Learn Hardcore Malay: Kelab tarian di kampus itu sangat popular. - The dance club at that campus is very popular.

kampus itu
- literal: that campus (a specific campus the speakers both know)
- in English translation, it might come out as “the campus” or “that campus” depending on what sounds natural.

So di kampus itu = “at that (particular) campus”, not just any campus in general. Without itu (di kampus), it would sound more general: “on campus / at the campus (in general)”.

Why is there no word like “is/are” in Kelab tarian di kampus itu sangat popular?

Malay normally does not use a verb “to be” (like is/are) before adjectives.

English: The dance club at that campus is very popular.
Malay: Kelab tarian di kampus itu sangat popular.
- kelab tarian = dance club
- di kampus itu = at that campus
- sangat popular = very popular

You do not say:

❌ Kelab tarian di kampus itu adalah sangat popular. (grammatically possible but sounds stiff / formal / textbooky in this simple sentence)

Adalah is usually used:

before nouns in explanations:
- Tujuan mesyuarat ini adalah untuk memilih ketua.
  - The purpose of this meeting is to choose a leader.
in more formal written style.

With adjectives like popular, you usually just put the adjective after the subject with no “to be” verb.

Why is it kelab tarian and not something like tarian kelab? What’s the rule for this word order?

Malay noun phrases usually have the main noun first, then the word that modifies it:

kelab tarian
- kelab = club (main noun)
- tarian = dance / dancing (what kind of club)
- whole phrase: dance club

If you said tarian kelab, it would normally be understood as:

“the dance(s) of the club” or “club dances”, not “a dance club” as an organization.

So:

kelab sukan = sports club
kelab bahasa = language club
kelab muzik = music club

Pattern: [main noun] + [classifier / type / domain] → kelab tarian = dance club.

Could I say kelab menari instead of kelab tarian? Is there a difference?

You could say kelab menari, but it sounds a bit odd and less natural for “dance club”.

tarian = a noun, “dance / dancing”
menari = a verb, “to dance”

For “X club” in Malay, the “X” is usually a noun, not a verb:

kelab tarian (natural) = dance club
kelab bahasa = language club
kelab fotografi = photography club

Kelab menari literally sounds like “club (for) dancing” using a verb form. It might be understood, but the standard, natural phrase for “dance club” as a campus organization is kelab tarian.

Does Kelab tarian here mean just one club, or could it be plural (“dance clubs”)?

By default, Malay doesn’t mark singular/plural unless needed. Kelab tarian could be understood as one club or more than one club, depending on context.

In this specific sentence, most listeners would assume it means one club because:

there is no plural marker, and
the context sounds like we’re talking about a specific club.

If you clearly want plural, you can say:

Kelab-kelab tarian di kampus itu sangat popular.
- kelab-kelab = clubs (reduplication shows plural)
or Banyak kelab tarian di kampus itu sangat popular.
- banyak = many

English always forces you to choose “club” vs “clubs”; Malay often leaves it to context.

What exactly does di contribute in di kampus itu? Is it like “in”, “on”, or “at”?

Di is a location preposition and is roughly “in / on / at” depending on the noun and context.

di kampus itu = at that campus / on that campus
di rumah = at home
di Malaysia = in Malaysia
di meja = on the table

So, di kampus itu tells you where the club is based. English chooses between “in/on/at”, but Malay mostly just uses di for general location.

Could I say Kelab tarian yang di kampus itu sangat popular? When do I use yang in this kind of sentence?

You could say Kelab tarian yang di kampus itu sangat popular, but:

it sounds more formal and a bit heavier.
it emphasizes the specific club that is at that campus (contrasting with other dance clubs elsewhere).

In brief:

Without yang (original sentence):
- Kelab tarian di kampus itu sangat popular.
- Simple: “The dance club at that campus is very popular.”
With yang:
- Kelab tarian yang di kampus itu sangat popular.
- Closer to: “The dance club that is at that campus is very popular.” (slightly more contrastive/emphatic)

You typically use yang:

to link a noun with a longer or more complex description:
- pelajar yang belajar bahasa Melayu = the student who studies Malay
or when the modifying part has a full verb phrase.

Here, di kampus itu is short and simple, so most people just skip yang.

Can I move di kampus itu to the front or end of the sentence? Does it change the meaning?

Yes, you can move it, and the basic meaning stays the same:

Kelab tarian di kampus itu sangat popular.
- Neutral, most common word order.
Di kampus itu, kelab tarian sangat popular.
- Emphasizes “At that campus…” first.
- Feels like: “At that campus, the dance club is very popular (maybe unlike other places).”
Kelab tarian sangat popular di kampus itu.
- Still understandable, but sounds a bit more like you’re focusing on where it is popular (at that campus).

All three are grammatical. The original version is the most straightforward, neutral structure.

What’s the difference between sangat popular, amat popular, terlalu popular, and begitu popular?

All relate to degree, but they’re not interchangeable in every context:

sangat popular
- very popular (most common, neutral, fits almost all contexts)
amat popular
- very / extremely popular
- slightly more formal or emphatic, common in written or careful speech
terlalu popular
- literally: too popular (more than is good/expected)
- suggests an excess: e.g. “It’s too popular; it’s always crowded.”
begitu popular
- that / so popular (often used when comparing or reacting)
- e.g. Saya tak sangka kelab itu begitu popular.
  - I didn’t expect that club to be so popular.

In the given sentence, sangat popular is the most natural translation of “very popular.”

Is popular just the English word “popular”? Are there more “native” Malay alternatives?

Yes, popular in Malay is a loanword from English, spelled and used similarly but pronounced with Malay phonetics:

popular ≈ /po-pu-lar/ (final r often light or almost dropped in casual speech)

Common alternatives:

terkenal = well-known, famous
masyhur (more formal/literary) = renowned, famous

Examples:

Kelab tarian di kampus itu sangat popular.
- The dance club at that campus is very popular.
Kelab tarian di kampus itu sangat terkenal.
- The dance club at that campus is very well-known/famous.

Sangat popular is perfectly natural, especially in modern, casual, and media language.

Is there any reason to capitalize kelab or kampus here? How does capitalization work in Malay for this type of sentence?

In standard Malay spelling:

Common nouns are not capitalized:
- kelab, tarian, kampus
Proper nouns (names) are capitalized:
- Universiti Malaya, Kelab Tarian Gemilang, Kampus Utara

So in your sentence:

Kelab tarian di kampus itu sangat popular.
- If Kelab tarian is just “the dance club” (not an official name), then only the first word of the sentence is capitalized because it’s the beginning of a sentence.

If Kelab Tarian were the official name of a club, you would capitalize it as a proper noun:

Kelab Tarian di Kampus Itu sangat popular.
(but then you’re shifting meaning to “The Dance Club (as a named entity) at that Campus…”).

How would I say “The dance clubs at that campus are very popular” in Malay, making it clearly plural?

A natural way is to mark the plural explicitly:

Kelab-kelab tarian di kampus itu sangat popular.
- kelab-kelab = clubs (reduplication to show plural)
- “The dance clubs at that campus are very popular.”
Or: Banyak kelab tarian di kampus itu sangat popular.
- banyak = many
- “Many dance clubs at that campus are very popular.”

Without any plural marking (Kelab tarian di kampus itu sangat popular), context might still tell listeners you mean more than one club, but if you want to be explicit, use kelab-kelab or a quantifier like banyak.