Learn Hardcore Malay: Ulangan mingguan itu nampak susah, tetapi sebenarnya soalan agak mudah. - That weekly review looks difficult, but actually the questions are quite easy.

In school contexts, ulangan mingguan is usually understood as a weekly test/quiz, not just “weekly revision,” unless the context clearly means “review sessions.”

What does itu do in ulangan mingguan itu? Is it “the” or “that”?

Itu is a demonstrative meaning that or those, but very often it functions like the English definite article “the”.

Ulangan mingguan itu ≈ “that weekly test” / “the weekly test (we’re talking about).”

Without itu (ulangan mingguan nampak susah), it sounds more like a general statement about weekly tests, not a specific one already known to both speaker and listener.

Why is it nampak susah and not something like adalah susah for “is difficult”?

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

Ulangan mingguan itu susah. = “That weekly test is difficult.”

Here nampak means “seems / looks / appears”, so nampak susah is “seems difficult” or “looks hard,” not simply “is difficult.”

What’s the difference between nampak, kelihatan, and tampak?

All three can mean “to look / to appear / to seem”, and in many contexts they’re interchangeable.

nampak – common, neutral, widely used in speech and writing.
kelihatan – a bit more formal or descriptive; often used in writing or narration.
tampak – similar to nampak, may sound slightly more literary in some dialects.

So you could also say Ulangan mingguan itu kelihatan susah, with nearly the same meaning.

What is the nuance of susah here? How is it different from sukar or sulit?

In this sentence, susah means “difficult / hard”. Compared to similar words:

susah – very common in everyday speech; can mean “difficult,” or “in trouble / burdened” depending on context.
sukar / sulit – more formal; used a lot in writing and in more serious contexts (e.g. technical difficulties, life problems).

Here, nampak susah sounds natural and conversational: “it looks hard.”
Nampak sukar would sound a bit more formal or bookish.

Where is the word “is/are” in soalan agak mudah? Why isn’t there a verb “to be”?

Malay normally does not use a separate verb “to be” before adjectives or nouns in the present tense.

Soalan agak mudah. = literally “Questions rather easy.”
The English “are” is simply understood from the structure.

You only add a verb like adalah in specific formal or contrastive structures, but not in this sentence.

How do we know if this sentence is past, present, or future? There’s no tense marker.

Malay verbs and adjectives do not change form for tense. Time is understood from context or from time expressions:

Ulangan mingguan itu nampak susah
could be “looked difficult,” “looks difficult,” or even “will look difficult,” depending on context.

If you need to be explicit, you add time words like tadi (earlier), semalam (yesterday), nanti (later), esok (tomorrow), etc.

Is using both tetapi and sebenarnya together necessary? Isn’t one of them enough?

They’re doing different jobs:

tetapi = but / however (a conjunction joining two clauses).
sebenarnya = actually / in fact / in reality (an adverb modifying the second clause).

So:

… nampak susah, tetapi soalan agak mudah. = “… seems difficult, but the questions are rather easy.”
… nampak susah, sebenarnya soalan agak mudah. = “… seems difficult; actually the questions are rather easy.”

Using both (tetapi sebenarnya) adds both contrast and correction/emphasis: “but actually/in fact…”.

What’s the difference between tetapi and tapi?

Both mean “but”, but:

tetapi – more formal, common in writing, speeches, and careful speech.
tapi – more informal / conversational, very common in everyday spoken Malay.

In informal speech you’d often hear:
Ulangan mingguan itu nampak susah, tapi sebenarnya soalan agak mudah.

Can sebenarnya be moved to a different position, like at the very beginning?

Yes, sebenarnya is quite flexible. You can say:

Sebenarnya, ulangan mingguan itu nampak susah, tetapi soalan agak mudah.
(“Actually, that weekly test seems difficult, but the questions are rather easy.”)

You could also say:

Ulangan mingguan itu sebenarnya nampak susah, tetapi soalan agak mudah.
(emphasizing that “actually it seems difficult.”)

The original …, tetapi sebenarnya soalan agak mudah puts the “actually” focus on the questions being easy.

Is soalan singular or plural here? Why isn’t there any plural marker?

Malay usually does not mark plural unless it needs to be emphasized or clarified.

soalan can mean “a question” or “questions” depending on context.
Here, in a test context, soalan agak mudah is naturally understood as “the questions are rather easy.”

If you wanted to emphasize the plurality, you could say soalan-soalan (reduplication), but it isn’t necessary.

What does agak mean exactly in soalan agak mudah?

Agak here means “rather / quite / somewhat”, softening the adjective:

soalan mudah = “the questions are easy.”
soalan agak mudah = “the questions are rather easy / quite easy,” suggesting they’re not extremely easy, but easier than you might expect.

Other common modifiers:

sangat / amat / terlalu mudah – very / extremely easy.
agak susah – rather difficult.

Can we change the word order in soalan agak mudah? For example, can we say agak mudah soalan?

No, agak mudah soalan is not natural in standard Malay.

The normal pattern is:

[noun] + [degree word] + [adjective]
→ soalan agak mudah

You can sometimes move agak to the very front of the clause for emphasis (Agak mudah soalan itu), but that sounds more marked and is less neutral. The most natural order in this context is still soalan agak mudah.

What is the implied subject of soalan agak mudah? Why isn’t there a pronoun like “they”?

In Malay, you don’t need to repeat the subject if it’s clear from the noun phrase in the clause itself.

In soalan agak mudah, soalan itself is the subject: “the questions (subject) are rather easy (predicate).”

You only use pronouns like ia, mereka, etc., when you want to avoid repetition or focus on the pronoun. Here, soalan as the subject is enough.

Is this whole sentence formal or informal? Would it be used in speech or writing?

The sentence is neutral to slightly formal, and it works well in both spoken and written Malay.

Words like tetapi, sebenarnya, agak are all standard and appropriate in exams, textbooks, or classroom speech.
In very casual speech, someone might shorten it a bit, for example:
Ulangan mingguan tu nampak susah, tapi sebenarnya soalan agak senang. (using tu, tapi, senang).