Saya mahu kuatkan badan saya dengan bersenam.

I want to strengthen my body by exercising.

Breakdown of Saya mahu kuatkan badan saya dengan bersenam.

• saya: I
• mahu: to want
• saya: my
• bersenam: to exercise
• badan: the body
• dengan: by
• kuatkan: to strengthen

Questions & Answers about Saya mahu kuatkan badan saya dengan bersenam.

Why is saya repeated? Can I say Saya mahu kuatkan badan dengan bersenam without the second saya?

In badan saya, the saya is a possessive pronoun, meaning my body.

You can drop the second saya and say:

• Saya mahu kuatkan badan dengan bersenam.

That is still clear and natural, because in most contexts it is obvious you are talking about your own body.

You only need to specify badan saya if there is any chance of confusion, for example:

• Saya mahu kuatkan badan adik saya.
  I want to strengthen my younger sibling’s body.

So:

• Saya mahu kuatkan badan saya dengan bersenam. – completely correct and explicit.
• Saya mahu kuatkan badan dengan bersenam. – also correct and natural in many situations.

What exactly does mahu mean here? Is it more like want to or will?

mahu mainly means want or want to.

In this sentence:

• Saya mahu kuatkan badan saya
  = I want to strengthen my body

It can imply a future action (because wanting to do something usually refers to something you will do), but it does not itself mean will.

If you really want to show will, you would normally use akan:

• Saya akan kuatkan badan saya dengan bersenam.
  I will strengthen my body by exercising.

So:

• mahu = want (to)
• akan = will

How is kuatkan different from kuat?

• kuat is an adjective: strong.

  • Badan saya kuat. – My body is strong.

• kuatkan is a verb derived by adding -kan: to strengthen, to make strong.

  • Saya mahu kuatkan badan saya. – I want to strengthen my body.

The suffix -kan often turns an adjective or noun into a transitive verb with a meaning like:

• make X become [adjective]
• cause X to be [adjective]

Other examples:

• besar (big) → besarkan (to enlarge, to make bigger)
• lemah (weak) → lemahkan (to weaken)

So kuatkan literally means to make strong.

Could I say Saya mahu membuat badan saya kuat dengan bersenam instead? Which sounds more natural?

Yes, Saya mahu membuat badan saya kuat dengan bersenam is grammatically correct and understandable. It literally means I want to make my body strong by exercising.

However, Malay normally prefers the kuatkan structure:

• Saya mahu kuatkan badan saya dengan bersenam.

Using kuatkan is more concise and more idiomatic.
membuat badan saya kuat sounds a bit longer and more bookish; it is not wrong, but it is less typical in everyday speech.

What does badan mean exactly in Malay?

badan usually means body, in a physical sense:

• badan saya – my body
• sakit badan – body ache, aching all over
• jaga badan – take care of your body / figure

It can also mean organization or agency in more formal contexts:

• badan kerajaan – government body / agency

It does not normally mean stomach. For stomach, you would more commonly hear:

• perut – stomach / belly.

What does dengan mean in this sentence? Is it with, by, or using?

dengan is a very flexible preposition. Its basic idea is with, but depending on context it can also correspond to by, using, together with, and so on.

In this sentence:

• Saya mahu kuatkan badan saya dengan bersenam.

dengan introduces the method or means:

• by exercising
• through exercising

So you can gloss it as:

• I want to strengthen my body by exercising.

You could also make the method more explicit:

• Saya mahu kuatkan badan saya dengan cara bersenam.
  I want to strengthen my body by means of exercising.

But the shorter original sentence is more natural.

What is bersenam, and how is it formed?

bersenam is a verb meaning to exercise (physical exercise, workouts).

It is formed from:

• root: senam (gymnastics, physical exercise)
• prefix: ber- (often forms intransitive verbs meaning to have/do/be in the state of X)

So bersenam literally means something like to engage in exercise or to do exercise.

Examples:

• Saya bersenam setiap pagi. – I exercise every morning.
• Dia malas bersenam. – He/She is lazy to exercise.

Why is there no word like to before kuatkan or bersenam?

Malay does not use a separate word like English to for infinitive verbs. The base form of the verb is used directly.

So where English says:

• I want to strengthen my body by exercising.

Malay just says:

• Saya mahu kuatkan badan saya dengan bersenam.

The structure is:

• Saya (I)
• mahu (want)
• kuatkan (strengthen)
• badan saya (my body)
• dengan bersenam (by exercising)

No extra marker is needed before kuatkan or bersenam.

How do I show tense with this sentence? For example, how do I say I wanted to or I will want to?

Malay usually shows time using context and time words rather than changing the verb form.

For I wanted to strengthen my body by exercising:

• Tadi saya mahu kuatkan badan saya dengan bersenam.
  Earlier I wanted to strengthen my body by exercising.

You can also use past markers sudah or telah with the action verb if needed:

• Saya sudah kuatkan badan saya dengan bersenam.
  I have strengthened my body by exercising.

For I will want to (a bit unusual in both languages, but possible):

• Saya akan mahu kuatkan badan saya dengan bersenam.
  I will want to strengthen my body by exercising.

More naturally, you would just say:

• Saya akan kuatkan badan saya dengan bersenam.
  I will strengthen my body by exercising.

Key point: mahu itself does not change form for past or future. Tense is mostly expressed through time words like tadi (earlier), esok (tomorrow), or markers like sudah, akan, etc.

Is the word order fixed? Could I move dengan bersenam to the front?

The neutral, most common word order is:

• Saya mahu kuatkan badan saya dengan bersenam.
  Subject – modal – verb – object – manner phrase

You can front dengan bersenam for emphasis or stylistic reasons:

• Dengan bersenam, saya mahu kuatkan badan saya.
  By exercising, I want to strengthen my body.

This sounds more formal or more emphatic, like you are highlighting the method. In everyday speech, the original order is more typical.

You would not normally scramble the words into something like:

• ✗ Saya mahu dengan bersenam kuatkan badan saya.

That sounds unnatural in Malay.

Is this sentence formal? How would people say it in casual conversation?

The original sentence is neutral to slightly formal because of saya and mahu, which are polite forms.

In casual conversation, people often use:

• nak instead of mahu / hendak
• aku instead of saya (with friends, people your age, etc.)

So more casual versions could be:

• Saya nak kuatkan badan dengan bersenam.
• Aku nak kuatkan badan dengan bersenam.

Notice that in casual speech it is very common to drop the second saya/aku:

• Saya nak kuatkan badan dengan bersenam.
  (Instead of badan saya)

How do I make this negative: I do not want to strengthen my body by exercising?

Use tidak (or tak in informal speech) before mahu:

Formal or neutral:

• Saya tidak mahu kuatkan badan saya dengan bersenam.
  I do not want to strengthen my body by exercising.

Informal:

• Saya tak nak kuatkan badan saya dengan bersenam.
• Aku tak nak kuatkan badan dengan bersenam.

Here:

• tidak / tak negates the verb mahu / nak.

Could I say Saya mahu bersenam untuk kuatkan badan saya? Is there any difference in meaning?

Yes, you can say:

• Saya mahu bersenam untuk kuatkan badan saya.

This is also natural and means:

• I want to exercise in order to strengthen my body.

The differences in nuance:

• Saya mahu kuatkan badan saya dengan bersenam.
  Focus on the main goal (strengthening the body) and states the method using dengan (by exercising).

• Saya mahu bersenam untuk kuatkan badan saya.
  Focus on the activity you want to do (exercising) and uses untuk to show the purpose (to strengthen the body).

Both are correct and commonly used; the choice just slightly shifts what you are highlighting.