Breakdown of Kadang-kadang saya juga mahu belajar sendirian di perpustakaan.
Questions & Answers about Kadang-kadang saya juga mahu belajar sendirian di perpustakaan.
Kadang-kadang is a reduplicated form: kadang + kadang. The reduplication is what gives the meaning sometimes / from time to time.
- kadang-kadang = sometimes, occasionally
- kadang on its own is not normally used in modern Malay with that meaning; you should say kadang-kadang, not just kadang.
- The hyphen is the standard way to write many reduplicated words in Malay (e.g. pelan-pelan, buku-buku).
Kadang-kadang is an adverb of frequency, and it is quite flexible:
- Kadang-kadang saya juga mahu belajar sendirian di perpustakaan.
- Saya kadang-kadang juga mahu belajar sendirian di perpustakaan.
Both are natural. Putting kadang-kadang at the beginning (sentence 1) makes sometimes slightly more prominent.
You would not usually put it in the middle of the verb phrase like:
✗ Saya mahu kadang-kadang belajar sendirian di perpustakaan. (sounds awkward)
Both mean I, but they differ in formality and register.
- saya
- Polite, neutral, standard.
- Used in most situations: with strangers, in formal speech, in writing, at work, with teachers, etc.
- aku
- Informal, intimate.
- Used with close friends, within family (depending on family culture), in songs, poems, casual speech.
- Can sound rude or too familiar if used with someone you are not close to.
In this sentence, saya is the safest choice for learners and fits a neutral/polite tone.
Juga means also, too, or as well.
In the sentence:
Kadang-kadang saya juga mahu belajar sendirian di perpustakaan.
it implies: Sometimes I also want to study alone in the library (in addition to other things / other ways of studying).
Placement options:
- Saya juga mahu belajar sendirian di perpustakaan.
- Saya mahu belajar sendirian di perpustakaan juga.
Both are possible, but:
- juga near the verb (saya juga mahu) usually emphasizes I also want to.
- juga at the end (…di perpustakaan juga) often emphasizes the library as an additional place.
Your original sentence emphasizes that you also have this desire, or this is another option for you.
Mahu is very close to want to or would like to.
Common alternatives:
- hendak – slightly more formal or literary, but also common in speech.
- Saya hendak belajar…
- nak – informal, colloquial contraction (especially in Malaysia).
- Saya nak belajar…
In standard, neutral Malay (for writing, classes, exams), mahu and hendak are safer. Nak is great for casual conversation.
Yes. Belajar covers both to study and to learn, depending on context.
- Saya belajar bahasa Melayu.
- I study / I am learning Malay.
- Dia belajar di universiti.
- He/She studies at university.
Be careful not to confuse it with:
- mengajar = to teach
- Dia mengajar bahasa Melayu. – He/She teaches Malay.
You do not need a preposition after belajar as in English study at; you just follow it with a location phrase:
- belajar di perpustakaan = study / learn at the library.
All are related to the idea of being alone or by oneself, but their usage differs slightly.
sendirian
- Adverb/adjective meaning alone, on one’s own.
- Saya mahu belajar sendirian. – I want to study alone.
sendiri
- Very common, basic word meaning self, own, or by oneself, depending on context.
- Rumah saya sendiri. – My own house.
- Saya buat sendiri. – I do it myself.
- Can sometimes mean alone, but often carries the nuance of doing something oneself rather than just being physically alone.
bersendirian
- Slightly more formal or literary variant of sendirian, often with a stronger nuance of being alone (sometimes emotionally).
- Dia suka bersendirian. – He/She likes being alone.
In your sentence, belajar sendirian is natural and straightforward: study alone.
Di and ke are both prepositions of place, but they differ:
di = at / in / on (location, where something happens)
- belajar di perpustakaan – study at the library
ke = to (movement towards a place)
- pergi ke perpustakaan – go to the library
So in your sentence, you are talking about where you want to study (location), so di perpustakaan is correct. If you were talking about going there, you would use ke:
- Saya mahu pergi ke perpustakaan. – I want to go to the library.
Di is quite general; it can mean at, in, or on, depending on the noun and context.
- di perpustakaan can be understood as at the library or in the library.
- Malay does not always make the same strict distinction between at and in that English does.
In most contexts, both English translations are acceptable; the exact nuance comes from context, not from di itself.
Yes, Malay often allows the subject pronoun to be dropped if it is clear from context.
- Kadang-kadang mahu belajar sendirian di perpustakaan.
This would usually still be understood as Sometimes (I) also want to study alone in the library, if the topic (you) has already been established in the conversation.
However, for learners and in standalone sentences, it is clearer and safer to keep saya.
You negate mahu with tidak (or colloquial tak):
- Kadang-kadang saya tidak mahu belajar sendirian di perpustakaan.
- Standard, neutral: tidak
- Kadang-kadang saya tak mahu belajar sendirian di perpustakaan.
- Informal speech: tak
The negative comes before mahu (the verb want), not before belajar in this structure.
Malay word order is generally Subject – Verb – Object (SVO), but adverbs are flexible. These variants are all grammatical, with slightly different emphasis:
- Kadang-kadang saya juga mahu belajar sendirian di perpustakaan.
- Saya kadang-kadang juga mahu belajar sendirian di perpustakaan.
- Saya juga kadang-kadang mahu belajar sendirian di perpustakaan.
All mean roughly the same, but:
- Putting kadang-kadang at the beginning makes sometimes more prominent.
- Keeping saya juga mahu together emphasizes I also want (to).
As a learner, using the original word order is a very natural and safe pattern.