Learn Hardcore Malay: Dia kemas kini profil media sosialnya dengan gambar tasik biru itu. - He/She updates his/her social media profile with that blue lake photo.

Dia kemas kini profil media sosialnya dengan gambar tasik biru itu.

He/She updates his/her social media profile with that blue lake photo.

Breakdown of Dia kemas kini profil media sosialnya dengan gambar tasik biru itu.

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Questions & Answers about Dia kemas kini profil media sosialnya dengan gambar tasik biru itu.

What does dia mean here, and does it show gender like he / she in English?

Dia means “he” or “she”. Malay third-person pronouns are not gendered:

dia = he / she
mereka = they

The gender is understood from context, not from the pronoun itself. So this sentence could mean “He updated…” or “She updated…”.

Why is kemas kini written as two words? I’ve also seen kemaskini, mengemas kini, and dikemas kini.

In standard Malay:

kemas kini (two words) is the base verb phrase, literally “to make tidy/new”, used as “to update”.
mengemas kini = active form, also “to update”, often used in more formal writing.
- Example: Dia mengemas kini profil…
dikemas kini = passive form, “to be updated”.
- Example: Profil itu telah dikemas kini. – “The profile has been updated.”

The spelling kemaskini (one word) is common in informal usage and online, but official standards (like Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka) recommend kemas kini as two words.

In your sentence, Dia kemas kini profil… is a shorter, more colloquial/modern style, especially common in media and online language.

Is the structure “Dia kemas kini profil…” grammatical, or should it be “Dia mengemas kini profil…”?

Both are acceptable, but they differ slightly in style:

Dia mengemas kini profil media sosialnya…
- More explicitly standard/grammatical according to traditional grammar (has the meN- prefix).
- Common in formal texts.
Dia kemas kini profil media sosialnya…
- Shorter, more colloquial / media style.
- Very common in headlines, social media, and modern usage.

Most learners are taught mengemas kini first, but you’ll see and hear kemas kini very often in real life.

There’s no past tense marking like -ed. How do we know this means “updated” (past) and not “updates” or “is updating”?

Malay verbs do not change form for tense. Kemas kini stays the same for past, present, and future. The actual time is understood from:

Context
Optional time words or particles, e.g.:
- semalam – yesterday
- tadi – just now
- sedang – in the process of
- telah / sudah – already (often marking past)
- akan – will (future)

Examples:

Dia telah mengemas kini profil… – He/She has updated the profile.
Dia sedang mengemas kini profil… – He/She is updating the profile.
Dia akan mengemas kini profil… – He/She will update the profile.

In your sentence, we translate it as “updated” because that’s the most natural reading in English when describing a completed action.

What does profil media sosialnya literally mean, and how does -nya work to show “his/her”?

Profil media sosialnya breaks down as:

profil – profile
media sosial – social media
-nya – his / her / its / their (contextual third-person possessor)

So literally: “the social media profile – his/her”, i.e. “his/her social media profile”.

The suffix -nya is a very common way to mark possession for third person:

bukunya – his/her book
keretanya – his/her car
rumahnya – his/her house

An alternative, more explicit form is:

profil media sosial dia – also “his/her social media profile”

But with nouns, -nya is generally smoother and more natural.

Could this mean “their social media profile” (plural), or is -nya only singular?

-nya is number-neutral and gender-neutral:

It can mean his, her, its, their (singular), or their (plural), depending on context.

So profil media sosialnya can be:

his social media profile
her social media profile
their social media profile

If you want to make plural “their” very explicit, you can make the subject plural too:

Mereka kemas kini profil media sosial mereka.
– They updated their social media profile(s).

Here both mereka and mereka clearly show plural.

Why is it profil media sosialnya, not profilnya media sosial? How does the word order work?

In Malay, modifiers typically follow the main noun in this order:

Head noun
Classifying / describing noun phrase
Possessive marker (like -nya)

So:

profil (head noun)
media sosial (what kind of profile?)
-nya (whose?)

→ profil media sosialnya = his/her social media profile

Profilnya media sosial is not natural. It sounds like “his/her profile is social media” rather than “his/her social media profile”.

Why does tasik biru itu put the adjective biru (blue) after tasik (lake)?

In Malay, adjectives usually come after the noun:

tasik biru – blue lake
kereta merah – red car
telefon baru – new phone

So:

tasik – lake
biru – blue

→ tasik biru – “blue lake”

This is the normal word order. Putting the adjective before the noun (like English “blue lake”) is not standard in Malay.

What does itu do in tasik biru itu, and why is it placed at the end?

Itu is a demonstrative meaning “that” (as opposed to ini = “this”).

In noun phrases, itu/ini usually come after the whole noun phrase:

tasik itu – that lake
tasik biru itu – that blue lake
telefon baru itu – that new phone

So tasik biru itu literally is “lake blue that”, which we translate as “that blue lake”.

If you said itu tasik biru, that would sound more like “that is a blue lake” (as a sentence), not a noun phrase.

What’s the difference between tasik, laut, and danau?

All three are related to bodies of water, but they differ:

tasik – lake (standard Malay, common in Malaysia)
danau – lake (more common in Indonesian, and in some Malay dialects, but less common in everyday Malaysian Malay)
laut – sea / ocean

So tasik biru itu is clearly “that blue lake”, not sea or ocean.

Why is dengan used here (dengan gambar tasik biru itu)? Could we use something like menggunakan instead?

Dengan is a general preposition often translated as “with”. In this sentence:

…kemas kini profil media sosialnya dengan gambar tasik biru itu.
→ “updated his/her social media profile with that blue lake picture.”

It indicates the means or content of the update.

You can use menggunakan (to use) too:

Dia mengemas kini profil media sosialnya menggunakan gambar tasik biru itu.

Both are grammatical. Differences:

dengan – slightly simpler, more neutral/colloquial.
menggunakan – more explicit “using”, feels a bit more formal or descriptive.

Could we drop dia and just say Kemas kini profil media sosialnya dengan gambar tasik biru itu?

Yes, you can often omit the subject pronoun in Malay if it’s clear from context.

Kemas kini profil media sosialnya dengan gambar tasik biru itu.
– Could be understood as “He/She updated his/her social media profile…” or even as an instruction: “(You) update your social media profile with that blue lake picture.”

Malay is quite pro-drop (subject omission is common), especially in conversation, narratives, or instructions.

Is media sosial the usual order, or can you say sosial media like in English?

The standard and natural phrase in Malay is:

media sosial – literally “social media” (media = media, sosial = social)

The order mirrors English, but it follows Malay norms where the main noun often comes first (media), and sosial functions like an adjective.

Sosial media is not standard and sounds wrong to native speakers. Stick with media sosial.

How would I clearly say “He updated all his social media profiles with that blue lake picture”?

You can add explicit plural marking and “all”:

Dia mengemas kini semua profil media sosialnya dengan gambar tasik biru itu.

Breakdown:

semua – all
profil – profile(s) (plural often understood by context)
media sosialnya – his/her social media
mengemas kini – updated

If you really want to show plural profiles, you can also say:

semua profil-profil media sosialnya

but semua profil media sosialnya is usually enough and sounds more natural.