Saya telefon nenek untuk bertanya khabar setiap hujung minggu.

I call my grandmother to ask how she is every weekend.

Breakdown of Saya telefon nenek untuk bertanya khabar setiap hujung minggu.

• saya: I
• setiap: every
• untuk: to
• hujung minggu: the weekend
• nenek: the grandmother
• bertanya khabar: to ask how someone is
• telefon: to call

Questions & Answers about Saya telefon nenek untuk bertanya khabar setiap hujung minggu.

Why is it telefon and not menelefon here? Aren’t Malay verbs supposed to have prefixes like meN-?

Both telefon and menelefon can be used as verbs meaning “to call (by phone)”.

• menelefon is the more standard / formal form.
• telefon (without a prefix) is very common in everyday speech and informal writing.

Malay often uses bare loanwords as verbs, especially for modern actions:

• telefon – to phone
• mesej – to message
• WhatsApp – to WhatsApp someone

So:

• Saya menelefon nenek... – more formal, textbook style.
• Saya telefon nenek... – natural in casual conversation.

Both are grammatically acceptable; the difference is mainly register (formality), not meaning.

Do I have to say Saya? Can I just say Telefon nenek untuk bertanya khabar setiap hujung minggu?

You can drop Saya, but it changes the feel slightly.

• With Saya, the sentence clearly means “I call grandma...” and sounds like a normal, complete statement.
• Without Saya, Telefon nenek... can sound:
  • like a note / instruction: “Call grandma to check on her every weekend.”
  • or a very short, context-dependent sentence where the subject “I” is understood.

In conversation, Malay speakers often drop pronouns when the subject is obvious, but for a neutral, clear sentence, especially in writing, keeping “Saya” is safer:
Saya telefon nenek...

Why is it just nenek and not nenek saya for “my grandmother”? How do I show possession?

Kinship terms in Malay are special. Words like nenek (grandmother), mak (mother), ayah (father), abang (older brother) are often used without a possessive word when context makes it obvious.

• Saya telefon nenek
  Literally: “I call grandmother.”
  Typically understood as: “I call my grandmother.”

If you want to be explicitly possessive, you can say:

• Saya telefon nenek saya... – “I call my grandmother...”

Differences in nuance:

• nenek alone can mean:
  • “my grandmother” (if you’re talking about your own family),
  • or “grandmother (in general)” in the right context.
• nenek saya is unambiguously “my grandmother”.

Both are correct here. The original sentence sounds natural and colloquial.

What does untuk do in this sentence? Could I say it without untuk?

untuk means “for / in order to / to (do something)” when followed by a verb.

In the sentence:

• ...telefon nenek untuk bertanya khabar...
  = “...call grandma in order to ask how she is...”

You can sometimes hear people say:

• Saya telefon nenek bertanya khabar setiap hujung minggu.

without untuk. That’s more informal and feels a bit “compressed”: the purpose is implied.

Using untuk makes the relationship clearer:

• [I call grandma] untuk [ask how she is]
  So untuk here is a purpose connector, and including it is good, clear Malay.

What exactly does bertanya khabar mean? Is it a fixed expression? Can I also say tanya khabar?

Yes, bertanya khabar is a very common, almost idiomatic expression.

• bertanya = to ask
• khabar = news, information (about how someone is doing)

So bertanya khabar literally means “to ask (for) news”, and idiomatically it means:

• “to ask how someone is / to check on someone’s well-being.”

About variations:

• bertanya khabar – more standard/complete.
• tanya khabar – very common in speech; dropping the ber- prefix is normal in casual conversation.
• In Indonesian spelling, you’ll often see kabar instead of khabar, but in Malay khabar is standard.

All of these would be understood:

• Saya telefon nenek untuk bertanya khabar. – neutral, standard.
• Saya telefon nenek untuk tanya khabar. – more colloquial, but very natural.

How is the tense shown here? There’s no word meaning “do” or “am” or a past tense ending.

Malay doesn’t inflect verbs for tense. The verb telefon stays the same for past, present, and future. Tense and aspect are shown by:

1. Time expressions

   • setiap hujung minggu – every weekend → suggests a habitual / regular action, like English “I call... (every weekend).”

2. Optional time markers / particles, e.g.:

   • sudah / telah – already (past)
   • akan – will (future)
   • sedang – in the middle of (progressive)

So:

• Saya telefon nenek setiap hujung minggu.
  → By default: habitual present (“I call grandma every weekend.”)
• Semalam saya telefon nenek.
  → “Yesterday I called grandma.” (past time word gives the tense meaning)
• Esok saya akan telefon nenek.
  → future, because of akan and esok (“tomorrow”).

Can setiap hujung minggu go at the beginning of the sentence instead of at the end?

Yes. Both of these are correct:

• Saya telefon nenek untuk bertanya khabar setiap hujung minggu.
• Setiap hujung minggu, saya telefon nenek untuk bertanya khabar.

The difference is only emphasis:

• End position (original): more neutral; you’re just adding the time information at the end.
• Front position: emphasizes the regularity/time frame (“As for every weekend, what I do is call grandma...”)

In Malay, time expressions often appear at the beginning or end of the sentence; both positions are natural.

What’s the difference between hujung minggu, akhir minggu, and just minggu with setiap?

Meanings:

• hujung minggu
  Literally: “end of the week” → weekend.
  Very commonly used.

• akhir minggu
  Also literally “end of the week”. Can mean weekend, but hujung minggu is more common in everyday Malaysian usage.

• minggu = week

With setiap (“every”):

• setiap hujung minggu – every weekend (Saturday–Sunday period).
• setiap minggu – every week (once a week, not necessarily on the weekend).

So:

• Saya telefon nenek setiap hujung minggu.
  → You call specifically on weekends.
• Saya telefon nenek setiap minggu.
  → You call once a week, but the day is unspecified.

Why use setiap? Is it the same as tiap-tiap or tiap? And how do you say “weekends” in Malay?

setiap means “every / each”.

Other forms:

• tiap-tiap – also “every”, a bit more emphatic or old-fashioned.
• tiap – shortened form, common in speech.

Examples:

• setiap hujung minggu
• tiap-tiap hujung minggu
• tiap hujung minggu

All mean “every weekend” and are acceptable. setiap is often preferred in neutral written Malay.

As for “weekends”:

• Malay doesn’t mark nouns for plural with endings like -s.
• You express the idea of “(all) weekends / every weekend” with a word like setiap / tiap:
  • setiap hujung minggu = every weekend (weekends in general).

Where is the “her” in “to ask how she is”? There’s no word for “her” or “she” after bertanya khabar.

Malay often leaves the object or reference implicit when it’s obvious from context.

• bertanya khabar by itself normally implies “ask about that person’s condition / how they are”.
• Because the previous object is nenek, it’s understood that you’re asking about your grandmother.

If you really want to spell it out, you could say, for example:

• ...untuk bertanya khabar nenek. – to ask about grandma’s well-being.
• ...untuk bertanya khabar tentang dia. – to ask how she is.
• ...untuk bertanya khabar tentang kesihatannya. – to ask about her health.

But in everyday Malay, the simple form without an explicit “her” sounds most natural, as in the original sentence.