Learn Hardcore Malay: Golongan muda di bandar saya mahu lebih banyak taman hijau dan udara bersih. - The young generation in my city wants more green parks and clean air.

golongan muda – more formal/collective, like “the younger generation / youth (as a demographic)”
orang muda – literally young people; understandable, but sounds a bit less standard as a fixed expression for “youth”
anak muda – very common, more informal, feels like “youngsters / young people”

In your sentence, Golongan muda di bandar saya sounds like:
“The young generation in my city…”, a bit formal and general.

Is golongan muda singular or plural? Why doesn’t the verb change for plural subjects?

Golongan muda is grammatically not marked for number in Malay; it’s a collective noun. Context tells you it’s plural: “the young people”.

Malay verbs do not change for number (or person). So:

Golongan muda di bandar saya mahu…
Seorang remaja di bandar saya mahu… (A teenager in my city wants…)

Both use mahu; there is no -s like wants vs want.
Number is understood from the noun phrase (golongan muda vs seorang remaja).

Why is it di bandar saya, and where should I put saya in “my city”?

In Malay, possessive pronouns usually come after the noun:

bandar saya = my city
rumah saya = my house
kawan saya = my friend

So the pattern is: noun + pronoun, not pronoun + noun.

✅ di bandar saya = in my city
❌ di saya bandar – incorrect
❌ di bandar saya punya – only used in some dialectal / very colloquial contexts

di is the preposition “in/at”:

di bandar saya = in my city
di rumah saya = at my house

Could we say “Di bandar saya, golongan muda mahu…” instead? Is that still correct?

Yes, that is correct and natural.

Malay word order is fairly flexible for setting the scene. Two options:

Golongan muda di bandar saya mahu…
– Neutral; starts with the subject.
Di bandar saya, golongan muda mahu…
– Puts extra emphasis on the location (“In my city, (as for there,) the young people want…”).

Both are grammatical; it’s mostly about which part you want to highlight.

What’s the difference between mahu, ingin, and nak?

All can translate as “want (to)”, but with different formality:

mahu – neutral, widely used in both spoken and written Malay
- Golongan muda … mahu lebih banyak taman hijau…
ingin – slightly more formal / polite, often in writing or polite speech
- Golongan muda … ingin lebih banyak taman hijau…
nak – very informal / colloquial, common in everyday speech (esp. Malaysia)
- Golongan muda … nak lebih banyak taman hijau…

Your sentence with mahu sounds standard and neutral.

Why is it lebih banyak taman instead of just lebih taman or lebih taman-taman?

lebih banyak literally means “more many” but functions as a unit: “more (of a countable thing)”.

lebih banyak taman = more parks (parks are countable)
lebih banyak buku = more books

General patterns:

For countable nouns, use lebih banyak + noun
- lebih banyak taman, lebih banyak kereta, lebih banyak rumah
For uncountable or adjective-like things, just use lebih
- lebih hijau = greener
- lebih sihat = healthier
- lebih udara is wrong; you’d say lebih banyak udara if you really need quantity

As for taman-taman:

taman-taman explicitly marks the plural (“parks”), but Malay usually doesn’t need plural marking when context is clear.
lebih banyak taman already implies plurality (you can’t have “more” of just one park), so taman-taman is unnecessary.

So:

✅ mahu lebih banyak taman hijau
(Also grammatical but redundant/emphatic:) mahu lebih banyak taman-taman hijau

Why is there no word for “the” or “a” in taman hijau and udara bersih?

Malay generally does not use articles equivalent to English “a/an/the”.

So taman hijau can be:

green parks
the green parks
a green park (depending on context)

Similarly udara bersih can be:

clean air
the clean air

If you really need to be more specific, you use other words:

beberapa taman hijau – several green parks
taman hijau itu – that/that particular green park
udara yang bersih itu – that clean air

But in your sentence, no article is normal and natural.

Why is it taman hijau and udara bersih (adjective after noun), not hijau taman or bersih udara?

In Malay, adjectives normally come after the noun they describe:

taman hijau – green park(s)
udara bersih – clean air
rumah besar – big house
orang kaya – rich person

So the pattern is: noun + adjective.

Reversing the order (hijau taman, bersih udara) is not standard and will sound wrong or poetic at best.

Does hijau describe only taman, or also udara in taman hijau dan udara bersih?

In the sentence:

…mahu lebih banyak taman hijau dan udara bersih.

The structure is:

taman hijau = green parks
udara bersih = clean air

So hijau clearly belongs to taman, and bersih to udara. They are two separate noun phrases joined by dan (and).

If you wanted both taman and udara to share the same adjective, you would typically repeat yang or the adjective to make it clear, e.g.:

taman dan udara yang bersih – parks and (the) air that is clean
taman dan udara bersih – could be ambiguous or sound a bit awkward; often you’d clarify with yang.

What’s the difference between udara bersih and udara yang bersih?

Both can mean “clean air”, but there’s a nuance:

udara bersih – simple noun + adjective; neutral “clean air”
udara yang bersih – literally “air that is clean”; can sound more specific or descriptive, like you’re distinguishing this clean air from other air.

In many everyday sentences, udara bersih is perfectly natural and slightly more concise, as in your example.

Could we say anak muda di bandar saya instead of golongan muda di bandar saya?

Yes, and it would still be natural, but with a slightly different feel:

golongan muda di bandar saya – more formal/collective: “the young generation in my city”
anak muda di bandar saya – more informal/colloquial: “young people / youngsters in my city”

Both are fine in normal speech; choice depends on how formal you want to sound.

Is the overall word order Subject + Place + Verb + Object here? Is that the standard in Malay?

Your sentence:

Golongan muda (Subject) di bandar saya (Place) mahu (Verb) lebih banyak taman hijau dan udara bersih (Object).

This follows a very typical Malay pattern:

S – (Time/Place) – V – O

Common variations:

Golongan muda mahu lebih banyak taman hijau… (no place)
Di bandar saya, golongan muda mahu… (place moved to the front for emphasis)

So yes, Subject – Verb – Object with optional time/place information is the standard basic order in Malay.