Learn Hardcore Malay: Saya semak akaun saya di telefon setiap pagi. - I check my account on the phone every morning.

Saya semak akaun saya… = I check *my account…*
If you drop the second saya and say Saya semak akaun di telefon setiap pagi, it is grammatically fine, but it becomes more general:
- It can mean I check *the account on the phone every morning* (which account? Not clearly “my” anymore).
In real conversation, if it’s already clear that you’re talking about your own account, many speakers do drop the second saya, and context fills the gap.

So:

With the second saya: clearer and more explicit.
Without it: more natural in casual speech, but slightly less explicit.

Is semak the same as check? I thought semak also means “shrub/bush”.

Yes, semak is a bit tricky because it has unrelated meanings depending on context:

Verb – semak = to check, to review, to go through
- Saya semak akaun saya… = I check/review my account…
- Tolong semak kerja saya. = Please check my work.
Noun – semak (often semak samun) = bushes, undergrowth
- Belakang rumah itu penuh dengan semak samun.
  = Behind that house is full of bushes/undergrowth.

In this sentence, because semak comes after Saya and is followed by an object (akaun saya), it is clearly a verb meaning to check or review.

Should it be menyemak instead of semak? What’s the difference?

Both exist in Malay, but they feel different in register (level of formality):

menyemak = the full meN- verb form, more formal:
- Saya menyemak akaun saya… – appropriate in writing, reports, formal speech.
semak (bare root as a verb) = very common in spoken Malay, and also acceptable in informal written Malay:
- Saya semak akaun saya… – perfectly natural in everyday conversation.

So:

In everyday speech: Saya semak akaun saya di telefon setiap pagi.
In more formal writing: Saya menyemak akaun saya di telefon setiap pagi.

Both are grammatically acceptable; it’s mainly a style choice.

Is di telefon the right way to say “on my phone”? Should it be dalam telefon or melalui telefon?

di telefon is natural and widely used in Malay to mean on the phone (device).

di telefon = on the phone (as a location/device)
- Saya semak akaun saya di telefon.
  = I check my account on the phone.

Other options:

dalam telefon = inside the phone – sounds odd for this context unless you literally mean something is stored inside the phone (e.g. gambar dalam telefon = pictures inside the phone).
melalui telefon = via/by phone – usually for calling or contacting:
- Saya hubungi dia melalui telefon. = I contacted him/her by phone.

So for checking an account using your phone as a device, di telefon is the natural choice.
If you want to be more specific, you can say di telefon bimbit (on my mobile phone) or di telefon pintar (on my smartphone).

Where can setiap pagi go? Is Saya semak akaun saya di telefon setiap pagi the only correct order?

Malay word order is quite flexible for time expressions like setiap pagi (every morning). All of these are acceptable:

Saya semak akaun saya di telefon setiap pagi.
– Very natural and neutral.
Setiap pagi, saya semak akaun saya di telefon.
– Puts extra emphasis on every morning.
Saya setiap pagi semak akaun saya di telefon.
– Also possible, but less common; sounds a bit more formal or literary.

In everyday speech, the most natural are:

At the end: … di telefon setiap pagi.
At the beginning: Setiap pagi, saya…

How do we know the sentence is about a habit (present tense) and not the past or future?

Malay does not mark tense with verb changes like English does (no check / checked / will check). Instead, it relies on time words and context.

In this sentence:

setiap pagi (every morning) tells you it is a regular habit.
So Saya semak akaun saya di telefon setiap pagi naturally means
I check my account on my phone every morning (habitual present).

If you want to show a specific past time, you add a time word:

Saya semak akaun saya di telefon tadi. = I checked my account on my phone earlier/just now.
Saya semak akaun saya di telefon semalam. = I checked my account on my phone yesterday.

Same verb form, different time word.

Is akaun just a loanword from English account? Is it used the same way?

Yes, akaun is a loanword from English account, and it is widely used.

Common uses:

akaun bank – bank account
akaun simpanan – savings account
akaun semasa – current/checking account
akaun media sosial – social media account (e.g. akaun Instagram, akaun Facebook)

In your sentence, akaun without extra context can mean:

a bank account,
an online account (for an app, website, etc.),
depending on the wider context.

So the structure akaun saya (my account) is completely natural.

Can I drop the subject and just say Semak akaun saya di telefon setiap pagi?

Yes, but the meaning changes.

Saya semak akaun saya… = I check my account… (statement about what you do).
Semak akaun saya di telefon setiap pagi.
= Check my account on the phone every morning.
This sounds like an instruction / command. You’re telling someone else what to do.

Malay often drops saya in imperatives (commands) and sometimes in informal conversation when context is super clear, but in a neutral statement about your own habits, you should keep Saya.

Is this sentence formal, informal, or somewhere in between?

It’s neutral, leaning slightly informal spoken because of the bare verb semak.

Formal-ish version:
Saya menyemak akaun saya di telefon setiap pagi.
Colloquial spoken variants might be:
- Saya cek akaun saya kat telefon setiap pagi.
  (cek from English check, kat = colloquial for di)
- Saya selalu semak akaun saya dekat telefon tiap-tiap pagi.

So your original sentence would be fine:

in conversation (natural), and
in many informal or semi-formal written contexts (emails, messages, casual reports).

Does telefon here mean “phone call” or the physical phone?

In this sentence, telefon clearly means the device (the physical phone), not a phone call.

Clue: the verb is semak akaun (check an account), which is something you do on a device, not through a call.

di telefon here = on the phone (device).
If you wanted to talk about calling someone, you’d typically use a different verb:
- telefon as a verb: Saya telefon dia setiap pagi. = I call him/her every morning.
- or hubungi melalui telefon = contact by phone.

So in your sentence, readers will understand telefon as phone (device) by context.

Is pagi singular? Do I need something like a plural marker for “every morning”?

Malay does not use plural markers the same way English does. Instead:

pagi on its own can be morning or mornings, depending on context.
setiap = every, so setiap pagi already means every morning (no extra plural form needed).

You do not say setiap pagis or anything like that; plural is not shown on the noun.

Examples:

setiap hari – every day
setiap minggu – every week
setiap malam – every night

How would I say I checked my account on my phone yesterday morning using this pattern?

You can keep the basic structure and just add a past time expression:

Saya semak akaun saya di telefon pagi semalam.

Breakdown:

Saya – I
semak – checked (same verb form; past meaning comes from context)
akaun saya – my account
di telefon – on the phone
pagi semalam – yesterday morning

You could also say:

Semalam pagi, saya semak akaun saya di telefon.
Both sound natural; pagi semalam is very common.

How do you pronounce Saya semak akaun saya di telefon setiap pagi?

An approximate pronunciation using English-like spelling:

Saya – SAH-yah
semak – suh-MAHK (short e like suh, final k not strongly released)
akaun – ah-KOWN (like a in father
- kown like down with k)
saya – SAH-yah
di – dee
telefon – TEH-leh-fohn (all vowels clear and short)
setiap – suh-TEE-ap (three syllables: se-ti-ap)
pagi – PAH-gee (hard g, as in go)

Spoken smoothly:
SAH-yah suh-MAHK ah-KOWN SAH-yah dee TEH-leh-fohn suh-TEE-ap PAH-gee.