Learn Hardcore Malay: Baju yang saya jemur pagi tadi masih lembap kerana matahari lemah. - The clothes I hung out this morning are still damp because the sun is weak.

✔ baju yang saya jemur = the clothes that I hung
✘ baju saya jemur – sounds ungrammatical; it doesn’t clearly link baju with the clause saya jemur.

So yang marks the start of the descriptive clause that tells you which clothes.

Why is there no word for “are” before masih lembap?

Malay usually doesn’t use a verb like “to be” (am/is/are) before adjectives.

Baju … masih lembap
literally: Clothes … still damp
meaning: The clothes … are still damp

Adjectives (like lembap, besar, panas) can function directly as predicates:

Air panas. = The water is hot.
Dia letih. = He/She is tired.

You might see adalah in some sentences, but it’s not used before a simple adjective like this. It’s more for equating two nouns or for emphasis, e.g.

Masalah utama adalah kekurangan masa.
The main problem is the lack of time.

How do we know this is past tense if the verb jemur doesn’t change form?

Malay verbs usually don’t change form for tense. Time is shown by:

Time expressions
- pagi tadi = this morning / earlier this morning
Context

So in:

Baju yang saya jemur pagi tadi…
The clothes that I hung (out) this morning…

jemur itself is “timeless”; pagi tadi tells you that the action was in the past.
In other sentences you might see sudah, telah, akan, sedang, etc., to add aspect or time nuance, but here pagi tadi is enough.

What is the difference between pagi tadi and tadi pagi?

Both are used in everyday speech and will be understood as this morning / earlier this morning, but there are some tendencies:

pagi tadi
- Very common and often felt a bit more neutral/standard.
- Literally “morning earlier”.
tadi pagi
- Also used, sometimes with a slightly more conversational feel depending on region.
- Literally “earlier morning”.

In your sentence, pagi tadi sounds very natural and is probably the more commonly taught version:

Baju yang saya jemur pagi tadi… = The clothes that I hung this morning…

Does baju mean “shirt” or “clothes”? How do I know?

Baju can mean:

Clothes (general) – especially everyday clothing.
Top / shirt / blouse – depending on context.

Malay doesn’t mark plural with an s, so baju can be singular or plural:

baju = a shirt / the shirt / shirts / the clothes
(You know which one it is from context.)

In this sentence:

Baju yang saya jemur pagi tadi…
is naturally understood as “the clothes (plural) that I hung out this morning”, because you usually hang several items to dry.

If you want to be explicit, you can add words like sehelai baju (one piece of clothing / one shirt), baju-baju (clothes, plural, with repetition for emphasis), etc.

Why is it jemur and not menjemur? Aren’t verbs supposed to take the meN- prefix?

In more formal or standard Malay, you would typically see:

menjemur baju = to hang clothes out in the sun to dry.

Here’s what’s going on:

The root verb is jemur.
The meN- prefix turns it into a standard active transitive verb:
meN- + jemur → menjemur

However, in everyday spoken Malay, especially in informal contexts:

Speakers often use the bare root verb jemur without meN-:
- Saya jemur baju pagi tadi.
  instead of
  Saya menjemur baju pagi tadi.

Your sentence is in that more colloquial style. In many real-life situations, both are acceptable, with menjemur sounding a bit more formal or “textbook” and jemur sounding more casual.

How does the word order in baju yang saya jemur pagi tadi compare to English?

Word order is similar to English relative clauses:

baju = the noun (head)
yang = that/which
saya jemur pagi tadi = I hung (it) this morning

So:

baju yang saya jemur pagi tadi
= the clothes that I hung this morning

Key points:

The noun being described must come before yang.
- ✔ baju yang saya jemur
- ✘ yang saya jemur baju (wrong structure)
The relative clause (the part with yang) comes after the noun, like in English.

What does kerana mean here, and how is it different from sebab?

Kerana means “because”.

… masih lembap kerana matahari lemah.
= … are still damp because the sun is weak.

Kerana vs. sebab:

kerana
- Slightly more formal or neutral.
- Common in writing and standard speech.
sebab
- Very common in everyday, casual speech.
- Can sound a bit more informal.

In practice, you could often swap them:

… masih lembap kerana matahari lemah.
… masih lembap sebab matahari lemah.

Both are fine in conversation; kerana is slightly more “textbook” here.

What’s the difference between masih lembap and masih basah?

Both use masih = still, but the adjectives differ:

lembap = damp, slightly wet, not fully dry
basah = wet, clearly not dry, more water

So:

masih lembap = still damp (almost dry but not quite)
masih basah = still wet (much wetter)

In your sentence:

Baju … masih lembap suggests the clothes have partially dried but are not fully dry yet, which fits the idea of weak sun quite well.

Is matahari lemah a natural way to say “the sun is weak”?

Yes, matahari lemah is understandable and acceptable. It literally means “the sun is weak”, i.e., its heat or intensity isn’t strong.

Other very natural ways you might hear similar ideas:

matahari tak kuat / matahari tidak kuat
= the sun is not strong
matahari tak terik
= the sun is not blazing
cuaca mendung
= it’s overcast (cloudy, so the sun’s effect is weak)
matahari redup
= the sun is dim/soft (not bright or intense)

But in the given sentence, kerana matahari lemah is perfectly fine and clearly expresses that the sun wasn’t strong enough to dry the clothes properly.

How does masih work here, and where does it go in the sentence?

Masih means “still” in the sense of “not yet stopped / not yet changed”.

Position:

It goes right before the adjective or verb that is “still” true:
- masih lembap = still damp
- masih hujan = it’s still raining
- masih tidur = still sleeping

In your sentence:

Baju … masih lembap
= The clothes … are still damp

You wouldn’t say lembap masih; masih almost always comes before the describing word.

Why is it yang saya jemur, not yang jemur saya?

Malay keeps the normal subject–verb order inside the relative clause:

saya jemur = I hang (out to dry)
(saya = subject, jemur = verb)

In a yang-clause, that order stays the same:

baju yang saya jemur
= the clothes that I hung (out)

If you say yang jemur saya, you’re reversing the natural order and it sounds wrong or confusing, as if jemur were some kind of agent:

✘ yang jemur saya – ungrammatical in this meaning.

So:

✔ yang saya jemur = that I hang/hung
Subject (saya) comes before the verb (jemur) even inside the yang clause.