Saya berehat di rumah selama dua hari.

I rest at home for two days.

Breakdown of Saya berehat di rumah selama dua hari.

• saya: I
• di: at
• berehat: to rest
• rumah: the house
• hari: the day
• dua: two
• selama: for

Questions & Answers about Saya berehat di rumah selama dua hari.

What does berehat mean exactly, and how is it different from rehat?

Rehat is the root word meaning rest (as a noun or basic idea).
Berehat is the verb form meaning to rest / to take a rest.

• rehat (root) → berehat (verb with the prefix ber-)
• Saya berehat = I rest / I am resting / I rested.

In normal sentences, you usually use berehat as the verb, not bare rehat.
You might see rehat in phrases like masa rehat (break time).

Can I leave out saya and just say Berehat di rumah selama dua hari?

Yes, you can drop saya in casual conversation if the subject is clear from context:

• Saya berehat di rumah selama dua hari.
• Berehat di rumah selama dua hari. (subject understood as “I” in context)

Malay often omits the subject when it’s obvious.
However, in writing or when you need clarity, keeping saya is safer.

Is the preposition di always necessary before rumah here? Could I say Saya berehat rumah?

You must use di before the place word here:

• Correct: Saya berehat di rumah (I rest at home.)
• Incorrect: Saya berehat rumah (missing the preposition)

In Malay, di is the usual preposition for location:

• di rumah – at home
• di sekolah – at school
• di pejabat – at the office

What does selama do in selama dua hari? Can I just say dua hari without it?

Selama marks a duration (for how long):

• selama dua hari = for two days / for a duration of two days

You can often drop selama in everyday speech:

• Saya berehat di rumah selama dua hari.
• Saya berehat di rumah dua hari.

Both are understandable as “I rested at home for two days.”
Using selama makes the duration slightly clearer and a bit more formal/explicit, but it’s not always required.

Can I use untuk instead of selama, like Saya berehat di rumah untuk dua hari?

This sounds unnatural in Malay. For durations of time, selama (or nothing at all) is the normal choice:

• Natural: Saya berehat di rumah selama dua hari.
• Natural (more casual): Saya berehat di rumah dua hari.
• Unnatural: Saya berehat di rumah untuk dua hari.

Untuk is more like for (the purpose of), not usually for expressing how long something lasts.

Does dua hari mean “two days” in general, or specifically “two days in a row”?

By default, dua hari is understood as two consecutive days, especially in this kind of sentence.
If you wanted to emphasize they are consecutive, you could also say dua hari berturut-turut (two days in a row), but it’s usually not necessary.

If you meant something like “I rest at home two days a week,” you’d say it differently, for example:

• Saya berehat di rumah dua hari setiap minggu.
  (I rest at home two days every week.)

How do I show past or future tense in this sentence? Do I need extra words like telah or akan?

Malay verbs don’t change form for tense. Berehat stays the same.
You add time words if you need to be clear:

• (Past)

  • Saya berehat di rumah selama dua hari.
    → can mean I rested / I have been resting / I was resting…
  • More explicit past:
    
    • Saya telah berehat di rumah selama dua hari.
    • Semalam saya berehat di rumah selama dua hari. (with a time word like semalam / kelmarin, etc.)

• (Future)

  • Saya akan berehat di rumah selama dua hari. = I will rest at home for two days.
  • Or just use a future time word:
    
    • Esok saya berehat di rumah selama dua hari. (Starting tomorrow I’ll rest at home for two days.)

Context usually clarifies the time without telah or akan.

Does rumah here mean “my house” or just “a house”? How do I say at my house explicitly?

Literally, di rumah means at home / at a house, but in normal usage it’s usually understood as at my home (the speaker’s home), unless context says otherwise.

If you want to be explicit:

• di rumah saya – at my house
• di rumah dia – at his/her house
• Saya berehat di rumah saya selama dua hari. – I rested at my house for two days.

In many everyday contexts, di rumah alone is enough to mean at home (my home).

Can I change the word order, like Selama dua hari, saya berehat di rumah?

Yes, Malay word order is quite flexible for time expressions. All of these are fine:

• Saya berehat di rumah selama dua hari.
• Saya berehat selama dua hari di rumah.
• Selama dua hari, saya berehat di rumah.

Moving selama dua hari to the front can slightly emphasize the duration (“For two days, I rested at home”), but the meaning is essentially the same.

Why is it dua hari and not dua hari-hari? How does plural work with time words like hari?

With numbers, you don’t repeat the noun:

• dua hari – two days
• tiga minggu – three weeks
• lima tahun – five years

Reduplication (hari-hari) is used differently:

• hari-hari = every day / day after day
  
  • Saya berehat di rumah hari-hari. = I rest at home every day.

So for a specific counted duration, use just dua hari, not dua hari-hari.

Is Saya berehat di rumah selama dua hari formal? How would people say this in casual spoken Malay?

Saya berehat di rumah selama dua hari is neutral and perfectly natural in standard Malay.

In casual spoken Malaysian Malay, you might hear:

• Aku rehat kat rumah dua hari.
  
  • Aku instead of saya (more informal “I”)
  • rehat (verb form in casual speech)
  • kat instead of di (informal “at”)
  • often dropping selama

So:

• Standard/neutral: Saya berehat di rumah selama dua hari.
• Casual: Aku rehat kat rumah dua hari.