Learn Hardcore Malay: Guru sains kami menerangkan graf itu supaya pelajar faham maksud setiap garis. - Our science teacher explained the graph so that the students understood the meaning of each line.

Guru sains kami menerangkan graf itu supaya pelajar faham maksud setiap garis.

Our science teacher explained the graph so that the students understood the meaning of each line.

Breakdown of Guru sains kami menerangkan graf itu supaya pelajar faham maksud setiap garis.

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Questions & Answers about Guru sains kami menerangkan graf itu supaya pelajar faham maksud setiap garis.

What is the basic word order and rough literal breakdown of this sentence?

Malay generally uses Subject – Verb – Object, like English.

Guru sains kami – our science teacher (literally: teacher science we)
menerangkan – explained / was explaining
graf itu – that graph / the graph
supaya – so that / in order that
pelajar – students / student(s)
faham – understand (no separate “do/does/will”)
maksud – meaning
setiap garis – each line

So the sentence is literally something like:

Our science teacher explained that graph so that students understand the meaning of each line.

The natural English translation would usually be:

Our science teacher explained the graph so that the students would understand the meaning of each line.

Why is kami after guru sains, and what’s the difference between kami and kita?

In Malay, possessive pronouns normally come after the noun:

guru kami – our teacher
buku saya – my book
rumah mereka – their house

So guru sains kami is literally teacher science we, meaning our science teacher.

The difference between kami and kita:

kami = we / our excluding the listener
- guru sains kami → our science teacher (not yours, you’re not part of “our” group)
kita = we / our including the listener
- guru sains kita → our science teacher (yours and mine, we share this teacher)

So guru sains kami implies the speaker’s group (e.g. a particular class) has that teacher, but the person being spoken to is not necessarily included.

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

Menerangkan comes from the root terang (clear, bright), with the affixes:

meN- … -kan → menerangkan

Common meanings of menerangkan:

to explain / make something clear
- Guru itu menerangkan graf itu.
  The teacher explained the graph.
to illuminate / light up (depending on context)
- Lampu itu menerangkan bilik.
  The lamp lights up the room.

Related forms:

terangkan! – imperative: explain (it)! / make it clear!
menerangi – usually to illuminate (a place), not to explain
- Bulan menerangi jalan. – The moon lights up the road.

In this sentence, menerangkan graf itu clearly means “to explain the graph”, not “to light the graph.” The -kan here is causative: to make something clear → to explain (it).

Why is it graf itu and not just graf? What does itu add?

Itu is a demonstrative meaning that, but in Malay it also often works like “the” for a specific, known item.

graf – a graph (general, not specified)
graf itu – that graph / the graph (a specific one, known from context)

In this sentence, graf itu suggests:

The graph is already known (e.g. on the board, in the book, on the screen).
It’s not just any graph in general.

Compare:

Guru sains kami menerangkan graf. – our science teacher explained graphs (very general, sounds odd without more context).
Guru sains kami menerangkan graf itu. – our science teacher explained that specific graph / the graph.

If the graph were very near (physically, or just introduced), you might also hear:

graf ini – this graph

What does supaya mean exactly, and how is it different from untuk or agar?

Supaya introduces a purpose clause, meaning “so that / in order that” and is followed by a full clause (subject + verb):

Guru sains kami menerangkan graf itu supaya pelajar faham…
Our science teacher explained the graph *so that the students understand…*

Contrast this with untuk:

untuk = to / in order to / for
It is followed by a verb phrase or a noun, not usually by a full clause with its own subject (unless you re-structure it):
- …untuk memahami maksud setiap garis.
  …to understand the meaning of each line.
- …untuk pelajar memahami maksud setiap garis.
  …for the students to understand the meaning of each line.

Agar is very close to supaya, slightly more formal/literary:

…supaya pelajar faham…
…agar pelajar faham…

Both are fine here; supaya is very neutral and common.

Rough guideline:

supaya / agar
- subject + verb → so that / in order that…
untuk
- verb or noun → to / in order to / for…

Is pelajar singular or plural here? How do you say “student” vs “students”?

Pelajar itself is number-neutral. It can mean student or students, depending on context.

In this sentence:

supaya pelajar faham – clearly means “so that the students understand” (plural) because we’re talking about a class.

To be explicit, Malay uses other strategies instead of changing the noun form:

seorang pelajar – one student
dua orang pelajar – two students
para pelajar – the students (a group, often formal)
semua pelajar – all the students
pelajar-pelajar – students (reduplication can mark plural, or just emphasis)

So you could also say:

…supaya para pelajar faham… – so that the students understand
…supaya semua pelajar faham… – so that all the students understand

But pelajar alone already works as “students” here.

Why is there no word meaning “will” (future) in supaya pelajar faham?

