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Ibu saya bangga apabila saya lulus ujian dengan baik.

Ibu saya bangga apabila saya lulus ujian dengan baik.
My mother is proud when I pass a test with good results.
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Questions & Answers about Ibu saya bangga apabila saya lulus ujian dengan baik.

Why is it “Ibu saya” and not “saya ibu” for “my mother”?

In Malay, possessive pronouns normally come after the noun they modify.

  • ibu saya = my mother (literally: mother my)
  • rumah saya = my house
  • kawan saya = my friend

If you say saya ibu, it means “I am a mother”, not “my mother”.

Other (often informal) ways to say “my mother” include:

  • ibu saya – neutral / standard
  • emak saya / mak saya – very common, informal
  • mama saya / umi saya – depends on family/background
Is “bangga” a verb or an adjective? Why isn’t there an “adalah” like “Ibu saya adalah bangga”?

Bangga is an adjective meaning “proud”.

Malay usually omits a verb like “to be” before adjectives. So:

  • Ibu saya bangga ≈ My mother is proud (or was proud depending on context)

You do not say:

  • ✗ Ibu saya adalah bangga

Adalah is mainly used before nouns or noun phrases, not adjectives:

  • Ibu saya adalah seorang guru. = My mother is a teacher.
  • Rumah ini adalah rumah saya. = This house is my house.

If you want to emphasise the feeling, you can add a verb like berasa:

  • Ibu saya berasa bangga = My mother feels proud.

But in everyday speech and writing, Ibu saya bangga is completely natural.

How do we know whether this sentence means “was proud” or “is proud”, since there’s no tense?

Malay doesn’t mark tense (past, present, future) on the verb the way English does. The time is usually understood from:

  • Time words (e.g. semalam yesterday, tadi earlier, esok tomorrow), or
  • The context of the conversation.

The sentence Ibu saya bangga apabila saya lulus ujian dengan baik could be:

  • My mother is proud when I pass the exam well. (general/habitual)
  • My mother was proud when I passed the exam with good results. (specific event, past)

In most learning materials, this is often interpreted as a specific past event, so it’s translated as “was proud” / “when I passed…”, but grammatically, the Malay is time-neutral. You’d clarify the time with something like:

  • Ibu saya bangga semalam apabila saya lulus ujian dengan baik.
    = My mother was proud yesterday when I passed the exam with good results.
What’s the difference between “apabila”, “bila”, and “ketika” for “when”?

All three can translate as “when”, but they differ in formality and use.

  1. apabila

    • Meaning: when (at the time that)
    • Register: neutral–formal
    • Common in writing, speeches, and also in careful speech.
    • Example:
      • Ibu saya bangga apabila saya lulus ujian.

  2. bila

    • Meaning: when / what time
    • Register: informal, very common in everyday spoken Malay.
    • Example:
      • Ibu saya bangga bila saya lulus ujian. (very natural in conversation)
    • Also used in questions:
      • Bila awak balik? = When are you going back?

  3. ketika / semasa

    • Meaning: when / while, often referring to a period of time rather than a moment.
    • More common in written or literary language.
    • Example:
      • Ibu saya bangga ketika saya berada di universiti.
        = My mother was proud when I was at university (during that period).

In your sentence, apabila is a safe, standard choice.

Why is “saya” repeated: “Ibu saya … apabila saya lulus ujian…”? Can we drop the second “saya”?

The repetition of saya is normal and helps keep the sentence clear:

  • Ibu saya bangga apabila saya lulus ujian dengan baik.
    = My mother is/was proud when I pass/passed the exam well.

In Malay, subject pronouns can sometimes be dropped if the subject is obvious:

  • Ibu saya bangga apabila lulus ujian dengan baik.

This can still be understood as “when (I) passed the exam well” from context, but:

  • Without saya, it becomes a bit more general/less precise (it could be “when [someone] passes the exam well”).
  • With saya, it is explicit and emphasises that it’s “I” who passed.

For a learner, it’s safer and more natural to keep the second saya in sentences like this.

Is there any difference between “lulus ujian” and “lulus dalam ujian”?

Both are grammatically correct, but there is a slight nuance:

  • lulus ujian

    • Very common, simple, direct.
    • Literally: pass the exam.
    • Example: Saya lulus ujian.

  • lulus dalam ujian

    • Literally: pass in the exam.
    • A bit more explicit and sometimes slightly more formal-sounding.
    • Example: Saya lulus dalam ujian itu.

In your sentence, lulus ujian is completely natural and probably the most common choice:

  • Ibu saya bangga apabila saya lulus ujian dengan baik.
  • You could also say: …apabila saya lulus dalam ujian itu dengan baik, but it’s longer and not necessary unless you want to emphasise that particular exam (ujian itu).
What is the function of “dengan baik”, and why is it at the end of the sentence?

Dengan baik functions as an adverbial phrase of manner, describing how you passed the exam.

  • dengan = with
  • baik = good / well
  • dengan baik ≈ well / in a good way / with good results

Malay often forms adverb-like expressions with dengan + adjective:

  • dengan jelas = clearly
  • dengan perlahan = slowly
  • dengan serius = seriously

Typical word order: Subject – Verb – Object – Manner – Place – Time, so:

  • saya (subject)
  • lulus (verb)
  • ujian (object)
  • dengan baik (manner)

So “saya lulus ujian dengan baik” is the normal order.
Moving dengan baik into the middle, like ✗ saya lulus dengan baik ujian, is not natural.

Can “dengan baik” be replaced with something stronger like “with flying colours”?

Yes. Malay has several ways to emphasise very good results:

  • dengan cemerlang = excellently / with flying colours
  • dengan sangat baik = very well
  • dengan keputusan yang baik = with good results

So you could say:

  • Ibu saya bangga apabila saya lulus ujian dengan cemerlang.
    = My mother was proud when I passed the exam with flying colours.

Or:

  • …apabila saya lulus ujian dengan sangat baik.
Is it okay to move “dengan baik” earlier, like “apabila saya dengan baik lulus ujian”?

No, that word order is unnatural in Malay. Malay generally keeps this structure:

  1. Subject: saya
  2. Verb: lulus
  3. Object: ujian
  4. Manner (how): dengan baik

So the natural forms are:

  • Saya lulus ujian dengan baik.
  • Ibu saya bangga apabila saya lulus ujian dengan baik.

You can sometimes vary the sentence in other ways (for emphasis), but “saya dengan baik lulus ujian” or “saya lulus dengan baik ujian” are not standard.

What’s the nuance of “ibu” here compared with “emak/mak” or “mama”?

All of these can refer to “mother”, but they differ in register and style:

  • ibu

    • Neutral, slightly more formal.
    • Common in writing and polite speech.
    • Natural in your sentence: Ibu saya bangga…

  • emak / mak

    • Very common informal terms in many Malay-speaking families.
    • More “homey” or colloquial.
    • Example: Mak saya bangga apabila saya lulus ujian…

  • mama / umi / ibu mertua etc.

    • Depend on family, region, religion, or subculture.

About capitalisation:

  • In general, as a common noun, it is written lowercase: ibu saya, mak saya.
  • When used as a form of address or a name, some styles capitalise it:
    • Ibu, mari sini. = Mum, come here.

In many school-style sentences like yours, you’ll see Ibu saya or ibu saya; both occur, but strictly by rule, ibu saya with lowercase i is more typical.