Learn Hardcore Malay: Setiap Sabtu dan Ahad, kami pergi ke pasar raya untuk membeli susu, telur, dan buah-buahan. - Every Saturday and Sunday, we go to the supermarket to buy milk, eggs, and fruits.

So Sabtu and Ahad are capitalized because they are proper nouns (day names), not because they are at the start of the sentence. If they appeared in the middle of a sentence, they would still be capitalized.

Can I say “Pada setiap Sabtu dan Ahad” or “Setiap hari Sabtu dan Ahad” instead? Are they different in meaning?

All of these are grammatical and very close in meaning:

Setiap Sabtu dan Ahad – neutral, common, “every Saturday and Sunday”.
Pada setiap Sabtu dan Ahad – slightly more formal/emphatic; literally “on every Saturday and Sunday”.
Setiap hari Sabtu dan Ahad – literally “every Saturday and Sunday day”; sounds a bit wordier and is less common in casual speech, but still understandable.

In everyday conversation, Setiap Sabtu dan Ahad or simply Sabtu dan Ahad (with context) is most natural.

What’s the difference between kami and kita? Why is kami used here?

Malay has two words for “we”:

kami = we (excluding the person you’re talking to)
kita = we (including the person you’re talking to)

In the sentence:

Setiap Sabtu dan Ahad, kami pergi ke pasar raya…

kami suggests “we (my group, not including you/the listener) go to the supermarket…”.
If the speaker wanted to include the listener in that group, they would say kita pergi instead.

Why do we say pergi ke and not just pergi?

Pergi means “to go”.
Ke is a preposition meaning “to / towards” a place.

pergi ke pasar raya = go to the supermarket
pergi ke sekolah = go to school

You can sometimes use pergi alone if the destination is obvious or already mentioned:

Dia sudah pergi. = He/She has already gone.

But when you name the destination, you normally use ke.

What’s the difference between pasar raya, pasar, and kedai?

These refer to different types of places:

pasar raya = supermarket (large, modern store like Tesco, Giant, etc.)
pasar = market (traditional open-air or wet market, many small stalls)
kedai = shop/store (generic word; e.g. kedai runcit = convenience/grocery shop)

So:

pergi ke pasar raya = go to the supermarket
pergi ke pasar = go to the (traditional) market

There’s no word for “go” in the past or future (like went or will go). How do we know the tense?

Malay verbs do not change form for tense. Pergi can mean go / went / will go, depending on context.

In this sentence, Setiap (“every”) shows it’s a habitual action:

Setiap Sabtu dan Ahad, kami pergi ke pasar raya…
Every Saturday and Sunday, we go to the supermarket…

If you want to be explicit, you can add time words:

semalam kami pergi = yesterday we went
esok kami akan pergi = tomorrow we will go

But the base verb pergi itself doesn’t change.

What does untuk do in “untuk membeli”? Could I just say “membeli”?

Untuk literally means “for / in order to / to (for the purpose of)”.

pergi ke pasar raya untuk membeli…
= go to the supermarket in order to buy …

This is a common pattern: untuk + verb to express purpose.

You can sometimes drop untuk in casual speech, especially with short verbs:

Kami pergi beli susu.

This is natural in conversation.
Untuk membeli sounds slightly more complete and neutral; it’s also very common in writing and careful speech.

What’s the difference between membeli and beli?

Both come from the same root beli (to buy), but:

beli = root/“bare” verb form; very common in spoken Malay.
membeli = meN-
- root; more formal/neutral; very common in writing and in full sentences.

Examples:

Saya beli susu. (informal, everyday)
Saya membeli susu. (neutral, a bit more formal)

In your sentence, untuk membeli is standard and natural.
In casual speech you might hear: …pergi ke pasar raya beli susu, telur dan buah-buahan.

Why is there no plural ending on susu and telur, but there is buah-buahan?

Malay usually does not mark plural with endings like English -s. Plurality is understood from context:

susu = milk (mass noun, uncountable)
telur = egg / eggs (same form for singular and plural)

Buah-buahan is formed by reduplication:

buah = fruit
buah-buahan = fruits (various kinds of fruit)

Reduplication often expresses:

“many / various kinds” (buah-buahan, buku-buku = books)
or can be used for other semantic effects.

So here:

susu: you don’t count it one by one
telur: plural is clear from context
buah-buahan: suggests a variety of fruits, not just one type.

When should I use buah vs buah-buahan?

Rough guideline:

buah (singular, or general):
- Saya mahu makan buah. = I want to eat fruit (general)
- Sebiji buah. = one piece of fruit
buah-buahan (plural / variety of fruits):
- Kami membeli buah-buahan. = We bought fruits (often implies different kinds)
- Gerai buah-buahan. = a fruit stall (selling many kinds)

In your sentence, buah-buahan fits well because at a supermarket you normally buy more than one kind of fruit.

Why does the sentence start with “Setiap Sabtu dan Ahad”? Could it go later in the sentence?

Malay word order is fairly flexible for time expressions. All of these are possible:

Setiap Sabtu dan Ahad, kami pergi ke pasar raya…
Kami pergi ke pasar raya setiap Sabtu dan Ahad…

Both mean the same thing. Putting the time at the beginning (option 1) is very common and lightly emphasizes the time/frequency.

Basic word order is still Subject–Verb–(Place)–(Other info), but time phrases can go at the front or near the end.

Why is dan used twice, and what about the commas: “susu, telur, dan buah-buahan”?

Dan means “and”, and it’s used:

Sabtu dan Ahad = Saturday and Sunday
susu, telur, dan buah-buahan = milk, eggs, and fruits

About the commas:

Malay does not require a comma before dan in a list, but using it is acceptable and often follows English “Oxford comma” style.
- susu, telur dan buah-buahan (common)
- susu, telur, dan buah-buahan (also accepted, esp. in more formal/edited writing)

Both are okay in modern Malay.

If I wanted to say “every Saturday or Sunday” instead of “and”, how would I change it?

Use atau (“or”) instead of dan:

Setiap Sabtu atau Ahad, kami pergi ke pasar raya…
= Every Saturday or Sunday, we go to the supermarket…

You can also rearrange slightly:

Setiap hari Sabtu atau Ahad, kami… (also understandable, just wordier)

Can I omit kami? In English we can sometimes drop “we” in notes, like “Go to supermarket”.

In full sentences, Malay usually keeps the subject pronoun:

Kami pergi ke pasar raya… (normal)

However, in informal notes, lists, or instructions, you might see the subject left out, similar to English:

Pergi ke pasar raya beli susu, telur dan buah-buahan.
(Go to the supermarket, buy milk, eggs, and fruits.)

For normal spoken or written sentences, including kami is standard and clearer.

How could I make this sentence sound more formal or more casual?

More casual (spoken):

Setiap Sabtu dan Ahad, kami pergi pasar raya beli susu, telur dan buah-buahan.
- often drop ke and untuk, use beli instead of membeli, and maybe drop some commas in speech.

More formal:

Pada setiap hari Sabtu dan Ahad, kami akan pergi ke pasar raya untuk membeli susu, telur serta buah-buahan.
- pada setiap hari adds formality
- akan pergi = will go (explicit future/habitual)
- serta is a more formal alternative to dan in lists.

Both still mean essentially the same thing; the differences are in style and register.