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Soalan sejarah itu susah.

Soalan sejarah itu susah.
That history question is difficult.
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Questions & Answers about Soalan sejarah itu susah.

What does each word in Soalan sejarah itu susah literally mean?

Word-by-word breakdown:

  • soalan – question
  • sejarah – history
  • itu – that / the (a demonstrative that also works like a definite article)
  • susah – difficult, hard

So a very literal gloss is: question history that difficult → “That history question is difficult.”

Why is there no word for “is” in the sentence?

Malay usually drops a verb like “to be” when linking a noun to an adjective or another noun.

Patterns like:

  • Soalan sejarah itu susah.
    → That history question (is) difficult.

  • Dia lapar.
    → He/She (is) hungry.

You only see adalah/ialah (roughly “is/are”) in certain, mostly formal situations, such as:

  • To link noun = noun:
    Dia ialah guru saya. – She is my teacher.
  • For emphasis or in formal writing:
    Tujuan mesyuarat ini adalah untuk… – The purpose of this meeting is to…

For noun + adjective like soalan … susah, Malay normally does not use adalah/ialah.

What exactly does itu do here? Does it mean “that” or “the”?

itu is the distal demonstrative, and its core meaning is “that” (farther from the speaker), contrasted with ini = “this” (near the speaker):

  • soalan itu – that question
  • soalan ini – this question

However, Malay has no dedicated word for “the”, so itu/ini are also used to express definiteness (a specific, known thing). In context, Soalan sejarah itu susah can be interpreted as:

  • That history question is difficult
    or
  • The history question is difficult (the one we both know about)

The exact English translation depends on context, but the Malay form is the same.

Can I move itu earlier and say Itu soalan sejarah susah?

Not with the same meaning.

  • Soalan sejarah itu susah.
    → Natural and correct: That history question is difficult.

  • Itu soalan sejarah susah.
    → Grammatically possible but sounds odd and unclear; it feels like you are pointing something out (“That is a difficult history question”) but leaving out words. A more natural version would be:

    • Itu soalan sejarah yang susah. – That is the history question that is difficult.
    • Itu soalan sejarah yang sangat susah. – That is a very difficult history question.

In short: for “That history question is difficult”, keep itu after soalan sejarah.

Can I leave out itu? What would Soalan sejarah susah mean?

Yes, you can omit itu, but the nuance changes.

  • Soalan sejarah itu susah.
    – Refers to a specific history question that both speaker and listener know.

  • Soalan sejarah susah.
    – More general: History questions are difficult / History questions are hard.
    – It sounds like a general statement about that type of question, not about one particular question.

So itu makes the phrase clearly specific/definite.

Is sejarah acting like an adjective here? How does “history question” work in Malay?

Grammatically, sejarah is a noun meaning history. But Malay often uses Noun + Noun patterns where the second noun behaves like a descriptor, similar to a noun used as an adjective in English:

  • soalan sejarah – history question / question of history
  • buku sejarah – history book
  • guru sejarah – history teacher

So sejarah is still a noun, but in combinations like this it functions as a classifier/modifier.

If you want to be more explicit, you can also say:

  • soalan tentang sejarah – question about history

This is slightly longer and more explicit, but soalan sejarah is perfectly natural and very common.

Why does susah come after the noun? Why not before, like in English?

In Malay, adjectives normally come after the noun, not before it.

  • soalan susah – difficult question
  • rumah besar – big house
  • budak nakal – naughty child

In Soalan sejarah itu susah, the structure is:

  • soalan (noun)
  • sejarah (noun modifying soalan)
  • itu (demonstrative – that/the)
  • susah (adjective – difficult)

So: [Noun + Noun + itu] + Adjective

Putting susah before the noun (susah soalan) would be ungrammatical in standard Malay.

What is the difference between susah, sukar, and payah?

All can relate to difficulty, but with different flavour and register:

  • susah

    • Very common in everyday speech.
    • Means difficult, hard, or even troublesome / problematic depending on context.
    • Soalan sejarah itu susah. – natural and neutral.

  • sukar

    • More formal and bookish.
    • Often used in written language, news, academic writing.
    • Soalan sejarah itu sukar. – sounds more formal/academic than susah.

  • payah

    • Can mean difficult, but often with a nuance of effort / hardship / troublesome.
    • In some contexts it can sound stronger or more emotional:
      • Hidup di kampung dulu memang payah. – Life in the village used to be really hard.

In your sentence, susah is the most natural everyday choice.

How do I turn this into a yes–no question: “Is that history question difficult?”

You have several options, depending on formality and region. All keep the same basic word order.

  1. Formal / neutral:

    • Adakah soalan sejarah itu susah?
    • Or: Soalan sejarah itu susah, bukan? (That history question is difficult, isn’t it?)

  2. Everyday conversational Malay:

    • Soalan sejarah itu susah ke?
    • Soalan sejarah itu susah tak?

Malay usually keeps the statement word order and adds a question marker (adakah, ke, tak, a rising intonation, or a tag like bukan?).

How do I say “The history questions are difficult” (plural) in Malay?

Malay doesn’t always mark plural explicitly; context often tells you whether it’s one or many. But you can show plural in several ways:

  1. Context-only plural (most natural):

    • Soalan sejarah susah.
      – In the right context, this can mean History questions are difficult in general.

  2. Using “all”:

    • Semua soalan sejarah itu susah.
      – All those history questions are difficult.

  3. Reduplication (more formal / written):

    • Soalan-soalan sejarah itu susah.
      – The history questions are difficult.

In speech, many people just say soalan sejarah and rely on context; adding semua is common if you want to be explicit.

How can I emphasize the difficulty, like “really difficult” or “very difficult”?

You can use degree words before susah:

  • sangat susah – very difficult (neutral, common)
  • amat susah – very difficult (more formal)
  • terlalu susah – too difficult
  • memang susah – really / indeed difficult (emphasizing reality of the difficulty)

Examples:

  • Soalan sejarah itu sangat susah. – That history question is very difficult.
  • Soalan sejarah itu terlalu susah. – That history question is too difficult.
Where does soalan come from, and how is it different from pertanyaan?

soalan and pertanyaan are both related to asking, but they’re not identical.

  • soalan

    • From the root soal (to ask a question) + -an (noun-forming).
    • Very common for test/exam questions or list-style questions.
    • soalan sejarah – history question (e.g., in an exam).

  • pertanyaan

    • From tanya (to ask) + per-…-an (another noun-forming pattern).
    • Often sounds a bit more formal or abstract, closer to inquiry or query.
    • Common in formal notices, emails, signs:
      • Sebarang pertanyaan, sila hubungi… – For any inquiries, please contact…

In your sentence, because we’re clearly talking about an exam/test-style question, soalan sejarah itu susah is the natural choice, not pertanyaan.