Learn Hardcore Malay: Bos puji usaha saya di pejabat. - The boss praises my effort at the office.

English: The boss praised my efforts at the office.
Malay: Bos puji usaha saya di pejabat.
(No extra dia needed: ✗ Bos dia puji… is wrong or at least very odd.)

So Bos itself is the subject, and you don’t add dia (he / she) after it.

Why is Bos capitalized? Should it be Bos or bos in Malay?

In standard Malay, the common noun is usually written bos (lowercase), because it’s just a job/role, like guru (teacher), doktor (doctor).

However:

At the start of a sentence, the first letter is capitalized by default, so you see Bos puji…
If you are treating it like a title or nickname, you might also see Bos Ali, Hai Bos, etc., with a capital.

So in the middle of a sentence, you’d usually write:

Saya bercakap dengan bos saya. – I spoke with my boss.

At the beginning of a sentence, Bos puji… is normal due to standard capitalization rules.

Why is the word order Bos puji usaha saya, and not something like Usaha saya bos puji?

Malay’s neutral word order is S–V–O (Subject–Verb–Object), like English.

Bos (Subject)
puji (Verb)
usaha saya (Object)

So Bos puji usaha saya directly matches The boss praised my efforts.

You can change the order in some structures, but then the grammar changes too. For example:

Usaha saya dipuji bos. – My efforts were praised by the boss.
- Here you switch to a passive form with dipuji.

But if you’re keeping the verb puji in its active form, the standard, natural order is:

Bos puji usaha saya.

What’s the difference between puji and memuji? Could I say Bos memuji usaha saya di pejabat instead?

Both puji and memuji come from the same root and mean to praise.

puji – bare root form
memuji – meN- verb form (a more “full” or formal verb)

In this sentence:

Bos puji usaha saya di pejabat. – natural, slightly casual/neutral, very common in spoken Malay.
Bos memuji usaha saya di pejabat. – grammatically correct, sounds more formal or bookish.

In everyday conversation, you’ll hear puji a lot:

Bos selalu puji dia. – The boss often praises him/her.

In formal writing (reports, news, essays), memuji is more common:

Pengarah memuji usaha kakitangan syarikat itu. – The director praised the efforts of the company’s staff.

So yes, you can say Bos memuji usaha saya di pejabat, but it sounds more formal than the original.

How do we know this means praised (past) and not praises (present) or will praise (future)? There’s no tense marker on puji.

Malay verbs do not change form for tense. Puji can cover:

praised (past)
praises (present)
will praise (future)

The tense is almost always understood from context or time words:

Semalam bos puji usaha saya di pejabat.
– Yesterday the boss praised my efforts at the office. (past)
Setiap hari bos puji usaha saya di pejabat.
– Every day the boss praises my efforts at the office. (habitual present)
Esok bos akan puji usaha saya di pejabat.
– Tomorrow the boss will praise my efforts at the office. (future)

You can add optional tense/aspect markers:

telah / sudah / dah – often past/completed
akan – future

Example:

Bos telah puji usaha saya di pejabat. – The boss has praised / praised my efforts at the office.

What exactly does usaha saya mean? Is it singular (my effort) or plural (my efforts)?

Usaha saya literally means my effort, but Malay nouns usually do not mark singular/plural in the form of the word. So:

usaha saya can be:
- my effort (uncountable / general)
- my efforts (countable, plural)
  depending on context.

If you want to make the plurality very explicit, you can use:

usaha-usaha saya – my (various) efforts
segala usaha saya – all my efforts
pelbagai usaha saya – my various efforts

In normal conversation, usaha saya is enough, and the listener will interpret it as effort(s) from context.

Why is it saya and not aku for I / my? Could I say usaha aku here?

Both saya and aku mean I / me, and you form my as:

usaha saya – my effort(s)
usaha aku – my effort(s)

The difference is formality and distance:

saya – polite, neutral, used in most professional or formal contexts, including with your boss.
aku – informal, intimate, used with close friends, family, or in casual speech; can sound rude or too familiar if used with a boss or in a workplace unless the relationship is extremely relaxed.

With Bos in a workplace sentence, usaha saya is the natural, polite choice. Usaha aku would usually feel out of place in a normal boss–employee relationship.

What is the nuance of di pejabat? Does it mean I work in an office, or that the praising happened in the office?

Literally, di pejabat means at/in the office as a location.

In the sentence:

Bos puji usaha saya di pejabat.

the most straightforward reading is:

The boss praised my efforts at the office (i.e. the praise took place at that location).

It can also imply that the efforts being praised are efforts at work, since pejabat is your workplace, but grammatically di is just a location preposition:

di – at / in / on (physical place)

If you want to emphasize that the efforts are specifically work-related, you might also say:

Bos puji prestasi kerja saya di pejabat. – The boss praised my work performance at the office.
Bos puji usaha saya dalam kerja. – The boss praised my efforts in my work.

What’s the difference between pejabat and words like ofis / opis for office?

Pejabat is the standard, formal Malay word for office.

Used in official writing, news, education, government contexts.
Neutral and safe in almost all situations.

Ofis / opis are informal, adapted from English office:

Very common in colloquial speech, messaging, social media.
Less appropriate in formal writing.

So:

Bos puji usaha saya di pejabat. – neutral/standard.
Bos puji usaha saya kat ofis. – casual, spoken style (kat = colloquial for di).

For learners, pejabat and di pejabat are good default choices.

Why is it di pejabat and not pada pejabat? When do we use di vs pada?

In Malay:

di is used mainly for physical locations / places:
- di pejabat – at the office
- di rumah – at home
- di sekolah – at school
pada is used more for:
- time: pada hari Isnin – on Monday
- people / abstract things: pada saya – in my opinion; pada dia – to him/her

So here pejabat is a physical place, and di is the correct preposition:

Bos puji usaha saya di pejabat. ✅
Bos puji usaha saya pada pejabat. ❌ (unnatural/wrong in standard usage)

If I want to say My boss praised my efforts at the office, should I say Bos saya puji usaha saya di pejabat?

Yes, you can say:

Bos saya puji usaha saya di pejabat. – My boss praised my efforts at the office.

Differences:

Bos puji usaha saya di pejabat.
- Context-dependent: the boss (someone understood from context, or “the boss” in general).
Bos saya puji usaha saya di pejabat.
- Explicitly my boss.

Malay does not have the/a articles like English, so:

bos can be the boss / a boss depending on context.
Adding saya (my) clarifies whose boss we are talking about.

Both versions are grammatically correct; you choose based on how specific you want to be.

Can I move di pejabat to another position, like Di pejabat, bos puji usaha saya? Does that change the meaning?

Yes, you can move di pejabat to the front:

Di pejabat, bos puji usaha saya.

This is still grammatical and natural. The meaning is essentially the same:

Bos puji usaha saya di pejabat.
Di pejabat, bos puji usaha saya.

The difference is just emphasis:

Sentence-initial Di pejabat, … slightly highlights the location first (e.g. contrasting “at the office” vs “at home”).
Sentence-final … di pejabat is the most neutral, everyday order.

All of these are acceptable in normal Malay, with very similar meanings.