Learn Hardcore Malay: Saya berasa bersalah kerana lewat, tetapi saya sangat berterima kasih kerana awak masih menunggu. - I feel guilty for being late, but I am very thankful because you still waited.

rasa is more common in everyday spoken Malay.
berasa sounds a bit more formal or careful, and is more typical in writing, speeches, or polite conversation.

So in this sentence, Saya berasa bersalah feels slightly more formal/polished, but Saya rasa bersalah is what you’ll hear a lot in casual speech.

What exactly does bersalah mean? Could I say Saya rasa salah instead?

salah by itself means “wrong / mistaken”.
With the prefix ber-, bersalah means “to be at fault / to be guilty”.

Saya rasa bersalah. = I feel guilty / I feel at fault.
Saya salah. = I am wrong / I’m in the wrong (I made a mistake).

Saya rasa salah is understandable, but it usually sounds like:

“I feel (that) it’s wrong / I feel something is wrong,”
rather than the fixed emotional expression “I feel guilty.”

For the emotional state “I feel guilty,” the natural phrase is:

Saya (rasa / berasa) bersalah.

In kerana lewat, there’s no pronoun. How do we know who is late? Can I say kerana saya lewat instead?

Malay often drops information that is obvious from context, especially when it has just been mentioned.

Here:

Saya berasa bersalah kerana lewat
literally: I feel guilty because (I was) late.

The subject “I” is understood from the previous Saya, so it doesn’t need to be repeated.

You can say:

Saya berasa bersalah kerana saya lewat.
Saya berasa bersalah kerana saya datang lewat.

These are also correct and a bit more explicit. The shorter kerana lewat is just a more compact version where “I was” is implied.

What’s the difference between kerana and sebab in this kind of sentence? Are they interchangeable?

Both kerana and sebab can mean “because / because of”, and in most everyday contexts they are interchangeable:

Saya berasa bersalah kerana lewat.
Saya berasa bersalah sebab lewat.

Nuance:

kerana: slightly more formal / standard; very safe in writing and polite speech.
sebab: very common in informal speech; still acceptable in many written contexts, but feels more casual.

So using kerana twice in this sentence makes it sound a bit more formal and consistent in style.

Why is tetapi used? How is it different from tapi or namun?

All three are contrast words similar to “but / however”, but they differ in formality:

tetapi – standard, a bit formal; common in writing.
tapi – informal, everyday spoken Malay; very frequent in conversation.
namun – more formal/literary; usually used at the start of a sentence as “however”.

In your sentence:

… kerana lewat, tetapi saya sangat berterima kasih …
sounds polite / neutral.

More casual speech:

… sebab lewat, tapi saya sangat berterima kasih …

More formal written style:

Saya berasa bersalah kerana lewat. Namun, saya sangat berterima kasih kerana awak masih menunggu.

Why repeat saya after tetapi? Could I say … tetapi sangat berterima kasih … without repeating it?

You can drop the second saya, and it will still be correct and natural:

Saya berasa bersalah kerana lewat, tetapi sangat berterima kasih kerana awak masih menunggu.

In Malay, the subject pronoun is often omitted when it’s clear from context.

Repeating saya:

… tetapi saya sangat berterima kasih …

adds a bit of clarity and emphasis on “I”: “but I am very thankful…” It sounds slightly more careful or formal. Both versions are fine.

How does berterima kasih work? Why is it saya sangat berterima kasih, not saya sangat terima kasih?

terima kasih by itself is the fixed expression for “thank you”:

Terima kasih. = Thank you.

When you turn that into “to be thankful / to be grateful” as a verb-like phrase, Malay usually adds ber-:

Saya berterima kasih kepada awak.
= I am thankful to you / I thank you.

So:

Saya sangat berterima kasih …
is correct: I am very grateful / very thankful…
✗ Saya sangat terima kasih …
sounds wrong to native speakers.

