Learn Hardcore Malay: Jika saya minum kopi terlalu lewat, saya jadi sukar tidur. - If I drink coffee too late, it becomes hard for me to sleep.

jika
- More formal, often used in writing, news, official documents, school exams.
- Sounds a bit more “bookish” or careful.
kalau
- More informal, very common in everyday speech.
- You’ll hear this a lot in conversation.

In your sentence, you can absolutely say:

Kalau saya minum kopi terlalu lewat, saya jadi sukar tidur.

The meaning stays the same. The main difference is the level of formality, not grammar.

Why is saya repeated? Can I say Jika saya minum kopi terlalu lewat, jadi sukar tidur?

The repetition of saya is normal and natural:

Jika saya minum kopi terlalu lewat, saya jadi sukar tidur.
= If I drink coffee too late, I find it hard to sleep.

In Malay, repeating the subject in the second clause of a sentence like this is very common and often preferred for clarity.

You can drop the second saya in casual speech:

Jika saya minum kopi terlalu lewat, jadi sukar tidur.

This will still be understood, and people do say things like this, but:

It sounds more informal and slightly less “complete”.
In careful or written Malay (e.g. textbooks, exams), it’s better to keep saya in both clauses.

What exactly does jadi mean in this sentence? Is it “become” or “so”? Can I leave it out?

jadi literally means become, but in real usage it often functions like so / end up / therefore.

In your sentence:

…saya jadi sukar tidur.
= I become / end up having difficulty sleeping.

Nuance:

It implies a change of state caused by the first clause.
Because I drink coffee too late, I end up finding it hard to sleep.

Can you leave it out?

Jika saya minum kopi terlalu lewat, saya sukar tidur.
This is also grammatical and understandable, but sounds a bit more “dry” or matter‑of‑fact.
jadi makes the causal connection feel more natural and conversational.

So jadi here is somewhere between become and so (I end up…).

Why use sukar instead of susah? Are they the same?

Both sukar and susah mean difficult, but they differ in tone:

sukar
- More formal, often used in writing, news, essays.
- Feels a little more “neutral” and less colloquial.
susah
- Very common in everyday conversation.
- More casual and a bit more emotive: hard, troublesome.

You could say:

…saya jadi susah tidur.

This would sound very natural in speech and informal writing.
The original sukar just makes the sentence slightly more formal/standard, like something you might see in a textbook.

Why is it sukar tidur and not tidur sukar? What is the word order here?

In Malay, adjectives usually come after the noun, but here sukar acts more like a description of an action rather than directly modifying the noun.

tidur = to sleep (verb) / sleep (noun-like)
sukar tidur = (to) sleep with difficulty / find it difficult to sleep

Think of sukar here as describing how the sleeping happens. It’s similar to English hard to sleep rather than sleep hard.

You would not say:

✗ saya jadi tidur sukar

That sounds unnatural. The natural patterns are:

saya sukar tidur
saya jadi sukar tidur
saya susah tidur

So: [subject] + (jadi) + sukar/susah + verb is a common pattern.

What’s the difference between terlalu lewat and terlambat? Which is more natural here?

Both relate to being late, but there are nuances:

lewat = late (in time)
terlalu = too / excessively
terlalu lewat = too late (in terms of time of day or timing)
terlambat = late (usually compared to an expected time: late for work, class, etc.)

In this sentence, terlalu lewat is more natural because it refers to:

Drinking coffee at too late a time (e.g. at night).

Examples:

Saya bangun lewat. = I woke up late.
Saya datang terlambat ke pejabat. = I came late to the office.
Jika saya minum kopi terlalu lewat, saya jadi sukar tidur. = If I drink coffee too late (at night), I find it hard to sleep.

You could also hear:

kalau saya minum kopi lewat malam = if I drink coffee late at night.
kalau saya minum kopi terlalu lambat is not natural for this meaning.

Malay doesn’t show tense here. How do we know this means a general habit and not past or future?

Malay normally does not mark tense with verb endings like English (-ed, -ing, will). Instead, you rely on:

Time words (e.g. semalam = yesterday, esok = tomorrow)
Context and sentence type

In your sentence:

Jika saya minum kopi terlalu lewat, saya jadi sukar tidur.

The use of jika (if) and the structure with simple verbs naturally suggests:

A general truth / repeated habit, not one specific event.
Roughly: Whenever I drink coffee too late, I (tend to) find it hard to sleep.

If you wanted a one‑time, specific event, you’d normally add time phrases:

Semalam saya minum kopi terlalu lewat, saya jadi sukar tidur.
= Last night I drank coffee too late, I found it hard to sleep.

Can I use bila instead of jika here? What’s the difference between bila and jika?

You can use bila, but the nuance changes a bit.

bila usually means when, but in colloquial speech it can also mean if.
jika is more clearly if and more formal.

Compare:

Bila saya minum kopi terlalu lewat, saya jadi sukar tidur.
→ Often heard in speech. Can be understood as When(ever) I drink… (habitual), and sometimes as If I drink….
Jika saya minum kopi terlalu lewat, saya jadi sukar tidur.
→ More clearly conditional: If I drink… (general condition), and more formal/standard.

For learners, jika (or kalau) is safer when you want a clear if meaning.

How would this sentence sound in very casual spoken Malay?

A more casual, very natural spoken version might be:

Kalau saya minum kopi lewat, susah nak tidur.

Changes:

kalau instead of jika (more conversational)
lewat alone, or lewat malam instead of terlalu lewat
susah instead of sukar (more colloquial)
nak instead of hendak (spoken form of “want to / to” in many contexts)

Example variants you might hear:

Kalau saya minum kopi lewat malam, susah nak tidur.
Kalau saya minum kopi lambat sangat, susah tidur.

Do I need a classifier or measure word with kopi, like “a cup of coffee”?

In Malay, you often add a measure word if you want to be precise, but it’s not required here.

Your sentence:

Jika saya minum kopi terlalu lewat…
= If I drink coffee too late… (in general, not specifying how much)

If you want to say a cup of coffee, you can add:

secawan kopi = a cup of coffee
- Jika saya minum secawan kopi terlalu lewat, saya jadi sukar tidur.

Other possible measures:

segelas kopi = a glass of coffee
sedikit kopi = a bit of coffee

But for a general statement about drinking coffee, kopi without a classifier is perfectly natural.