Learn Hardcore Malay: Untuk sarapan esok, saya mahu menggoreng telur dan ayam di dalam kuali besar. - For tomorrow’s breakfast, I want to fry eggs and chicken in a big pan.

Untuk sarapan esok, saya mahu menggoreng…
– Emphasis on for tomorrow’s breakfast. This order is very natural, especially in writing.
Saya mahu menggoreng telur dan ayam di dalam kuali besar untuk sarapan esok.
– Also completely natural. This sounds a bit more like neutral spoken word order.

Both are correct. In Malay, time/purpose phrases like untuk sarapan esok can go either:

at the beginning of the sentence, or
at the end of the main clause.

You just cannot put it between the verb and its object in a weird way, e.g.
✗ Saya mahu untuk sarapan esok menggoreng telur… (unnatural).

What exactly does untuk do here? Why untuk sarapan esok and not something with pada?

Untuk means for / for the purpose of.

Untuk sarapan esok = for tomorrow’s breakfast (purpose).
It answers the question “For what purpose?” – for breakfast.

Pada is more like on / at when talking about time points:

pada hari Isnin – on Monday
pada 5 Mei – on 5th May

Saying pada sarapan esok would sound wrong/unnatural; breakfast is a meal, not a time point in the same way.

So:

untuk sarapan esok ✅
pada sarapan esok ❌
esok (sahaja) = tomorrow (time) ✅
e.g. Esok saya mahu menggoreng telur… – Tomorrow I want to fry eggs…

How is the future shown here? Do I need to use akan?

Malay doesn’t change the verb form for tense. Future meaning comes from context words, not verb endings.

In the sentence:

esok = tomorrow (time word → future)
mahu = want (intention → usually future)

You could add akan:

Esok saya akan menggoreng telur… – Tomorrow I will fry eggs…
Esok saya mahu menggoreng telur… – Tomorrow I want to fry eggs…

Differences:

mahu = want, intend to
akan = will (more neutral future, no “want” meaning)

You can also combine them, but it sounds quite strong or formal:

Esok saya akan menggoreng telur dan ayam… (neutral “I will”)
Esok saya mahu menggoreng telur dan ayam… (sounds like “I’d like to / I plan to”)

Why is it menggoreng and not just goreng? What does the meN- prefix do?

The base word is goreng (fried / to fry).
The active verb is formed with the meN- prefix:

meN- + goreng → menggoreng

The N changes depending on the first consonant of the root; with g it becomes ng: meN + goreng = menggoreng.

Functionally:

menggoreng = (to) fry (active verb form)
goreng = root form, often seen:
- in imperatives: Goreng telur itu sekarang. – Fry the egg now.
- after some auxiliaries/modals in everyday speech.

In real usage:

Saya mahu menggoreng telur. – Correct, sounds a bit careful/formal.
Saya mahu goreng telur. – Very common in casual spoken Malay, especially with nak:
Saya nak goreng telur.

Both are understood; textbooks will tend to show menggoreng, but you’ll hear goreng a lot in speech.

Can I drop saya and just say Mah(u) menggoreng telur dan ayam…?

Grammatically, Malay often can drop the subject pronoun if it’s obvious from context, especially in casual speech.

So in conversation, you might hear:

Nak goreng telur dan ayam dalam kuali besar.
(Speaker = “I”, understood from context)

However:

In learner Malay and in neutral writing, it’s safer and clearer to keep the pronoun:
- Saya mahu menggoreng…

So yes, it is possible to omit saya, but don’t rely on this too much until you’re comfortable with the language and context.

Does ayam here mean a live chicken or chicken meat?

In Malay, ayam can mean either a chicken (the animal) or chicken (the meat). Context decides.

At a farm:
Ada banyak ayam di sini. – There are many chickens here. (animals)
In a cooking context:
Menggoreng telur dan ayam – frying eggs and chicken (meat).

If you want to be explicit that it’s meat:

daging ayam – chicken meat
e.g. menggoreng daging ayam

But in cooking and on menus, people usually just say ayam for chicken meat:
nasi ayam, ayam goreng, sup ayam, etc.

How do I say “an egg” or “some eggs” in Malay, since telur doesn’t change for plural?

Malay doesn’t have a/an/the, and nouns usually don’t change for plural.

telur = egg / eggs (depends on context)

To be specific:

sebiji telur – one egg
dua biji telur – two eggs
tiga biji telur – three eggs

Here biji is a classifier used for round/smallish objects (eggs, fruits, etc.).

To say “some eggs”:

beberapa biji telur – several eggs
beberapa telur – some eggs (classifier often omitted in casual speech)

In your sentence, telur by itself can naturally be understood as eggs in general.

What’s the difference between di dalam, dalam, and di before kuali besar? Are they all correct?

All three can appear before kuali in real usage, but there are nuances.

di = at / in / on (location)
- di kuali besar – at/in the big pan (short, casual)
dalam = inside (focus on interior)
- dalam kuali besar – inside the big pan
di dalam = at inside / in, inside (slightly more explicit or formal)
- di dalam kuali besar – in the inside of the big pan

In your sentence:

di dalam kuali besar – perfectly correct and slightly more formal or explicit.
dalam kuali besar – also very natural, especially in speech.
di kuali besar – you will hear this too; shorter and colloquial.

Avoid writing didalam as one word; standard Malay writes it as di dalam (two words).

What exactly is a kuali? Is it a frying pan, a wok, or something else?

Kuali is typically a wok-like pan used for frying and stir‑frying.

Rough equivalents:

kuali – wok / deep frying pan
kuali leper – flat frying pan (closer to Western frying pan)
periuk – pot (for boiling, soups, etc.)
kawah – very large wok/cauldron (for big quantities, events)

In your sentence, kuali besar suggests a large wok or large frying pan, big enough for eggs and chicken together.

Why is it kuali besar and not besar kuali or kuali yang besar?

In Malay, adjectives normally come after the noun:

kuali besar – big pan
ayam goreng – fried chicken
baju merah – red shirt

So:

kuali besar ✅ (normal noun + adjective order)
besar kuali ❌ as a noun phrase (but you can say kuali itu besar – that pan is big)
kuali yang besar ✅ but with extra emphasis or specificity:
- Saya mahu menggoreng dalam kuali yang besar.
  – I want to fry (it) in the big pan (that particular one).

Use kuali besar for a simple description, and kuali yang besar if you want to highlight or specify which pan.