Learn Hardcore Malay: Hobi utama saya ialah mengumpul poskad lama. - My main hobby is collecting old postcards.

Use ialah when the part after it is usually a noun phrase or pronoun.
- Dia ialah doktor. – He/She is a doctor.
Use adalah when the part after it is more often:
- an adjective phrase, or
- a prepositional phrase, or
- something more descriptive/explanatory.
- Dia adalah sangat rajin. – He/She is very diligent.
- Masalah ini adalah tentang masa. – This problem is about time.

In real-life use, many native speakers don’t strictly follow this, and ialah/adalah are often interchangeable or even omitted. Still, in formal/written Malay, ialah here is very natural and stylistically correct.

You can also say:

Hobi utama saya adalah mengumpul poskad lama. – Grammatically acceptable, slightly more formal or general.
In casual speech: Hobi utama saya mengumpul poskad lama. – Copula simply dropped.

Why is it hobi utama saya instead of saya hobi utama for “my main hobby”?

Malay normally puts the possessor (e.g. saya, “I/my”) after the thing possessed:

buku saya – my book
kereta saya – my car
telefon saya – my phone

Adjectives also come after the noun:

hobi utama – main hobby (literally: hobby main)

So when you combine noun + adjective + possessor, the usual order is:

Noun + Adjective + Possessive pronoun

In this case:

hobi (hobby) + utama (main) + saya (my)
→ hobi utama saya – my main hobby

Saya hobi utama is ungrammatical as a noun phrase.
Saya can come at the beginning only if it is the subject of a full sentence, e.g.:

Saya ada satu hobi utama. – I have one main hobby.

Could I say hobi saya yang utama instead of hobi utama saya? Is there a difference?

Yes, you can say hobi saya yang utama. Both phrases can mean “my main hobby”, but there is a small nuance:

Hobi utama saya
- Very neutral and common.
- Feels like a simple label: my main hobby.
Hobi saya yang utama
- Literally: the hobby of mine that is main.
- The yang adds a bit of emphasis or contrast, like:
  - Among my hobbies, the one that is main.
- You might use it when contrasting with other hobbies:
  - Saya ada banyak hobi, tetapi hobi saya yang utama ialah mengumpul poskad lama.
    I have many hobbies, but my main hobby is collecting old postcards.

For a stand‑alone simple sentence like the one you gave, hobi utama saya is the most natural choice.

Why is the verb mengumpul used, and what’s the difference between kumpul, mengumpul, and mengumpulkan?

All three are related to the root kumpul (to gather/collect), but they differ in formality and nuance.

kumpul
- Base form of the verb.
- Often used in casual speech, especially as a command:
  - Kumpul semua poskad itu. – Collect all those postcards.
- Can sound a bit bare or imperative.
mengumpul
- Formed by adding the meN- prefix to kumpul:
  - meN- + kumpul → mengumpul (the k in kumpul drops).
- Feels more standard/neutral, good for writing and formal speech.
- Can mean:
  - to collect (as an activity/hobby)
  - to gather (things together)
- In your sentence, mengumpul works like “collecting” or “to collect”:
  - Hobi utama saya ialah mengumpul poskad lama.
    My main hobby is collecting old postcards.
mengumpulkan
- mengumpul + -kan
- Often adds a nuance of causing something/someone to be gathered or collecting something for a purpose:
  - Kami mengumpulkan derma. – We are collecting donations.
  - Dia mengumpulkan murid-murid di dewan. – He gathered the students in the hall.

In the specific context of a personal hobby, mengumpul poskad lama is the most natural.
Mengumpulkan poskad lama is not wrong, but it sounds more like a purposeful action (e.g., collecting them for an exhibition) rather than a hobby name.

Why is it poskad lama and not lama poskad for “old postcards”?

In Malay, adjectives usually come after the noun:

rumah besar – big house
baju baru – new clothes
kereta mahal – expensive car

So:

poskad – postcard
lama – old

Together:

poskad lama – old postcards

Putting lama before the noun (lama poskad) is wrong in standard Malay and sounds unnatural. The fixed pattern is:

Noun + Adjective
poskad + lama → poskad lama

Malay doesn’t show plurals like English. How do I know poskad lama means “old postcards” and not “an old postcard”?

