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Saya mengambil gambar tasik dan keluarga, kemudian simpan dalam album digital di telefon.

Saya mengambil gambar tasik dan keluarga, kemudian simpan dalam album digital di telefon.
I took pictures of the lake and my family, then saved them in a digital album on my phone.
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Questions & Answers about Saya mengambil gambar tasik dan keluarga, kemudian simpan dalam album digital di telefon.

Why is mengambil used here instead of just ambil? Do mengambil and ambil mean the same thing?

Both mengambil and ambil come from the same root ambil (to take), but they differ in formality and style.

  • mengambil = the meN- + root verb form

    • Sounds a bit more complete / slightly more formal
    • Common in writing, careful speech, or when you want a smoother, more “standard” sentence.

  • ambil = the bare root

    • Very common in casual conversation
    • Often appears after helping verbs like nak, mahu, boleh, etc.

Examples:

  • Saya mengambil gambar. – I take / took photos. (neutral/standard)
  • Saya ambil gambar. – I take / took photos. (more casual, but still correct)
  • Saya nak ambil gambar. – I want to take photos.

In your sentence, Saya mengambil gambar… is grammatically standard. In everyday speech, many people would also say Saya ambil gambar… with the same meaning.

Why do Malay speakers say mengambil gambar to mean “take photos”? Is there a specific verb that means “to photograph”?

Malay usually uses the combination mengambil gambar or ambil gambar literally “to take pictures” to mean to photograph / take photos.

So:

  • mengambil gambar = to take pictures / to photograph
  • ambil gambar = same meaning, but a bit more casual

There isn’t a single very common everyday verb exactly like English “to photograph”, but you may see:

  • memotret – more common in Indonesian; in Malaysia it sounds formal/rare.
  • merakam gambar – to record/capture images (sounds a bit technical/formal).
  • bergambar – to pose for a picture / to be photographed.
    • Mari kita bergambar. – Let’s take a picture (together) / Let’s pose.

For regular conversation, mengambil gambar or ambil gambar is what you normally use.

How should I understand gambar tasik dan keluarga? Is it “pictures of the lake and (of my) family”?

Yes. The structure is:

  • gambar = pictures
  • tasik dan keluarga = (of) the lake and (of my) family

So gambar tasik dan keluarga = pictures of the lake and (of my) family.

Malay often omits “of”; instead, you just put the noun after gambar:

  • gambar tasik – pictures of the lake
  • gambar keluarga – pictures of (my/the) family
  • gambar tasik dan keluarga – pictures of the lake and (my/the) family

It does not mean “the family lake”; that would be something like tasik keluarga kami (our family’s lake). Here you have one head noun (gambar) and two things being photographed (tasik and keluarga).

There’s no “my” before keluarga. How do we know it means “my family” and not just “a family”? Do we need to say keluarga saya?

In Malay, possession is often left implicit when it’s obvious from context:

  • Since the subject is Saya (I), keluarga in this context is naturally understood as my family.
  • Native speakers don’t always repeat saya or kami after every noun when it’s clear whose thing it is.

You can say keluarga saya to be explicit:

  • Saya mengambil gambar tasik dan keluarga saya.
    – I took pictures of the lake and my family. (more explicit, still very natural)

Both forms are correct:

  • keluarga (context says it’s “my family”)
  • keluarga saya (clearly my family; a bit more explicit/emphatic)

In casual speech, omitting saya here is very normal.

What exactly does kemudian do in this sentence? Is it the same as “then / after that”? Could I use lepas itu or selepas itu instead?

kemudian is a time connector meaning “then / afterwards / later”. It links two actions in sequence:

  • Saya mengambil gambar tasik dan keluarga, kemudian simpan…
    – I took pictures of the lake and family, then (I) saved (them)…

It’s similar to:

  • selepas itu – after that (slightly more formal/standard)
  • lepas itu – after that (very common, more colloquial)

You can usually swap them with only a small change in tone:

  • …, kemudian simpan dalam album digital…
  • …, selepas itu saya simpan dalam album digital…
  • …, lepas itu saya simpan dalam album digital… (very conversational)

All are natural. kemudian is concise and neutral.

Why is the subject “saya” omitted after kemudian? Shouldn’t it be “kemudian saya simpan”?

In Malay, when the subject is the same as in the previous clause, it’s very common and natural to omit it in the following clause:

  • Saya mengambil gambar tasik dan keluarga, kemudian simpan dalam album digital…
    – Literally: I took pictures of the lake and family, then save (them) in a digital album…
    – But understood as: then I saved (them).

You can definitely include the subject:

  • …, kemudian saya simpan dalam album digital di telefon.

Both are grammatically correct. Omitting saya makes the sentence a bit shorter and more fluent, and Malay listeners will automatically understand that the subject is still Saya from the first clause.

Why is the verb simpan (root form) used instead of menyimpan? Is there any difference between simpan and menyimpan here?

Both are related:

  • simpan – root “keep, store, put away”
  • menyimpan – meN- + simpan, often a bit more formal / process-like, “to keep, to store”.

