Learn Hardcore Malay: Guru perempuan itu mengajar sejarah di universiti. - That female teacher teaches history at the university.

guru – teacher
perempuan – woman / female
itu – that / the (a demonstrative that often works like “that” or a definite article)
mengajar – to teach (from the root ajar, “teach”)
sejarah – history
di – at / in / on (location preposition)
universiti – university

So literally: teacher woman that teach history at university → “That female teacher teaches history at (the/a) university.”

Why is it guru perempuan itu, not itu guru perempuan like “that female teacher” in English?

In Malay, demonstratives like itu (“that”) and ini (“this”) normally come after the noun phrase, not before it.

guru itu – that/the teacher
guru perempuan itu – that/the female teacher
universiti itu – that/the university

So English “that female teacher” = Malay guru perempuan itu, with itu at the end of the whole noun phrase.

What is the function of perempuan here? Is it a noun (“woman”) or an adjective (“female”)?

Literally perempuan means “woman” (a noun), but in combinations like guru perempuan, the second noun works like an adjective that describes the first noun:

guru perempuan – woman-teacher → female teacher
guru lelaki – man-teacher → male teacher

So here perempuan is a noun being used attributively, giving the sense “female.” It tells you the teacher’s gender.

Could I say perempuan guru instead of guru perempuan?

No, not with the same meaning.

Malay usually follows head noun + modifying noun order:

guru perempuan – a teacher (head) who is female (modifier)
guru sejarah – a teacher of history
buku sejarah – a history book

Perempuan guru would sound odd or be interpreted as “a woman who is a teacher,” but it’s not the natural way to say “female teacher.” Stick with guru perempuan.

Do I have to mention the gender with perempuan? Could I just say Guru itu mengajar sejarah di universiti?

You can absolutely drop perempuan:

Guru itu mengajar sejarah di universiti.
→ “That teacher teaches history at the / a university.”

Malay pronouns and many nouns do not mark gender by default. You only add perempuan (female) or lelaki (male) if gender is relevant or you want to emphasize it.

What exactly does itu mean here – “that” or “the”?

Itu basically means “that”, but it often functions like “the” in English when the speaker and listener both know which person or thing is being referred to.

So:

Guru perempuan itu
– could be “that female teacher” (pointing/contrasting)
– or simply “the female teacher” (specific, already known)

Whether you translate it as “that” or “the” depends on the context in English, but in Malay you just use itu.

Why is there no word like “is” or “does” in the sentence? Why not Guru perempuan itu adalah mengajar…?

Malay does not use a separate verb like “is” or “does” before another verb.

You do not say: ✗ adalah mengajar
You simply say: mengajar = “teaches / is teaching / taught”, depending on context.

Adalah is only used in specific cases, mainly for equative sentences (X = Y) with nouns or adjectives:

Dia adalah guru. – He/She is a teacher.
Itu adalah masalah besar. – That is a big problem.

But before a verb like mengajar, you just put the verb directly:
Guru perempuan itu mengajar…, never adalah mengajar.

How do we know the tense? Could this sentence mean “taught” or “will teach”?

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

teaches / is teaching (present)
taught (past)
will teach / is going to teach (future)

The tense is understood from context or from time words like:

semalam – yesterday
sekarang – now
esok – tomorrow

Examples:

Guru perempuan itu mengajar sejarah di universiti semalam.
– That female teacher taught history at the university yesterday.
Esok, guru perempuan itu mengajar sejarah di universiti.
– Tomorrow, that female teacher will teach history at the university.

What is the difference between ajar and mengajar? Why use mengajar here?

Ajar is the root verb, and mengajar is the meN- form derived from it.

ajar – teach (root; very bare form, often used in commands or informal speech)
- Jangan ajar dia macam itu. – Don’t teach him/her like that.
mengajar – to teach / teaches / teaching (standard active verb form)
- Dia mengajar sejarah. – He/She teaches history.

In a neutral, complete sentence like this one, you normally use mengajar, not just ajar:

Guru perempuan itu mengajar sejarah di universiti. ✔
Guru perempuan itu ajar sejarah di universiti. – understood, but more casual/colloquial.

Why do we need di before universiti? Can we just say …sejarah universiti?

You need di because you are expressing a location (“at the university”).

di – preposition for physical places: at / in / on
- di rumah – at home
- di sekolah – at school
- di universiti – at the university

If you say sejarah universiti without di, it changes the meaning to something like:

sejarah universiti – the history of the university

With di, it’s clearly “teaches history at the university”:
mengajar sejarah di universiti.

Is di here the same as the di- in passive verbs?

They look the same but behave differently:

di (separated by a space) = preposition for location:
- di universiti, di rumah, di sekolah
di- (attached to a verb, no space) = passive prefix:
- dikatakan – is/was said
- dibaca – is/was read

In your sentence, di universiti is the preposition, so it must be written with a space: di universiti, not diuniversiti.

Does di universiti mean “at a university” or “at the university”?

It can mean either, depending on context. Malay doesn’t mark definiteness (a/the) the same way English does.

di universiti – at a university / at the university
di universiti itu – at that (specific) university
di sebuah universiti – at a university (clearly indefinite, “one university”)

Without a classifier or itu, di universiti is neutral; you choose “a” or “the” in English based on the situation.

Is sejarah being used like a subject name here, or like the general word “history”?

Both, depending on how you look at it.

As a general noun: sejarah = history (the concept/field).
As a school/university subject: sejarah = History (the subject).

Malay often doesn’t add extra words like “subject” or “class.” Context tells you it’s the academic subject:

Dia mengajar sejarah. – He/She teaches history (the school subject).

If you want to be very explicit, you can say:

mengajar mata pelajaran sejarah – teach the subject of history

But mengajar sejarah is already natural and clear.

Is guru the normal word for a university teacher, or should it be something else?

Guru is most commonly used for school teachers (primary and secondary school).

For a university teacher/lecturer, the more precise, natural word is:

pensyarah – lecturer
- Pensyarah itu mengajar sejarah di universiti.

However, in a simplified sentence for learners, guru is often used because it’s a very basic word. Just remember: in real-life usage, pensyarah is the usual term for a university academic.

Could I replace the whole noun phrase with a pronoun and say Dia mengajar sejarah di universiti?

Yes. That’s a perfectly natural sentence:

Dia mengajar sejarah di universiti.
→ “He/She teaches history at the university.”

Dia is a third-person singular pronoun and does not mark gender. It can mean “he” or “she.”

Guru perempuan itu is more specific (identifies the person as “that female teacher”). Dia is more general and relies on context to know who you’re talking about.

What is the basic word order of this sentence? Is Malay normally SVO like English?

Yes, Malay is typically SVO (Subject–Verb–Object), similar to English.

In your sentence:

Subject (S) – Guru perempuan itu (that female teacher)
Verb (V) – mengajar (teaches)
Object (O) – sejarah (history)
Place phrase – di universiti (at the university)

So the structure is:
[S] Guru perempuan itu [V] mengajar [O] sejarah [Place] di universiti.

That’s the normal, unmarked word order.