Learn Hardcore Malay: Saya juga mahu dia bangga kerana saya cuba jujur tentang kelemahan dan kekuatan saya. - I also want her/him to be proud because I try to be honest about my weaknesses and strengths.

In this sentence, Saya juga mahu dia bangga..., putting juga after saya emphasizes that I, too, want this, in addition to something previously mentioned.

Other possible positions:

Saya mahu dia juga bangga...
– He/She also is proud, in addition to other people.
Saya mahu dia bangga juga.
– Proud as well, often stressing the state of being proud in addition to other feelings or reactions.

The most neutral way to say I also want… is Saya juga mahu… as in the original sentence.

Why is it mahu dia bangga and not something like mahu dia menjadi bangga or mahu untuk dia bangga?

Malay does not need an extra verb like menjadi (to become) or a marker like untuk in structures like want someone to be X.

Saya mahu dia bangga
= I want him/her to be proud.
Literally: I want he/she proud.

Adding menjadi is usually unnecessary and can sound unnatural in this exact sentence:

Saya mahu dia menjadi bangga – grammatically possible, but awkward; not how natives would say it here.
Saya mahu untuk dia bangga – ungrammatical/very unnatural.

So mahu + [person] + [adjective] is the normal pattern:

Saya mahu kamu gembira. – I want you to be happy.
Kami mahu mereka berjaya. – We want them to succeed.

Why is there no verb like adalah before bangga? In English we say “is proud.”

Malay adjectives often act like “is/are + adjective” without any extra verb.

So:

dia bangga
literally: he/she proud
meaning: he/she is proud

You normally do not use adalah before a simple adjective like bangga, sedih, letih:

Dia sedih. – He/She is sad.
Saya letih. – I am tired.

Adalah is more common in formal writing and usually links a subject to a noun phrase, not a simple adjective:

Matlamat saya adalah kebahagiaan keluarga saya.
My goal is my family’s happiness.

So here, dia bangga is the correct and natural form.

Does dia mean he or she? How do you show gender in Malay?

Dia is gender‑neutral: it can mean he or she.

Malay usually does not mark gender in pronouns. Context tells you whether dia is male or female.

If you really need to specify gender, you can add words like:

lelaki (male) or perempuan (female)
Dia seorang lelaki. – He is a man.
Dia seorang perempuan. – She is a woman.

But in everyday speech, people just say dia and rely on context.

Why do we repeat saya at the end in kelemahan dan kekuatan saya?

Malay typically places the possessor after the thing possessed and attaches it to the whole phrase:

kelemahan dan kekuatan saya
= my weaknesses and strengths
literally: weaknesses and strengths my

Here, saya modifies the entire pair kelemahan dan kekuatan.

You cannot normally move saya to the front the way English does:

✗ saya kelemahan dan kekuatan – wrong.
✓ kelemahan dan kekuatan saya – correct.

You could say just kelemahan dan kekuatan (without saya) if the owner is obvious from context, but you would lose the explicit my.

What exactly do kelemahan and kekuatan mean, and are they always used as a pair?

kelemahan = weakness / weaknesses
(from lemah = weak)
kekuatan = strength / strengths / power
(from kuat = strong)

They are not only used as a fixed pair, but they are very commonly paired to talk about self‑evaluation, performance, etc.:

Apakah kelemahan dan kekuatan kamu?
What are your weaknesses and strengths?

Individually:

kelemahan sistem ini – the weaknesses of this system
kekuatan pasukan itu – the strength of that team (could be physical, strategic, or other types of strength)

What is the difference between kerana and sebab? Could we use sebab here?

Both kerana and sebab mean because.

In this sentence:

...kerana saya cuba jujur...
You could say ...sebab saya cuba jujur... in everyday speech.

General tendencies:

kerana – slightly more formal / neutral, common in writing and speech.
sebab – more colloquial/informal, very common in speech.

Grammatically, both can introduce a reason clause:

Saya lewat kerana/s e b a b jalan sesak.
I am late because the road is jammed.

What does cuba jujur literally mean? Do we need untuk, like cuba untuk jujur?

Cuba = try, jujur = honest.

In saya cuba jujur, it means I try to be honest / I am trying to be honest.

In Malay, you can usually put cuba directly before a verb or adjective without untuk:

Saya cuba faham. – I try to understand.
Dia cuba tenang. – He/She tries to be calm.
Kami cuba jujur. – We try to be honest.

Cuba untuk jujur is grammatically possible but adds no benefit here and sounds less natural in everyday speech. Cuba jujur is the standard, natural form.

Is jujur an adjective or an adverb here? How do you say honest vs honestly in Malay?

In Malay, many words can function as both adjective and adverb without changing form, and jujur is one of them.

Here, jujur is effectively both:

saya cuba jujur
= I try to be honest / honest(ly).

Other examples:

Dia cakap jujur. – He/She speaks honestly.
Dia seorang yang jujur. – He/She is an honest person.

Malay doesn’t add endings like English -ly. Context tells you whether it is honest or honestly in English.

Can tentang be replaced by mengenai or pasal? Are there differences?

Yes, you can replace tentang with mengenai or pasal, but they differ slightly in tone:

tentang – neutral, widely used, appropriate in both formal and informal context.
mengenai – more formal, common in writing or official speech.
pasal – informal/colloquial, common in casual conversation.

In this sentence:

...jujur tentang kelemahan dan kekuatan saya. – neutral, standard.
...jujur mengenai kelemahan dan kekuatan saya. – slightly more formal.
...jujur pasal kelemahan dan kekuatan saya. – casual speech.

All three would be understood.

Could we change the word order to Saya mahu dia juga bangga or Saya mahu juga dia bangga? What changes in meaning?

Word order changes which part is emphasized:

Saya juga mahu dia bangga.
– I also want him/her to be proud.
Focus: I also want, in addition to something else I (or others) want.
Saya mahu dia juga bangga.
– I want him/her also to be proud.
Focus: he/she too, in addition to other people being proud.
Saya mahu juga dia bangga.
– Possible, but sounds a bit marked; the juga is emphasized in speech and can sound slightly awkward or poetic depending on context.

The original sentence is the most natural for I also want him/her to be proud.

Could we say Saya juga mahu membanggakan dia instead of Saya juga mahu dia bangga? What’s the difference?

Both are grammatical but the focus changes:

Saya juga mahu dia bangga.
– I also want him/her to be proud.
Focus: his/her feeling of pride.
Saya juga mahu membanggakan dia.
– I also want to make him/her proud / to be a source of pride for him/her.
Here membanggakan is a causative verb: to cause someone to feel proud.

So:

If you focus on their state: use dia bangga.
If you focus on you being the cause of that pride: use membanggakan dia.

In your original sentence, dia bangga matches well with the explanation about being honest about your own weaknesses and strengths.

Are there more casual alternatives to saya and mahu in this sentence?

Yes, in informal spoken Malay:

saya → aku (very casual, use with close friends / people of same age)
mahu → nak (very common in speech)

So a casual version might be:

Aku juga nak dia bangga kerana aku cuba jujur tentang kelemahan dan kekuatan aku.

In formal or neutral contexts (writing, talking to strangers, at work), saya and mahu are safer and more appropriate.