Learn Hardcore Malay: Abang saya selalu menderma darah di hospital kerajaan. - My older brother often donates blood at the public hospital.

Family relationship
- abang saya = my older brother
- It implies he is male and older than you.
Form of address (especially in Malaysia)
- Used politely to address a slightly older male (shop assistant, driver, etc.), similar to “brother” / “big brother” / “sir” in a casual way.
- Example: Abang, berapa harga ini? = Brother, how much is this?

It does not just mean “brother” in general; it specifically implies older male sibling or older male person.

Can abang saya also mean “my boyfriend” or “my husband”?

In everyday Malaysian usage, abang can be used by a woman to address her husband or boyfriend affectionately, especially in speech.

However, in a neutral written sentence like:
Abang saya selalu menderma darah di hospital kerajaan.
the most straightforward interpretation is “My older brother always donates blood at the government hospital.”

To clearly say “my husband”, Malay more commonly uses suami saya.
To say “my boyfriend”, you would typically see teman lelaki saya or boyfriend saya.

Why is it abang saya and not saya abang for “my older brother”?

Malay shows possession by putting the possessed noun first, followed by the possessor:

abang saya = my older brother (literally: older brother I)
buku saya = my book
rumah kami = our house

So the pattern is:

[thing owned] + [owner pronoun]

Putting saya first (saya abang) is ungrammatical in Malay for this meaning.

What is the nuance of selalu here? Does it mean “always” or just “often”?

Selalu is usually translated as “always”, but in actual speech it can mean anything from very often / regularly up to literally always, depending on context.

In this sentence:
> Abang saya selalu menderma darah...

it implies a regular habit—something like:

My older brother regularly / frequently donates blood.
or
My older brother always donates blood (whenever he can).

So it marks habitual frequency, similar to English always / usually / regularly, with the exact strength depending on context and speaker.

Where can selalu go in the sentence? Is its position fixed?

Here it appears between the subject and the verb:
> Abang saya selalu menderma darah...

This is the most common position:

[Subject] + selalu + [Verb Phrase]

Other positions are possible in speech or for emphasis, but they’re less neutral. For learning purposes, keep selalu right before the verb phrase, as in the example.

What is the difference between derma and menderma?

Derma is a noun meaning donation / charity.

Menderma is the verb form, meaning to donate (typically money, blood, etc.). It’s formed by adding the meN- prefix:

derma → menderma = to donate

In this sentence:
> menderma darah = to donate blood

So you would say:

Saya menderma darah. = I donate blood.
but
Saya memberi derma. = I give a donation.

Could you use derma darah instead of menderma darah?

In careful, standard Malay, the verb form menderma darah is preferred and more accurate:

menderma darah = to donate blood (correct and standard)

You might hear derma darah in casual speech (treating derma like a verb), but it’s less standard. For writing and for exams, use menderma darah.

What does di mean here, and how is it different from ke?

Di is a preposition meaning “at / in / on”, used for location:

di hospital = at the hospital
di rumah = at home / in the house

Ke means “to” and is used for movement/direction:

ke hospital = to the hospital
ke rumah = to the house

In the sentence:
> ... menderma darah di hospital kerajaan.

di is correct because it describes where he donates blood (location), not movement.

Does kerajaan mean “kingdom” or “government”? What does hospital kerajaan really mean?

Kerajaan literally comes from raja (king) and historically can relate to kingdom / monarchy, but in modern Malay it normally means “government” (the governing authority of the country).

So:

kerajaan = government
hospital kerajaan = government hospital (i.e. a public/state hospital)

It does not mean “royal hospital” here. If you specifically wanted “royal”, you’d use diraja (e.g. hospital diraja).

Why is it hospital kerajaan and not kerajaan hospital like in English “government hospital”?

In Malay noun phrases, the main noun comes first, and the describing noun (the “of-phrase”) comes after it:

hospital kerajaan
- literally: hospital [of] government
- meaning: government hospital

Other examples:

kereta polis = police car (literally car of police)
guru sekolah = school teacher (literally teacher of school)

So the pattern is:

[main noun] + [classifier/descriptor noun]

Putting kerajaan hospital would be ungrammatical or at least very odd.

Malay has no “the” or “a”. How do we know if di hospital kerajaan means “at a government hospital” or “at the government hospital”?

By default, without any extra markers, di hospital kerajaan can mean either:

at a government hospital (non-specific)
or
at the government hospital (if both speaker and listener know which one is meant from context).

Malay relies heavily on context instead of articles.

To make it clearly “the” in a specific sense, you can add:

itu (that) → di hospital kerajaan itu = at that government hospital
tersebut (aforementioned) → di hospital kerajaan tersebut = at the said government hospital

But ordinary conversation usually just uses di hospital kerajaan and lets context do the work.

How do we know this sentence is talking about a habit (he does it regularly) and not a single event or the future?

Malay verbs generally do not change form for tense (past / present / future). Instead, meaning comes from:

time words (like sudah, akan, tadi, esok)
adverbs of frequency (like selalu)
context

Here, selalu (“always/regularly”) clearly marks a repeated, habitual action:

Abang saya selalu menderma darah...
My older brother always/regularly donates blood...

If you wanted a single completed event, you’d add something like sudah, telah, or a specific time:

Semalam abang saya menderma darah... = Yesterday my older brother donated blood...

Can we drop saya or shorten abang saya somehow?

Whether you can shorten it depends on context:

In a full, standalone sentence (like your example), you normally keep abang saya:
- Abang saya selalu menderma darah...
If the identity is already clear in the conversation, people may later just say abang to refer back, especially in speech:
- Abang saya kerja di hospital. Abang selalu menderma darah di sana.
  (My older brother works at the hospital. He always donates blood there.)
You cannot usually drop saya in abang saya and still mean “my older brother” unless the context is extremely strong; abang on its own is just “older brother / older male”, not explicitly “my older brother”.

So for learners, keep abang saya when you mean “my older brother” in a clear, complete sentence.