Learn Hardcore Malay: Saya pun mahu berehat di rumah malam ini.

shows addition (something extra, another person, another action)
can carry a “me too / that too” feeling
sometimes adds a soft emphasis, as if linking you to what was previously mentioned

What is the difference between pun and juga here?

Both pun and juga can give the idea of “also / too”, but they feel slightly different:

Saya pun mahu berehat…
- More like “I, too, want to rest…”
- Feels a bit more connected to what was said just before, often used in responses.
- Slightly more informal / conversational.
Saya juga mahu berehat…
- More neutral “I also want to rest…”
- Often feels a bit more standard or neutral, and works well even in writing or more formal situations.

In everyday speech in Malaysia:

You’ll hear both, but juga is more obviously “also”.
pun is often used when reacting to someone else:
- A: Saya letih. (I’m tired.)
- B: Saya pun letih. (I’m tired too.)

Where does pun normally go in the sentence? Can I move it?

With this meaning (also / too referring to the subject), pun usually comes right after the subject:

Saya pun mahu berehat… – natural, standard

If you move pun elsewhere, it often changes meaning or sounds odd:

Saya mahu pun berehat… – unnatural in this context.
Saya mahu berehat pun di rumah… – this sounds strange or might be interpreted differently.

So for “I also …” referring to “I”, keep:

Subject + pun + verb phrase
e.g. Dia pun datang, Kami pun setuju, Saya pun mahu berehat…

What does mahu mean, and how is it different from hendak, nak, or ingin?

In this sentence, mahu means “to want (to)”.

Roughly:

mahu – want, widely used, quite neutral.
hendak – also want, a bit more formal or careful; common in writing and in some spoken styles.
nak – colloquial, shortened from hendak, very common in casual speech.
ingin – closer to wish / would like, slightly more polite or refined.

In Malaysian Malay:

Saya mahu berehat… – neutral.
Saya hendak berehat… – neutral–formal, sounds slightly more formal.
Saya nak berehat… – casual, everyday speech.
Saya ingin berehat… – sounds a bit more polite or thoughtful.

All of these are understandable in this sentence; they just have different levels of formality / tone.

What is the difference between berehat and rehat?

rehat is the root, and berehat is the verb form with the prefix ber-:

rehat – a noun: rest, break
- masa rehat – break time
- waktu rehat – recess / break
berehat – a verb: to rest, to take a break
- Saya mahu berehat. – I want to rest.
- Dia sedang berehat. – He/She is resting.

In this sentence, you need the verb, so berehat is the correct, standard form:

Saya pun mahu berehat… ✔
Saya pun mahu rehat… – often said in casual speech, but grammatically less standard.

Why is it di rumah and not ke rumah?

In Malay:

di = at / in / on (location)
ke = to (direction, movement towards)

In this sentence, you’re talking about being at home, not going home:

Saya pun mahu berehat di rumah…
→ I want to rest *at home…* (location)

If you said:

Saya mahu balik ke rumah. – I want to go home.
Saya mahu pergi ke rumah dia. – I want to go to his/her house.

So:

Use di rumah = at home.
Use ke rumah = (going) to the house/home.

Can I change the word order of di rumah malam ini?

Yes, Malay word order is quite flexible when it comes to time and place expressions. All of these are possible and natural, with slightly different emphasis:

Saya pun mahu berehat di rumah malam ini.
– neutral; end focus on tonight.
Saya pun mahu berehat malam ini di rumah.
– still okay; very similar meaning, with a slight emphasis that the resting (tonight) will be at home.
Malam ini, saya pun mahu berehat di rumah.
– emphasises tonight (maybe contrasting with other nights).
Di rumah, saya pun mahu berehat malam ini.
– emphasises at home (as opposed to somewhere else).

The original version is the most typical neutral order: [subject] [pun] [verb] [place] [time].

How is tense expressed here? Is it present or future?

Malay does not have verb tenses like English (no verb changes for past/present/future). The time is understood from context and from time words like malam ini (tonight), semalam (yesterday), esok (tomorrow), etc.

In this sentence:

mahu itself just means want (not inherently future or present).
malam ini adds the time: tonight.

So Saya pun mahu berehat di rumah malam ini is understood as:

“I also want to rest at home tonight.” (future-oriented because of malam ini)

If you changed the time word, the sense changes:

Saya mahu berehat di rumah sekarang. – I want to rest at home now.
Saya mahu berehat di rumah semalam. – odd, because “want” with “yesterday” doesn’t mesh well; you’d usually rephrase in Malay.

Why is it malam ini, not ini malam?

The normal pattern in Malay is:

[noun] + ini → this [noun]
- malam ini – this night / tonight
- hari ini – this day / today
- bulan ini – this month
- tahun ini – this year

So malam ini is the standard way to say tonight.

ini malam is not used to mean tonight; it sounds unnatural in standard Malay. You might hear nanti malam or malam nanti meaning later tonight, but malam ini is the direct equivalent of tonight.

Does rumah mean “house” or “home” here?

rumah can mean both “house” and “home”, depending on context.

In this sentence, di rumah is naturally understood as:

at home

because you are talking about resting and where you stay/live, not the physical building as an object.

So rumah is flexible, similar to how English sometimes uses “home” to mean your house, your place, etc.

Can I drop Saya and just say Pun mahu berehat di rumah malam ini?

No, you cannot drop Saya here. Pun on its own cannot be the subject; it is just a particle.

You need a clear subject before pun:

Saya pun mahu berehat… ✔
Dia pun mahu berehat… ✔
Kami pun mahu berehat… ✔

If the subject is already very clear from context, Malay sometimes omits it, but then you would usually not use pun in this way. For example:

Mahu berehat di rumah malam ini. – possible in very casual speech or messages, but sounds like a shorthand / fragment, not a full sentence, and it loses the “me too” nuance of pun.

What is the difference between saya and aku for “I”?

Both mean “I”, but they differ in politeness and context:

saya
- polite, neutral, standard
- used with strangers, older people, in formal situations, in writing
- safe default pronoun in most situations
aku
- informal, intimate
- used with close friends, family, or in songs/poems
- can sound rude if used with someone you should speak politely to

In this sentence:

Saya pun mahu berehat di rumah malam ini. – polite/neutral.
Aku pun mahu berehat di rumah malam ini. – casual/informal; sounds like you’re speaking to a close friend.

For learning, saya is the safest choice.

How would I say the negative, like “I also don’t want to rest at home tonight”?

To negate mahu, you usually place tidak (or tak in casual speech) before it:

Saya pun tidak mahu berehat di rumah malam ini.
– I also do not want to rest at home tonight.

In casual speech:

Saya pun tak mahu berehat di rumah malam ini.

Structure:

Saya (I)
pun (also)
tidak / tak (not)
mahu (want)
berehat di rumah malam ini (to rest at home tonight)