Malay usually doesn’t mark plural on the noun itself. Poskad can mean:

one postcard
many postcards

You understand singular vs plural from context. In a hobby context, mengumpul poskad lama almost always refers to collecting more than one postcard, so English naturally translates it as “old postcards”.

If you want to make plurality clear, you can add quantity words:

banyak poskad lama – many old postcards
beberapa poskad lama – several old postcards
dua poskad lama – two old postcards

But the base form poskad itself does not change.

Can I say Hobi utama saya adalah untuk mengumpul poskad lama? Is that natural?

Yes, Hobi utama saya adalah untuk mengumpul poskad lama is grammatically acceptable, but it feels more wordy and a bit less natural for this simple idea.

Differences:

Hobi utama saya ialah mengumpul poskad lama.
- Very natural and concise.
- Literally: My main hobby is collecting old postcards.
Hobi utama saya adalah untuk mengumpul poskad lama.
- Literally: My main hobby is to collect old postcards.
- The phrase adalah untuk (is to) sounds more formal or explanatory, and is more often used when stating purposes or aims:
  - Tujuan projek ini adalah untuk membantu pelajar miskin.
    The aim of this project is to help poor students.

For talking about hobbies, the shorter version with ialah + verb (mengumpul) is smoother and more idiomatic.

Why does mengumpul look like a verb but act like a noun (“collecting”) in this sentence?

Malay verbs don’t change form for things like tense (past/present/future) or gerund (collect/collecting/to collect). The same form can function as:

a normal verb:
- Saya mengumpul poskad lama. – I collect old postcards.
a verb-like noun phrase (“collecting”):
- Hobi utama saya ialah mengumpul poskad lama.
  My main hobby is collecting old postcards.

Malay doesn’t need an extra ending like -ing or to.
Context tells you whether mengumpul means:

“collect” (verb in a clause) or
“collecting” / “to collect” (activity as a noun-like phrase).

Is it okay to drop ialah and just say Hobi utama saya mengumpul poskad lama?

Yes, especially in informal spoken Malay, many speakers would simply say:

Hobi utama saya mengumpul poskad lama.

In casual speech, the linking word (ialah/adalah) is often omitted when the meaning is still clear. However:

In formal writing (essays, exams, official texts), including ialah is usually preferred:
- Hobi utama saya ialah mengumpul poskad lama.

So:

Formal / written: keep ialah.
Informal / spoken: with or without ialah is fine, but the version with ialah is still perfectly natural.

Is saya the only option for “I/my” here? What about aku?

Saya is the neutral, polite first-person pronoun in Malay. It’s appropriate in almost all situations:

talking to strangers
in class
in writing
in mixed-age groups

You could replace it with aku in more informal contexts:

Hobi utama aku ialah mengumpul poskad lama.

But:

aku is casual/familiar, often used with close friends or people your age, and may sound rude or too intimate in formal or polite contexts.
For learners, sticking with saya is safest until you’re very comfortable with levels of politeness.

So the original sentence with saya is the most broadly appropriate.

Why is the word written as poskad and not pos kad or poskard?

Poskad is the Malay adaptation of the English “postcard”:

The spelling follows Malay phonetic and spelling rules.
pos (post/mail) + kad (card) → historically, you might see kad pos (post card).
Over time, the compound has become poskad, treated as a single word.

Other examples where English loanwords are adapted:

bas (from bus)
teksi (from taxi)
muzik (from music)

So poskad is the standard modern spelling and is treated as one noun meaning postcard.

Can I change the word order, like Saya mengumpul poskad lama sebagai hobi utama saya? Is that still correct?

Yes, this is also correct and natural:

Saya mengumpul poskad lama sebagai hobi utama saya.
= I collect old postcards as my main hobby.

Differences in focus:

Hobi utama saya ialah mengumpul poskad lama.
- Focus: your main hobby → what is it?
- Answers the question: “What is your main hobby?”
Saya mengumpul poskad lama sebagai hobi utama saya.
- Focus: the activity (collecting postcards) → described as your main hobby.
- Answers the question: “What do you do (as your main hobby)?”

Both are grammatically fine; the original version is slightly simpler for a “My main hobby is …” type sentence.