (often), kadang-kadang (sometimes)

In your sentence:

selalu = always

This tells us it’s a habitual action. In English, we naturally translate that as:

My older brother is generous and always adds a bit of money to my savings.

But depending on context, the same Malay sentence could be interpreted with present, past, or future reference if additional context is given. The default, without extra time words, is often a generic/habitual present.

Could I say “Abang saya pemurah” instead of “Abang saya murah hati”? Would it sound different?

Yes, you can.

pemurah also means generous.
- It’s derived from murah with the prefix pe-, forming a noun/adjective meaning “a generous person / generous.”

So:

Abang saya murah hati.
Abang saya pemurah.

Both mean “My older brother is generous.”

Nuance:

murah hati – slightly more idiomatic and descriptive (“kind-hearted / generous”).
pemurah – more compact, maybe a bit more formal or “dictionary-like.”

Both are correct and natural.