Malay usually does not mark tense on the verb. Time is understood from:

context, or
time words (e.g., semalam yesterday, esok tomorrow), or
certain particles.

In supaya pelajar faham, even though English uses “would understand” or “will understand,” Malay just says faham:

supaya pelajar faham
literally: so that students understand

Because supaya expresses future-oriented purpose, the meaning is naturally:

so that the students will understand / would understand

You can add a future marker akan, but it’s usually not necessary:

supaya pelajar akan faham – understandable, but sounds slightly heavier and less natural in many contexts.

For past vs present vs future:

Guru itu menerangkan graf.
– could be explained, was explaining, or explains (habitually), depending on context.
Add time words:
- semalam – yesterday
- tadi – earlier / just now
- nanti, esok – later, tomorrow

What is the difference between faham and memahami?

Both relate to understanding, but they’re used a bit differently:

faham
- Often an intransitive stative verb / adjective: to understand, to be understanding
- Common in spoken and written Malay.
- Saya faham. – I understand.
memahami
- A transitive verb: to understand (something)
- Slightly more formal, often used when you mention the object explicitly.
- Saya memahami maksud setiap garis. – I understand the meaning of each line.

In the sentence:

supaya pelajar faham maksud setiap garis
– literally: so that the students understand the meaning of each line.

You could also say (more formal):

supaya pelajar memahami maksud setiap garis

Both are correct; faham is very natural and common.

What does maksud mean here, and how is it different from erti or makna?

In this sentence, maksud means “meaning”:

maksud setiap garis – the meaning of each line

Subtleties:

maksud
- meaning, intention, purpose, aim
- Can refer to the intended message, not just dictionary sense.
- Apakah maksud graf ini? – What is the meaning/purpose of this graph?
erti
- more “dictionary meaning” of a word or phrase.
- Apakah erti perkataan ini? – What is the meaning of this word?
makna
- also “meaning,” often overlaps with erti; sometimes used in a broader sense of significance.
- makna hidup – meaning of life

Here, we are talking about what each line in the graph represents, so maksud (the intended message/value) is very appropriate:

maksud setiap garis – what each line stands for / its meaning.

How is setiap used? Is it more like “each” or “every”, and where does it go in the phrase?

Setiap means “each / every” and it always comes before the noun:

setiap garis – each/every line
setiap hari – every day
setiap pelajar – each student

It is generally similar to each or every in English; context decides which translation sounds better:

setiap garis → each line or every line
setiap pelajar mesti hadir. → Every student must attend.

You do not put it after the noun:

✅ setiap garis
❌ garis setiap (ungrammatical in this sense)

What’s the difference between garis, garisan, and other “line-ish” words like baris?

In this context, garis is the right choice:

garis – a line (as a drawn line, borderline, line on a graph)
- garis lurus – straight line
- garis pada graf – lines on a graph
garisan – often a more concrete “line/outline/boundary”; sometimes interchangeable with garis, but garis is shorter and very common.
- garisan pinggir jalan – road-side line / road marking
- garisan sempadan – boundary line
baris – a row/line of people or items, or a line of text
- berbaris – to line up / form a line
- baris pertama perenggan itu – the first line of that paragraph

So:

maksud setiap garis (dalam graf) – the meaning of each (graph) line → correct.
Using baris here would sound like lines of text or rows, not graph lines.

How does the clause supaya pelajar faham maksud setiap garis fit into the whole sentence grammatically?

The overall sentence structure:

[Guru sains kami] – subject
[menerangkan graf itu] – main verb + object
[supaya pelajar faham maksud setiap garis] – purpose clause introduced by supaya

So:

Main clause:
- Guru sains kami menerangkan graf itu
  – Our science teacher explained the graph
Purpose clause:
- supaya pelajar faham maksud setiap garis
  – so that the students understand the meaning of each line

The supaya-clause modifies the verb phrase menerangkan graf itu, telling us why the teacher was explaining the graph.

You can think:

Our science teacher explained the graph (for the purpose that / so that) the students understand the meaning of each line.

Could this sentence be phrased in another natural way in Malay without changing the meaning much?

Yes. A few natural alternatives:

Change supaya to agar (slightly more formal, same meaning):
- Guru sains kami menerangkan graf itu agar pelajar faham maksud setiap garis.
Use memahami instead of faham (more formal, still very natural):
- Guru sains kami menerangkan graf itu supaya pelajar memahami maksud setiap garis.
Add para to emphasise “the students” as a group:
- Guru sains kami menerangkan graf itu supaya para pelajar faham maksud setiap garis.
Change the word order to highlight the purpose (still correct, just different emphasis):
- Untuk memastikan pelajar faham maksud setiap garis, guru sains kami menerangkan graf itu.
  (To make sure the students understand the meaning of each line, our science teacher explained the graph.)

All of these are grammatical; the original is already a very natural, standard sentence.