Saya mengisi borang permohonan di rumah.

I fill in the application form at home.

Breakdown of Saya mengisi borang permohonan di rumah.

• saya: I
• di: at
• rumah: the home
• mengisi: to fill in
• borang permohonan: the application form

Questions & Answers about Saya mengisi borang permohonan di rumah.

Is Saya always “I”? Can it mean anything else?

Saya is the standard, neutral, polite word for “I / me” in Malay.

• It’s appropriate in almost all situations: formal, informal, with strangers, at work, etc.
• In very informal speech among close friends or younger people, you might also hear aku for “I”, which is less formal and can sound rude if used with the wrong person.

In this sentence, Saya clearly means “I” as the subject of the sentence: “I filled in the application form at home.”

What is the basic meaning of mengisi and what is its root word?

The verb mengisi comes from the root word isi, which means “content / filling / to fill”.

• isi (root): content, contents; to fill
  
  • e.g. isi botol – the contents of the bottle
• mengisi (meN- + isi): “to fill (something)” / “to fill in/out”

In this sentence, mengisi is used in the sense of “to fill in / to fill out (a form)”.

So mengisi borang = “to fill in the form”.

Why do we say mengisi and not just isi in this sentence?

Both isi borang and mengisi borang can appear in real Malay, but they are used a bit differently:

• mengisi borang – full verb phrase
  
  • Used in normal complete sentences with an explicit subject:
    
    • Saya mengisi borang permohonan. – I fill in the application form.
• isi borang – more like an instruction / command, or a shortened informal style
  
  • Often seen on signs, forms, or spoken as an imperative:
    
    • Sila isi borang ini. – Please fill in this form.
    • Isi borang dulu. – Fill in the form first.

In your sentence, you need a finite verb with the subject Saya, so mengisi is the standard form.

Why is the prefix meng- used with isi? How is it formed?

Malay has a verbal prefix meN- (often just written as me- in textbooks) that attaches to root words to form active verbs. Its shape changes depending on the first sound of the root.

For isi (which starts with a vowel i):

• meN- + isi → mengisi

Rule of thumb:

• Before vowels (a, e, i, o, u), meN- usually becomes meng-.
• So: isi → mengisi (“to fill in / to fill up something”).

So mengisi is simply the “active verb” form of isi.

Does mengisi mean “filled” (past) here? How do you show tense in Malay?

Malay verbs, including mengisi, do not change form for tense. The same verb form can mean:

• present: I am filling in the form.
• past: I filled in the form.
• future: I will fill in the form.

The tense is understood from:

• Context, and/or
• Time words, e.g.
  
  • tadi – earlier, just now
  • semalam – yesterday
  • akan – will

So:

• Saya mengisi borang permohonan di rumah.
  Could be:
  • I fill in the application form at home.
  • I filled in the application form at home.
  • I will fill in the application form at home.

Native speakers use context or add time expressions if needed:

• Tadi saya mengisi borang permohonan di rumah. – Earlier I filled in the application form at home.
• Esok saya akan mengisi borang permohonan di rumah. – Tomorrow I will fill in the application form at home.

What exactly does borang permohonan mean, and why is the order like that?

borang permohonan is a compound noun:

• borang – form (as in a document to be filled in)
• permohonan – application / request / appeal (from root mohon = to request; permohonan = the act/thing of requesting → application)

So borang permohonan literally is “application form” (a form used for an application).

Malay compound nouns generally go:

main noun (head) + describing noun

So:

• borang (form) + permohonan (application)
• Not permohonan borang, which would sound odd or reversed.

Other examples:

• tiket bas – bus ticket (tiket = ticket, bas = bus)
• kad kredit – credit card (kad = card, kredit = credit)

There’s no word like “a” or “the” before borang permohonan. How do I know if it’s “a form” or “the form”?

Malay generally doesn’t have articles like “a/an” or “the”.
borang permohonan by itself can mean:

• “an application form”
• “the application form”

Which one is meant depends on context, not on any word in the sentence.

If a speaker wants to specify, they might add other words:

• satu borang permohonan – one application form / an application form
• borang permohonan itu – that application form / the application form
  
  • itu = that / the (post‑posed demonstrative)

But in many cases, Malay leaves it as just borang permohonan, and listeners infer the meaning from the situation.

Does permohonan mean the same thing as the English loanword aplikasi (application)?

Not exactly.

• permohonan – application / request, in the sense of formally asking for something (a job, a visa, assistance, etc.)
• aplikasi (loanword from English application) has two main modern uses:
  • app / software: phone apps, computer applications
    
    • aplikasi telefon – phone app
  • in some bureaucratic / technical contexts it can also mean “application”, but permohonan is the more native/standard term for “application (for something)” on forms.

For “application form” (for a job, scholarship, etc.), borang permohonan is the natural phrase, not borang aplikasi.

Why is the location phrase di rumah at the end? Could it go elsewhere?

The basic neutral word order in Malay is:

Subject – Verb – Object – (Place/Time/etc.)

So your sentence:

• Saya (subject)
• mengisi (verb)
• borang permohonan (object)
• di rumah (place phrase)

This is the most natural order:
Saya mengisi borang permohonan di rumah.

You can sometimes move di rumah for emphasis, but it changes the feel:

• Di rumah, saya mengisi borang permohonan.
  
  • “At home, I fill in the application form.”
  • Emphasises “at home”, sounds a bit more formal or contrastive.

For everyday speech, the original order is standard and best.

Does di rumah mean specifically “at my home”? Should I say di rumah saya instead?

di rumah literally means “at home” or “in the house”, without saying whose home.

In practice:

• If Saya is the subject and nothing else is mentioned, di rumah is usually understood as “at my home / at home”.
• To be explicit, you can say di rumah saya – at my house.

Compare:

• Saya mengisi borang permohonan di rumah.
  
  • I filled in the application form at home (implied: my home).
• Saya mengisi borang permohonan di rumah kawan saya.
  
  • I filled in the application form at my friend’s house.
• Saya mengisi borang permohonan di rumah sewa.
  
  • I filled in the application form at the rented house.

So di rumah alone is often enough to mean “at home”.

Is rumah ever used without di? When do I use di?

di is a preposition meaning “at / in / on” (for location).

• When you’re talking about where something happens, use di before the place word:
  • di rumah – at home
  • di sekolah – at school
  • di pejabat – at the office

Without di, rumah by itself just means “house / home” as a noun:

• Itu rumah saya. – That is my house.
• Rumah itu besar. – The house is big.

So in a location phrase like “at home”, you must say di rumah, not just rumah.

Can I drop Saya and just say Mengisi borang permohonan di rumah?

In a full sentence with a personal action, you normally keep the subject:

• Saya mengisi borang permohonan di rumah.

If you say only Mengisi borang permohonan di rumah, it sounds like:

• A headline, note, or fragment, or
• An instruction (if you change the tone), but even then, imperatives usually use isi, not mengisi:

For instruction/command:

• Isi borang permohonan di rumah. – Fill in the application form at home.

So for a normal statement about yourself, keep Saya.

Is there a passive version of this sentence, and when would it be used?

Yes, Malay has passive forms. A passive version might be:

• Borang permohonan itu diisi oleh saya di rumah.
  
  • The application form was filled in by me at home.

Breakdown:

• borang permohonan itu – that / the application form
• diisi – is/was filled in (passive form of mengisi)
• oleh saya – by me
• di rumah – at home

Passive sentences are used more in:

• Formal writing, reports, official documents
• When you want to focus on the object (the form) rather than the doer (me)

In everyday spoken Malay, the active sentence:

• Saya mengisi borang permohonan di rumah.

is more common and more natural.