Learn Hardcore Malay: Hobi teman wanita saya ialah berkelah di tasik pada hujung minggu. - My girlfriend’s hobby is having picnics at the lake on weekends.

Teman wanita literally means “female companion/friend”, but in Malaysian Malay it is normally understood as “girlfriend” (romantic partner), especially in a sentence like this.

Teman wanita → usually “girlfriend”
Kawan perempuan → more neutral “female friend”
If you really want to avoid the romantic meaning, kawan perempuan or rakan perempuan is safer.

So in this sentence, the natural English translation is “My girlfriend’s hobby…”, not just “my female friend’s hobby…”, unless context very clearly says otherwise.

Why is the possessive written as teman wanita saya and not “saya teman wanita”?

In Malay, possessive pronouns come after the noun, not before:

teman wanita saya = my girlfriend
- teman wanita (girlfriend) + saya (my)
hobi teman wanita saya = my girlfriend’s hobby

Compare with some other examples:

buku saya = my book
rumah mereka = their house
kereta abang saya = my older brother’s car

Putting saya before the noun (saya teman wanita) is ungrammatical in Malay.

What is the function of ialah here? Can I leave it out, or use adalah instead?

Ialah is a linking verb similar to English “is/are” in equational sentences:

Hobi teman wanita saya ialah …
= My girlfriend’s hobby is …

About ialah vs adalah:

Traditional rule:
- ialah → used when the complement is a noun phrase
- adalah → used when the complement is an adjective or a long explanation
In real modern usage, many speakers mix them quite freely, and your sentence with ialah is very natural.

Can you change or omit it?

You can say:
Hobi teman wanita saya adalah berkelah di tasik pada hujung minggu.
In casual speech/writing, people may drop it:
Hobi teman wanita saya berkelah di tasik pada hujung minggu.

However, for clear and standard written Malay, keeping “ialah” (or “adalah”) is recommended in this kind of sentence.

Is berkelah a verb? Why is a verb used after hobi … ialah?

Yes, berkelah is a verb, formed with the prefix ber-, meaning “to picnic” / “to go on a picnic”.

Malay often uses a verb after hobi/kegemaran in the same way English uses an -ing form:

Hobi saya ialah membaca.
= My hobby is reading.
Hobi mereka ialah memasak.
= Their hobby is cooking.
Hobi teman wanita saya ialah berkelah.
= My girlfriend’s hobby is picnicking / having picnics.

So even though it’s a verb, it functions like a gerund (“picnicking”) in English. That’s why it fits naturally after hobi … ialah.

Could I say Teman wanita saya suka berkelah di tasik pada hujung minggu instead?

Yes, and it’s very natural. The meaning is close but not identical:

Hobi teman wanita saya ialah berkelah di tasik pada hujung minggu.
= Her hobby is picnicking at the lake on weekends.
Teman wanita saya suka berkelah di tasik pada hujung minggu.
= She likes picnicking at the lake on weekends.

Hobi focuses on her hobby, while suka focuses on what she likes.
Both are correct; you choose depending on what you want to emphasise.

Does di tasik mean “in the lake” or “at the lake”?

Di is a general preposition for location and can translate as “in / at / on”, depending on context.

di tasik in this sentence is naturally understood as “at the lake” (the place where the picnic happens), not literally in the water.
Malay doesn’t have articles like “a/the”.
- di tasik → at the lake
- di tasik itu → at that lake / at the lake (specific)
- di sebuah tasik → at a lake (one lake, not specified)

So here, di tasik is best translated as “at the lake”.

Why is it pada hujung minggu and not di hujung minggu?

For time expressions, pada is the standard preposition:

pada hujung minggu = on/at the weekend
pada pukul tiga = at three o’clock
pada hari Isnin = on Monday

You may hear di hujung minggu in everyday speech, but pada hujung minggu is more standard and grammatically precise.

Also, in casual conversation, people often drop “pada”:

Hujung minggu saya di rumah saja.
= (On) weekends I’m just at home.

But in a full, clear sentence like yours, pada hujung minggu is very good.

Is hujung minggu the only way to say “weekend” in Malay?

The common standard term in Malaysian Malay is:

hujung minggu = weekend

Other expressions:

akhir minggu – exists but is much more common in Indonesian than in Malaysian Malay.
cuti hujung minggu = the weekend break / weekend holiday
pada setiap hujung minggu = every weekend
hujung minggu lepas = last weekend
hujung minggu ini = this weekend

So for “weekend”, hujung minggu is what you should normally use in Malay.

How is the noun phrase Hobi teman wanita saya structured?

The structure is:

Hobi (head noun: hobby)
teman wanita (noun phrase modifying “hobi”: of the girlfriend)
saya (possessive pronoun: my)

Malay often uses a noun + noun (+ pronoun) chain, with no separate word for “of”:

hobi teman wanita saya
≈ hobby [of] my girlfriend
kereta ayah saya = my father’s car
rumah kawan saya = my friend’s house

So the phrase literally reads as: “hobby [of] girlfriend my” → “my girlfriend’s hobby”.

Is this sentence formal, informal, or neutral in tone?

The sentence is neutral to slightly formal:

Vocabulary like hobi, ialah, hujung minggu is standard and suitable for:
- school writing
- exams
- essays
- polite conversation
To make it more casual, people might say:
- Teman wanita saya suka berkelah di tasik hujung minggu.
- Or even replace teman wanita with a more colloquial term among young people (e.g. girlfriend saya, slangy but heard in speech).

As written, it’s perfectly natural in standard Malay.

Could this sentence also mean “my female friend’s hobby”?

Technically yes, because literally:

teman wanita = female friend / female companion

So without context, it could be read as “my female friend’s hobby”.
However, in typical modern Malaysian usage, teman wanita is strongly associated with “girlfriend” (romantic), especially in:

romantic contexts
when paired with teman lelaki (boyfriend)

If you clearly want non-romantic “female friend”, use kawan perempuan saya or rakan perempuan saya instead.

How would this sentence look in Indonesian, and is it understood the same way?

An approximate Indonesian version would be:

Hobi pacar saya adalah piknik di danau pada akhir pekan.

Main differences:

teman wanita (Malay) → pacar (Indonesian, common word for boyfriend/girlfriend)
tasik (Malay) → danau (Indonesian) = lake
hujung minggu (Malay) → akhir pekan (Indonesian) = weekend

A Malay speaker will generally understand the Indonesian version, and vice versa, but the standard, natural choice of words differs between the two languages.