In modern Malay, especially in speech:

  • Using the root form after a connector like kemudian is very common and sounds natural:
    • kemudian simpan dalam album digital…

You could also say:

  • kemudian menyimpan gambar itu dalam album digital…

That version feels more formal and complete, and you’d be more likely to see it in writing. In everyday conversation, simpan (without meN-) is totally normal and not wrong.

In simpan dalam album digital, why is dalam used instead of di? What’s the difference between di and dalam here?

Both di and dalam can often be translated as “in”, but they have different nuances:

  • di – “at / in / on” (location, quite general)
  • dalam – “inside (of)” (emphasises the interior of something)

In simpan dalam album digital:

  • dalam highlights that the photos are placed inside the album (inside that structure, category, or container, even if it’s digital).

Compare:

  • simpan dalam album digital – store them in(side) the digital album (correct, natural)
  • simpan di album digital – possible in some contexts, but sounds less natural; dalam is strongly preferred with album because it feels like putting things into a container.

As a rule of thumb:

  • Use dalam when you’re putting something into a space/container (including abstract/digital containers).
  • Use di for general location (di meja – on the table, di rumah – at home).
What does di telefon mean here? Is it “on the phone” or “in the phone”? When would I use dalam telefon instead?

In this context, di telefon is best understood as “on the phone” (on my phone device).

  • di telefon – “on the phone”, as a location / device
    • album digital di telefon = a digital album on the phone (stored on the phone’s storage).

You could say dalam telefon if you want to stress that something is inside the physical/electronic interior of the phone, but in everyday speech that sounds a bit unusual or overly literal.

So in normal usage:

  • di telefon – on the phone (common, natural)
  • dalam telefon – inside the phone (used rarely, usually only when you really mean the interior).

Other natural variants for “on my phone” include:

  • dalam telefon saya – in my phone (still used by some speakers)
  • dalam telefon bimbit saya / dalam telefon pintar saya – in my mobile / smartphone.

But di telefon is short and idiomatic.

How is past tense shown in this sentence? English says “I took photos, then saved them…”, but there’s no past tense marker in Malay.

Malay does not change verb forms for tense like English does. The same verb form can be present, past, or future, depending on context.

  • Saya mengambil gambar tasik dan keluarga, kemudian simpan…

Could be:

  • I took pictures… then saved them… (past – most likely, from context)
  • I take pictures… then save them… (present, if describing a routine)

If you need to make the past time explicit, you add a time word or a marker of completion:

  • Tadi saya mengambil gambar tasik dan keluarga, kemudian simpan dalam album digital di telefon.
    – Earlier I took photos of the lake and family, then saved (them)…

  • Saya sudah/telah mengambil gambar tasik dan keluarga, kemudian simpan dalam album digital di telefon.
    – I have already taken photos of the lake and family, then saved (them)…

But in normal storytelling, context alone often makes it clear that it’s past.

Is kemudian fixed in that position, or can I move it? For example, can I say “Saya kemudian menyimpan…”?

You can move kemudian somewhat freely, and the meaning “then / afterwards” stays the same. For example:

  1. Original style:

    • Saya mengambil gambar tasik dan keluarga, kemudian simpan dalam album digital di telefon.

  2. Move kemudian to the start of the second clause and repeat the subject:

    • Saya mengambil gambar tasik dan keluarga. Kemudian saya simpan dalam album digital di telefon.

  3. Put kemudian after the subject in the second clause:

    • Saya mengambil gambar tasik dan keluarga. Saya kemudian menyimpan gambar itu dalam album digital di telefon.
    • This sounds a bit more formal / written.

All of these are grammatical. Differences are mostly in style and formality, not in core meaning.

Could I replace Saya with Aku in this sentence? What is the difference between Saya and Aku?

Yes, you could say:

  • Aku ambil / mengambil gambar tasik dan keluarga, kemudian simpan dalam album digital di telefon.

Saya vs Aku:

  • Saya

    • Neutral, polite, safe in almost all situations.
    • Used with people you don’t know well, in formal settings, with older people, etc.

  • Aku

    • More intimate / casual, used with close friends, siblings, partner, sometimes with people younger than you.
    • Can sound too familiar or even rude if used with strangers, superiors, or in formal contexts.

So the sentence with Aku sounds like you’re talking informally to a friend. With Saya, it’s appropriate almost anywhere.

There’s no word for “them” in kemudian simpan dalam album digital di telefon. How do Malay speakers know it means “save them” (the photos)?

Malay often drops object pronouns (and even subjects) when they are obvious from context.

  • Earlier, you mentioned gambar tasik dan keluarga (photos of the lake and family).
  • In the next clause, simpan dalam album digital di telefon is automatically understood as “save (those photos) in a digital album on the phone.”

You could add an object pronoun:

  • …, kemudian simpan mereka dalam album digital di telefon.
    (Here mereka is “them”, but usually reserved for people, so it sounds a bit odd for photos.)

More natural options if you want to include an object would be to repeat gambar or use gambar-gambar:

  • …, kemudian simpan gambar-gambar itu dalam album digital di telefon.
    – …then (I) saved those photos in a digital album on the phone.

However, in normal speech/writing, it’s very natural to leave the object implicit when it was just mentioned. The listener/reader understands it refers to the previously mentioned pictures.