Patterns you’ll hear:

Saya berterima kasih kepada awak.
Saya sangat berterima kasih sebab awak masih menunggu.
Saya ingin mengucapkan terima kasih. (I would like to express my thanks.)

What’s the nuance of awak here? How is it different from kamu or anda?

awak is a 2nd person singular “you” that is:

common in Malaysia,
relatively informal / friendly, often used between friends, peers, or people of similar status,
sometimes used between romantic partners.

Other common “you” forms:

kamu – neutral, also informal in many contexts; fine with friends and younger people.
anda – polite, more distant, used in customer-facing situations, advertisements, formal writing.
engkau / kau – very informal, intimate; with close friends or in some dialects; can sound rude if used with the wrong person.

In this sentence, awak makes it sound like you’re speaking to someone you’re comfortable with (friend, colleague, partner), not in a very formal context.

What does masih add in awak masih menunggu? How is that different from awak menunggu or awak tunggu?

masih means “still (continuing to)”.

Awak menunggu. = You are waiting.
Awak masih menunggu. = You are still waiting (you haven’t stopped yet).

Difference:

menunggu – simply “to wait”.
masih menunggu – emphasizes that the action is continuing over time, like English “still waiting”.

Menunggu vs tunggu:

menunggu – more standard / complete form.
tunggu – base verb; in speech you often hear both:
- Awak masih tunggu saya?
- Awak masih menunggu saya?

lagi can also mean “still” in many contexts (masih lagi menunggu, masih tunggu lagi), but masih alone is very clear for “still”.

How do Malay verbs show past tense here? In English it’s “were still waiting.” Why isn’t there a past marker?

Malay verbs do not change form for tense (no -ed, -s, etc.). Time is shown by:

context, and
time words like tadi (earlier), semalam (yesterday), esok (tomorrow), etc.

So:

Awak masih menunggu.
depending on context, can be:
- You are still waiting.
- You were still waiting.

If you want to make the past time explicit, add a time word:

Tadi awak masih menunggu.
= Earlier, you were still waiting.
Terima kasih kerana awak masih menunggu saya tadi.
= Thank you because you were still waiting for me just now / earlier.

The verb menunggu itself does not change.

Can I move the kerana… parts to the front of the sentence?

Yes. Malay allows the reason clause with kerana / sebab to come at the beginning or the end.

Original:

Saya berasa bersalah kerana lewat, tetapi saya sangat berterima kasih kerana awak masih menunggu.

Possible rearrangements:

Kerana saya lewat, saya berasa bersalah, tetapi saya sangat berterima kasih kerana awak masih menunggu.
Kerana awak masih menunggu, saya sangat berterima kasih, walaupun saya berasa bersalah kerana lewat.

The meaning stays the same; the changes just affect emphasis:

Starting with Kerana awak masih menunggu… emphasizes the listener’s action.
Starting with Kerana saya lewat… emphasizes your lateness.

Is this whole sentence formal, or could it be used in casual speech? What would a more casual version look like?

The sentence is polite and fairly natural, leaning slightly toward neutral/formal because of:

berasa,
kerana,
tetapi,
full structure saya sangat berterima kasih.

In casual spoken Malaysian Malay, you might hear:

Maaf, saya lewat, tapi saya sangat berterima kasih sebab awak masih tunggu saya.
or even shorter:
Maaf, saya lewat. Terima kasih banyak-banyak sebab awak masih tunggu.

Changes:

tapi instead of tetapi
sebab instead of kerana
tunggu instead of menunggu in fast speech
sometimes breaking it into two sentences and adding Maaf and Terima kasih as separate expressions.

Is the word order saya sangat berterima kasih fixed, or can I say saya berterima kasih sangat?

Both are possible, but they feel slightly different:

Saya sangat berterima kasih.
– neutral, standard word order:
I am very thankful.
Saya berterima kasih sangat.
– sounds more colloquial / emotional, like:
I’m really, really thankful.

In careful or written Malay, saya sangat berterima kasih is safer. In informal speech, berterima kasih sangat is also common, especially when speaking with strong feeling.