Learn Hardcore Malay: Mereka menerangkan kajian ringkas tentang kualiti air tasik dekat kampus. - They explained a brief study about the quality of lake water near the campus.

mereka = they / them (3rd person plural). It clearly refers to more than one person.
dia = he / she / it (3rd person singular, informal/neutral).
beliau = he / she in a respectful, formal way (usually for someone older, higher status, or in writing about officials, lecturers, etc.).

So this sentence is talking about a group of people explaining something. If it were only one person, you would normally say:

Dia menerangkan… – He/She explained…
In a formal context about a respected person: Beliau menerangkan…

What exactly does menerangkan mean, and how is it formed from the root?

The root word is terang = clear, bright.
menerangkan = meN- + terang + -kan.

In this pattern, meN- … -kan often means “to make X happen / to cause X / to explain X”:

terang → menerangkan: “to make clear”, “to explain”.
In this sentence, menerangkan means to explain / to give an explanation of.

Rough English equivalents: “explain”, “clarify”, “give an explanation of”.

A close synonym is menjelaskan. You could also say:

Mereka menjelaskan kajian ringkas… (very similar meaning).

Why is it menerangkan kajian ringkas tentang… and not menerangkan tentang kajian ringkas…? Are both possible?

Both structures are grammatically possible, but they have a slightly different focus:

Mereka menerangkan kajian ringkas tentang kualiti air tasik dekat kampus.
- Direct object: kajian ringkas tentang kualiti air tasik dekat kampus.
- They explain the study itself (which happens to be about water quality).
Mereka menerangkan tentang kajian ringkas tentang kualiti air tasik dekat kampus.
- Verb + preposition: menerangkan tentang (= explain about).
- Slightly more wordy; feels like “They explained about a short study…”.

Sentence (1) is more compact and natural if you see the study as the main object of the verb. Sentence (2) is not wrong, but often sounds less direct.

What does kajian mean exactly, and do I need a word like “one” or “a” (e.g. satu kajian ringkas)?

kajian = study, research, investigation (an academic or systematic study of something).
It is countable in meaning, but Malay normally does not require an article like a / the.

You can:

Keep it as in the sentence: kajian ringkas → “a short study / brief study” from context.
If you want to stress “one particular study”, you can add a numeral:
- satu kajian ringkas – one short study (neutral).
- sebuah kajian ringkas – one short study (also used; sebuah is a general classifier often used for abstracts like reports, books, articles).

So the sentence without satu/sebuah is still fully natural; Malay relies on context where English uses a / the / some.

Why is ringkas placed after kajian? Could we say ringkas kajian?

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

rumah besar – big house
buku baru – new book
kajian ringkas – brief/short study

So:

kajian ringkas = “brief study”
ringkas kajian would be wrong or at least very unnatural as a noun phrase.

(Ringkas can be used before a noun in some fixed expressions or different structures, but not in this simple “noun + adjective” pattern.)

How is the phrase kualiti air tasik structured? Which word modifies which?

The structure is layered, from left to right:

kualiti – quality (head of the whole phrase)
air tasik – lake water / water of the lake (modifies kualiti)
Inside air tasik:
- air – water (head)
- tasik – lake (modifies air: “lake water”)

So kualiti air tasik literally means:

“the quality of the lake water”

You could compare:

kualiti air tasik – quality of the lake water
kualiti tasik – quality of the lake (as a lake in general, less specific about the water itself)
kualiti air di tasik – quality of the water in the lake (explicit use of di = in/at).

What is the role of tentang here, and is it similar to mengenai or berkenaan dengan?

tentang = about / regarding / concerning.
It introduces the topic of the kajian (study).

In the sentence, tentang connects kajian ringkas with its subject matter:

kajian ringkas tentang kualiti air tasik…
→ “a short study about the quality of the lake water…”

Close synonyms:

mengenai – about, regarding
berkenaan dengan – about, concerning (a bit more formal/longer)

You can usually substitute:

kajian ringkas mengenai kualiti air tasik…
kajian ringkas berkenaan dengan kualiti air tasik…

All are grammatical and natural; tentang and mengenai are the most common in everyday and academic use.

What does dekat do here, and is dekat kampus correct, or should it be dekat dengan kampus / berdekatan dengan kampus?

dekat basically means near / close (by). It can act as:

An adjective:
- Rumah itu dekat. – The house is near/close (by).
A preposition-like word:
- dekat kampus – near the campus
- dekat dengan kampus – near to the campus
- berdekatan dengan kampus – is close to the campus (slightly more formal).

In colloquial and also quite common written Malay, dekat kampus is accepted and widely used.

More “textbook standard” options:

tasik yang dekat dengan kampus
tasik yang berdekatan dengan kampus

So the original tasik dekat kampus is natural and understood as “the lake near the campus”.

There is no word for “a” or “the” in the sentence. How does Malay show this kind of information?

Malay generally does not have articles like English a / an / the.

Nouns such as kajian, tasik, kampus can be:

definite (“the study”, “the lake”, “the campus”),
indefinite (“a study”, “a lake”, “a campus”),

depending purely on context, not on a special word.

To be more explicit, Malay might:

Add ini (this) / itu (that):
- kajian ringkas itu – that brief study / the brief study
Add numbers or quantifiers:
- satu kajian ringkas – one/ a brief study
- beberapa kajian ringkas – several brief studies

But in most cases, context is enough, and just kajian ringkas is fine.

How do we know whether this sentence refers to the past, present, or future? There seems to be no tense marking.

Malay verbs usually do not change form for tense. menerangkan can mean:

“explain / are explaining” (present)
“explained / were explaining” (past)
“will explain” (future)

The time reference comes from:

Time words (not present in this sentence):
- semalam – yesterday
- tadi – earlier
- akan – will
- sedang – in the process of (currently doing)
Context in the wider text.

Examples:

Semalam mereka menerangkan kajian ringkas… – Yesterday they explained…
Sekarang mereka menerangkan kajian ringkas… – Now they are explaining…
Esok mereka akan menerangkan kajian ringkas… – Tomorrow they will explain…

So the original sentence is time-neutral until context is added.

How would this sentence look in the passive voice in Malay?

A common passive version would be:

Kajian ringkas tentang kualiti air tasik dekat kampus diterangkan oleh mereka.

Breakdown:

Kajian ringkas tentang kualiti air tasik dekat kampus – The brief study about the quality of the lake water near the campus (now the subject).
diterangkan – passive form of menerangkan.
oleh mereka – by them.

In a more natural context, oleh mereka is often omitted if it’s already clear who “they” are:

Kajian ringkas tentang kualiti air tasik dekat kampus diterangkan (kepada pelajar).
– The brief study … was explained (to the students).