Bekas kecil di sudut tikar penuh dengan rempah kari yang harum.

The small container at the corner of the mat was full of fragrant curry spices.

Breakdown of Bekas kecil di sudut tikar penuh dengan rempah kari yang harum.

• adalah: to be
• di: at
• dengan: with
• kecil: small
• penuh: full
• yang: that/which
• harum: fragrant
• sudut: the corner
• tikar: the mat
• bekas: the container
• rempah: the spice
• kari: curry

Questions & Answers about Bekas kecil di sudut tikar penuh dengan rempah kari yang harum.

Why is kecil placed after bekas and not before it like in English?

In Malay, adjectives normally come after the noun they describe.

• bekas kecil = small container
  
  • bekas = container
  • kecil = small

So the basic pattern is:

• noun + adjective
  
  • tikar besar = big mat
  • rumah baru = new house

Putting kecil before bekas (e.g. kecil bekas) would be ungrammatical in standard Malay.

What is the difference between bekas kecil and bekas yang kecil?

Both can be translated as small container, but there is a nuance:

• bekas kecil

  • Neutral, simple description.
  • Just states that the container is small.

• bekas yang kecil

  • More specific or contrastive, like the one that is small.
  • Often used when distinguishing between options:
    • Ambil bekas yang kecil, bukan yang besar.
      Take the container that is small, not the big one.

In your sentence, bekas kecil is fine because you’re just describing it, not contrasting it with others.

What exactly does di sudut tikar mean, and how is it structured?

di sudut tikar literally breaks down as:

• di = at / in / on (location preposition)
• sudut = corner
• tikar = mat

Malay often expresses “X of Y” simply by putting two nouns together:

• sudut tikar = corner (of the) mat
• tepi jalan = side (of the) road
• pintu rumah = door (of the) house

So di sudut tikar = in the corner of the mat or at the mat’s corner.

There is no separate word for “of” here; the relationship is shown by noun + noun order.

Why is it di sudut tikar, not something like di tikar sudut?

Word order in Malay noun phrases is important:

• Head noun + Modifier noun
  • sudut tikar = the corner belonging to the mat

If you say tikar sudut, the head noun becomes tikar (mat) and sudut modifies it, which doesn’t give the intended meaning. It would sound odd, like corner mat.

So:

• Correct: di sudut tikar = at the corner of the mat
• Wrong/odd: di tikar sudut

How does penuh dengan work here? Why not just penuh?

penuh is an adjective meaning full.
penuh dengan functions like full of.

• Bekas kecil … penuh.
  
  • The small container is full. (but we don’t say what it’s full of)
• Bekas kecil … penuh dengan rempah kari.
  
  • The small container is full of curry spices.

Malay allows both:

• penuh rempah kari
• penuh dengan rempah kari

They are both acceptable, but penuh dengan is very common and feels slightly more explicit/complete when mentioning what it’s full of.

What is the subject and what is the predicate in this sentence?

The sentence can be split like this:

• Subject (what we’re talking about):
  Bekas kecil di sudut tikar
  the small container in the corner of the mat

• Predicate (what we say about it):
  penuh dengan rempah kari yang harum
  is full of fragrant curry spices

Malay doesn’t need a separate word for “is” here. The adjective phrase penuh dengan rempah kari yang harum acts as the predicate directly:

• Bekas kecil … penuh dengan …
  = The small container is full of …

What does rempah kari literally mean? Is it the same as curry powder?

Literally:

• rempah = spice(s)
• kari = curry

So rempah kari = curry spices (the spices used to make curry).

In everyday usage:

• rempah kari can refer to:
  • the mixture of spices for curry, sometimes as whole or ground spices
• serbuk kari = curry powder (specifically powder form)

In many contexts, people may still say rempah kari when they practically mean curry powder, but serbuk kari is the more precise term for powder.

What is the function of yang in rempah kari yang harum?

yang introduces a descriptive clause (a relative clause or adjective phrase) that defines the noun more precisely.

Breakdown:

• rempah kari = curry spices
• yang harum = that are fragrant

So rempah kari yang harum = curry spices that are fragrant or simply fragrant curry spices.

Pattern:

• noun + yang + adjective/description
  • orang yang tinggi = person who is tall
  • buku yang lama = book that is old

Here, yang links rempah kari with harum.

Can yang be omitted in rempah kari yang harum?

No, you cannot omit yang here if harum is being used as a separate descriptive clause.

• rempah kari yang harum = curry spices that are fragrant (correct)
• rempah kari harum – sounds incomplete/unnatural in standard Malay in this context.

Unlike bekas kecil (noun + simple adjective), rempah kari is already a compound noun (noun + noun). To add another description (harum), Malay typically needs yang:

• rempah kari yang pedas = curry spices that are spicy
• rempah kari yang mahal = curry spices that are expensive

So yang is important to clearly mark the extra description.

Does this sentence indicate past, present, or future time in Malay?

By itself, the sentence is tenseless; it can refer to past, present, or even future. Malay verbs and adjectives generally do not change form for tense.

The time is understood from context or from time expressions. For example:

• Tadi, bekas kecil di sudut tikar penuh dengan rempah kari yang harum.
  Earlier, the small container in the corner of the mat was full of fragrant curry spices. (past)

• Sekarang, bekas kecil di sudut tikar penuh dengan rempah kari yang harum.
  Now, the small container in the corner of the mat is full of fragrant curry spices. (present)

• Nanti, bekas kecil di sudut tikar akan penuh dengan rempah kari yang harum.
  Later, the small container in the corner of the mat will be full of fragrant curry spices. (future, with akan)

So tense is mainly shown by time words (e.g. tadi, sekarang, nanti) or markers like sudah (already), akan (will), etc.

How is definiteness (a/the) expressed here? Is it “a small container” or “the small container”?

Malay has no articles like a or the. Bekas kecil can mean either:

• a small container (indefinite)
• the small container (definite)

The exact sense comes from context.

To make it clearly definite, Malay often uses:

• itu (that / the):
  • Bekas kecil itu di sudut tikar penuh dengan rempah kari yang harum.
    = That small container / the small container in the corner of the mat is full of fragrant curry spices.

To make it clearly indefinite/“one”, you can use a classifier:

• sebuah bekas kecil = a/one small container
  (literally “one (classifier) small container”)

In natural text, the bare bekas kecil is very common and context decides whether it’s “a” or “the”.

How are plurals shown here? Could rempah be singular or plural?

Malay usually does not change the noun form for plural. rempah can mean:

• spice (in general)
• spices (plural), depending on context

In rempah kari, it’s normally understood as a mixture of spices (plural concept), even though the word itself does not change.

To make plurals explicit, Malay can use:

• banyak rempah = many spices
• pelbagai rempah = various spices
• reduplication (less common in this exact phrase but used in general):
  • rempah-rempah = spices (emphasized plural in some styles)

In your sentence, rempah kari is naturally interpreted as curry spices (plural idea) without any extra marker.