Learn Hardcore Malay: Akaun palsu itu menyebarkan berita salah di media sosial. - That fake account spreads false news on social media.

akaun – account (loanword from English account)
palsu – fake / false
itu – that / the (a demonstrative that also marks something as specific/known)
menyebarkan – to spread (something)
- root: sebar – to spread
- meN-
  - -kan → menyebarkan (active, transitive verb: “to spread X”)
berita – news
salah – wrong / incorrect
di – in / on / at
media sosial – social media (literally “media social”)

So a very literal gloss is:
akaun fake that spread news wrong at media social.

Why is palsu (fake) after akaun (account), not before it like in English?

In Malay, adjectives normally come after the noun they describe.

English: fake account (adjective before noun)
Malay: akaun palsu (noun + adjective)

Some common patterns:

buku baru – new book
kereta merah – red car
akaun palsu – fake account

Putting palsu before akaun (palsu akaun) would be ungrammatical in standard Malay.

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

Itu literally means that, but it also works like the in many contexts because it marks the noun as specific/known.

In akaun palsu itu:

It can be understood as that fake account (a particular one already known in the context),
and in natural English it could also be translated simply as the fake account, depending on context.

So itu:

points to something specific (that one), and
also gives a sense of definiteness (the specific account, not just any account).

Why is it akaun palsu itu and not itu akaun palsu? Would that be wrong?

Both forms exist, but they don’t mean exactly the same thing.

Akaun palsu itu
- Normal noun phrase order: noun + adjective + demonstrative
- Means that fake account / the fake account (specific thing being talked about)
- Very natural in writing and speech.
Itu akaun palsu
- Literally: That is a fake account.
- Here itu acts more like a pronoun (“that”), and akaun palsu is the description.
- This is more like a full sentence, often with an implied adalah:
  - Itu (adalah) akaun palsu. – That is a fake account.

So:

Akaun palsu itu menyebarkan… = That fake account spreads…
Itu akaun palsu. = That is a fake account.

What is the structure of menyebarkan? Why not just sebar?

Menyebarkan is built from the root sebar (“to spread”) plus affixes:

sebar – spread (root)
meN- + sebar → menyebar – to spread (intransitive or less explicitly “spread something”)
menyebar + -kan → menyebarkan – to spread something (clear transitive/causative sense)

In this sentence we need a verb that clearly takes an object (berita salah):

akaun palsu itu menyebarkan berita salah
→ the fake account spreads false news.

Using just sebar by itself here would sound incomplete or non-standard in this position.
Menyebarkan clearly means “actively spread (some content)”.

Can I say menyebar berita salah instead of menyebarkan berita salah?

You can find menyebar berita in real usage, especially in informal speech or writing, but:

menyebarkan berita salah is more standard, clear, and natural, especially in formal contexts.
menyebarkan strongly marks that there is a direct object being spread (the news).

So:

For clear, general-purpose Malay: prefer menyebarkan berita salah.
menyebar berita salah might sound more casual or slightly less careful.

Is berita salah the same as “fake news”? Why not berita palsu?

Both are understandable, but there’s a nuance:

berita salah
- Literally: incorrect/wrong news
- Focuses on the incorrectness or inaccuracy of the information.
- Could be due to a mistake, misunderstanding, or deliberate lie.
berita palsu
- Literally: fake news
- Very common collocation in Malay, directly parallel to English fake news.
- Stronger implication that the news is fabricated / not genuine.

In most modern contexts (especially when talking about misinformation online), berita palsu is the usual translation of fake news.

So the sentence with berita palsu would sound very natural:
Akaun palsu itu menyebarkan berita palsu di media sosial.

What does di mean in di media sosial, and how is it different from other prepositions like ke or pada?

di is a preposition meaning in / on / at (location or place).

di media sosial – on social media
di rumah – at home
di sekolah – at school

Compared with others:

ke – to, towards (direction/movement)
- ke sekolah – to school
pada – at / on, often used with time or more abstract “locations”
- pada hari Isnin – on Monday
- pada masa itu – at that time

For a “place” (even a virtual place like social media), di is the natural choice:

menyebarkan berita salah di media sosial – spreading false news on social media.

How do we know if menyebarkan here means “spreads”, “is spreading”, or “spread”? Malay doesn’t show tense?

Malay verbs generally do not change form for tense (past, present, future).
The verb menyebarkan itself simply means spread(s); the time is understood from context or from time expressions.

The English tense depends on context:

Akaun palsu itu menyebarkan berita salah di media sosial.
- Could be translated as:
  - That fake account spreads false news on social media. (habitual/general)
  - That fake account is spreading false news on social media. (right now / ongoing)
  - That fake account spread false news on social media. (in the past, if context makes it clear)

If you want to make time explicit, you add adverbs:

semalam – yesterday
sekarang – now
selalu – always / often

Example:

Semalam, akaun palsu itu menyebarkan berita salah di media sosial.
– Yesterday, that fake account spread false news on social media.

Does akaun palsu itu mean only “that fake account” (singular), or could it also mean “those fake accounts” (plural)?

By default, akaun palsu itu is understood as singular: that fake account / the fake account.

Malay usually does not mark plural on the noun itself, but you can make plural clearer in several ways:

akaun-akaun palsu itu – those fake accounts (reduplication to show plural)
beberapa akaun palsu – several fake accounts
banyak akaun palsu – many fake accounts

So:

akaun palsu itu – that specific fake account (most natural reading)
To be clearly plural, add something like banyak, beberapa, or use akaun-akaun.

Could I move di media sosial earlier in the sentence, like Akaun palsu itu di media sosial menyebarkan berita salah?

That word order is not natural in Malay.

Preferred, natural order:

Subject
Verb
Object
Location / other extra information

So:

Akaun palsu itu (subject)
menyebarkan (verb)
berita salah (object)
di media sosial (location)

→ Akaun palsu itu menyebarkan berita salah di media sosial.

Putting di media sosial between the subject and verb, as in:

Akaun palsu itu di media sosial menyebarkan berita salah

sounds awkward and ungrammatical in standard Malay.

Why is it media sosial (media + social) instead of sosial media, like in English “social media”?

In Malay noun phrases, the main noun usually comes first, and the word that describes or modifies it comes after.

Pattern: noun + modifier

Here:

media – media (main noun)
sosial – social (adjective)

So:

media sosial – social media (literally “media social”)

Other examples:

telefon bimbit – mobile phone (phone mobile)
bilik tidur – bedroom (room sleep)
kereta elektrik – electric car (car electric)

So media sosial follows normal Malay noun phrase order; sosial media would sound like it’s following English grammar and is not standard.

How do you pronounce akaun and media sosial in Malay?

Approximate pronunciations (in simple English terms):

akaun – roughly ah-kown
- a like a in father
- kaun similar to English cown (as in cow
  - n)
media sosial – roughly MEH-dee-ah soh-see-ahl
- me like meh
- di like dee
- a like in father
- so like so
- si like see
- al like ahl

Malay stress is generally quite even; English-style strong stress is less pronounced, so try not to over-stress any one syllable.