Learn Hardcore Malay: Adik saya tidak faham apa yang tertulis di papan putih, jadi saya tolong jelaskan. - My younger sibling does not understand what is written on the whiteboard, so I help explain.

Saya adik would more naturally be understood as “I am the younger sibling”, where saya is the subject and adik is a complement (like I am the younger sibling in the family).

How do we know this sentence is about the past if there is no past tense form?

Malay usually does not change the verb form for past, present, or future. Instead, the time is understood from:

context, or
time words, such as:
- tadi (a while ago / earlier)
- semalam (yesterday)
- nanti (later)
- akan (will)

In the sentence:

Adik saya tidak faham apa yang tertulis di papan putih, jadi saya tolong jelaskan.

The English translation is past (didn’t understand, I helped explain), but in Malay the verb forms stay the same. If you wanted to make the past time very explicit, you could add something like:

Tadi adik saya tidak faham… = Earlier my younger sibling didn’t understand…

What is the difference between tidak faham and tak faham?

Both mean “not understand / don’t understand”.

tidak faham
- more formal or neutral
- common in writing, formal speech, news, etc.
tak faham
- contraction of tidak
- very common in casual spoken Malay
- often used in informal writing (texts, chats)

So:

Adik saya tidak faham… is fine in both spoken and written Malay, a bit more neutral/formal.
Adik saya tak faham… sounds more casual/colloquial.

Semantically, they’re the same.

What does the structure apa yang tertulis mean, and why is yang there?

Apa yang tertulis literally means “what that is written” and functions like “what is written” / “the thing that is written”.

Breakdown:

apa = what
yang = a marker that introduces a clause describing a noun (like “that/which” in English)
tertulis = written

In Malay, yang is used to link a noun (or pronoun like apa) to a descriptive clause:

orang yang memakai baju merah = the person who is wearing red clothes
apa yang kamu kata = what you said / the thing that you said

So apa yang tertulis is “what (it is that) is written”.

What does tertulis mean, and how is it different from ditulis?

Both come from the root tulis (to write), but they have different nuances.

tertulis
- prefix ter- often gives a stative meaning: a state or condition
- tertulis = written (in a state of being written)
- focuses on the existing writing on something, not on the act of writing it
- e.g. Apa yang tertulis di papan putih? = What is written on the whiteboard?
ditulis
- prefix di- usually marks a passive voice: to be written (by someone)
- focuses more on the action and doer
- e.g. Ayat itu ditulis oleh cikgu. = That sentence was written by the teacher.

In your sentence, tertulis is natural because we are talking about the content that is there on the board, not about who wrote it.

In English we say “explain it”, but there is no “it” after jelaskan. Where did the object go?

Malay often omits objects when they are clear from context.

In:

…jadi saya tolong jelaskan.

The understood object is “it”, referring to apa yang tertulis di papan putih (what was written on the whiteboard). You could make it explicit:

…jadi saya tolong jelaskan kepada adik saya.
= so I helped explain (it) to my younger sibling.

…jadi saya tolong jelaskan perkara itu.
= so I helped explain that matter.

But if it’s obvious what “it” refers to, Malay speakers are happy to leave it out.

What exactly does jadi do here, and where can it appear in a sentence?

Jadi is a connector meaning “so / therefore / as a result”.

In your sentence:

…tidak faham…, jadi saya tolong jelaskan.

it links the cause (didn’t understand) with the result (I helped explain).

Position:

It commonly appears at the start of the result clause, as in the sentence.
You can also use jadi at the very beginning of a sentence to continue from previous context:
- Jadi, saya tolong jelaskan. = So, I helped explain.

It’s quite common in speech and written Malay and is roughly like English “so” as a conjunction.

What does saya tolong jelaskan mean literally, and how is tolong used?

Literally:

saya = I
tolong = help
jelaskan = explain (imperative / causative form of jelas)

So saya tolong jelaskan is roughly “I help (to) explain” → I helped explain (it).

About tolong:

As a main verb = to help
- Saya tolong dia. = I help him/her.
As a “please” helper in requests (very common):
- Tolong jelaskan. = Please explain.
- Tolong tulis nama anda. = Please write your name.

In your sentence, saya tolong jelaskan uses tolong in the sense of helping by doing the explaining. A more formal alternative would be:

…jadi saya membantu menjelaskan.

How do we know that papan putih means “the whiteboard” and not just “a white board”?

Malay normally does not have articles like “a” or “the”. Papan putih literally means white board, and whether it is understood as “a whiteboard” or “the whiteboard” depends on context.

To be more specific:

papan putih itu = that/that particular whiteboard
papan putih ini = this whiteboard

In your sentence:

…apa yang tertulis di papan putih…

it is understood as “on the whiteboard” because we are talking about a specific, shared context (e.g. the board in the classroom), even though there is no explicit word for “the”.

Could we phrase the sentence differently but keep the same meaning?

Yes. Malay word order is fairly flexible as long as the relationships stay clear. Some natural alternatives:

Adik saya tidak faham apa yang tertulis di papan putih, jadi saya jelaskan kepadanya.
= …so I explained it to him/her.
Saya tolong jelaskan kepada adik saya kerana dia tidak faham apa yang tertulis di papan putih.
= I helped explain to my younger sibling because they didn’t understand what was written on the whiteboard.
Kerana adik saya tidak faham apa yang tertulis di papan putih, saya tolong jelaskan.
= Because my younger sibling didn’t understand what was written on the whiteboard, I helped explain.

All of these preserve the same basic meaning while adjusting emphasis and structure.