Learn Hardcore Malay: Saya ingat tarikh mesyuarat itu. - I remember the date of that meeting.

tarikh mesyuarat = date of a / the meeting (indefinite/unspecified from grammar alone; context decides)
tarikh mesyuarat itu = the date of that / the meeting (now clearly a specific one, thanks to itu)

So there’s no missing word for “the”; Malay just doesn’t need one. Itu often plays that role of making a noun phrase specific.

What exactly does itu refer to here? The meeting or the date?

Grammatically, itu attaches to the whole phrase tarikh mesyuarat:

tarikh = date
mesyuarat = meeting
tarikh mesyuarat = the date of the meeting
tarikh mesyuarat itu = that meeting date / the date of that meeting

Malay normally puts demonstratives (ini, itu) at the end of the entire noun phrase. So itu makes the whole noun phrase specific, not only the very last noun.

In practice, it means roughly: the date of that (particular) meeting or the (specific) meeting date we’re talking about.

Could I move itu and say Saya ingat tarikh itu mesyuarat?

No, that would be ungrammatical in standard Malay.

Correct: tarikh mesyuarat itu (date + meeting + that)
Incorrect: tarikh itu mesyuarat

The normal order is:

[Head noun] + [modifier] + [demonstrative (ini/itu)]

Here:

Head noun: tarikh
Modifier: mesyuarat (telling you whose date)
Demonstrative: itu

So the natural structure is tarikh mesyuarat itu.

Why is it Saya ingat, not Saya mengingat?

The base verb is ingat (to remember / to think). Many Malay verbs can take a prefix like meN- (e.g. menulis, membaca), but ingat is very commonly used without the prefix in everyday Malay when it means “remember”:

Saya ingat tarikh itu. – I remember that date.
Saya tak ingat. – I don’t remember.

Forms with meN- like mengingat or mengingati exist, but:

They are less common in everyday speech.
They occur more in formal/written language or in fixed expressions (e.g. religious, poetic, or literary style).
In many contexts they sound stiff or old-fashioned in modern colloquial Malay.

So Saya ingat tarikh mesyuarat itu is the most natural conversational sentence.

How do I know whether ingat here means “remember” or “think (that)”?

Ingat has two common meanings:

remember
think / suppose / assume (that) in informal speech

To mean remember, ingat usually takes a direct object (something you remember):

Saya ingat tarikh mesyuarat itu. – I remember the meeting date.
Kami semua ingat nama dia. – We all remember his/her name.

To mean think (that), ingat is often followed by a clause:

Saya ingat dia dah balik. – I thought / I think he has gone home.
Saya ingat esok cuti. – I think tomorrow is a holiday.

In Saya ingat tarikh mesyuarat itu, the thing after ingat is a noun phrase (tarikh mesyuarat itu), so the meaning is clearly “remember”, not “think (that)”.

How is tense expressed in this sentence? Could it mean “I remembered” as well as “I remember”?

Malay verbs generally do not change form for tense. Ingat stays ingat for past, present, and future. The time reference is read from context or from extra words.

Saya ingat tarikh mesyuarat itu can mean:

I remember the date of the meeting. (now)
I remembered the date of the meeting. (in a narrated past context)

If you want to make time clearer, you can add markers:

Saya sudah ingat tarikh mesyuarat itu. – I already remembered / have remembered the meeting date.
Dulu saya ingat tarikh mesyuarat itu. – I used to remember the date of the meeting.
Nanti saya akan ingat tarikh mesyuarat itu. – I will remember the date of the meeting.

But in many cases, context alone is enough, and you keep ingat as it is.

Can I drop Saya and just say Ingat tarikh mesyuarat itu?

Yes, you can drop Saya if the subject is clear from context. Malay often omits subject pronouns when it’s obvious who is meant.

Ingat tarikh mesyuarat itu.
- Could mean: I remember the meeting date. (if you’re talking about yourself)
- Or: Remember the meeting date. (as an instruction to someone)

Tone and context decide whether it’s a statement or a command. In writing or in ambiguous situations, including Saya makes things clearer:

Saya ingat tarikh mesyuarat itu. – clearly a statement about yourself.
Awak ingat tarikh mesyuarat itu. – clearly telling you to remember it.

What is the structure of tarikh mesyuarat itu? Is it like “date meeting that”?

Yes, the literal word order is roughly “date meeting that”, but the structure is systematic:

tarikh – head noun (date)
mesyuarat – noun modifier (meeting)
itu – demonstrative (that)

In Malay, modifiers usually come after the noun they modify. So tarikh mesyuarat = “meeting date” / “date of the meeting”.

Then itu comes at the very end of the noun phrase to indicate “that / the specific one”.

So:

tarikh (date) + mesyuarat (meeting) + itu (that)
= that meeting date / the date of that meeting

Is mesyuarat formal? Would people say something else in casual conversation?

Mesyuarat is relatively formal; it’s used for meetings in offices, schools, organizations, etc. It’s standard and very common in both spoken and written Malay.

In casual conversation, depending on the type of “meeting”, people might say:

meeting (English loan, often pronounced like miting) – very common in office/sales/start‑up contexts:
- tarikh meeting itu – the date of that meeting (informal, mixed with English)
berjumpa / jumpa – to meet (people), not a scheduled “meeting” as an event or session:
- tarikh kita jumpa – the date we meet (more like “the day we meet up”).

But for an organizational or work meeting, mesyuarat and tarikh mesyuarat itu are natural even in speech.

Can I say Saya ingat akan tarikh mesyuarat itu? What does akan do?

You can say Saya ingat akan tarikh mesyuarat itu, but it sounds more formal or literary.

Here, akan is a preposition with a sense similar to “about / of / regarding”. You could gloss it as:

Saya ingat akan tarikh mesyuarat itu.
≈ I remember (regarding) the date of that meeting.

In modern everyday Malay:

Saya ingat tarikh mesyuarat itu. – most natural conversational form.
Saya ingat akan tarikh mesyuarat itu. – more formal, stylistic, or written.

So akan is optional and mainly affects the style, not the core meaning, in this sentence.

How would I make this negative: “I don’t remember the date of the meeting”?

You simply place tidak (informal: tak) before ingat:

Saya tidak ingat tarikh mesyuarat itu. – I do not remember the date of the meeting.
Saya tak ingat tarikh mesyuarat itu. – Same meaning, more casual/colloquial.

You can also add langsung (not at all) or langsung tidak for emphasis:

Saya langsung tak ingat tarikh mesyuarat itu. – I don’t remember the meeting date at all.