Learn Hardcore Malay: Pada hari Ahad, saya lebih suka duduk di rumah sambil minum susu dan membaca komik. - On Sundays, I prefer to sit at home while drinking milk and reading comics.

Pada hari Ahad, saya lebih suka duduk di rumah sambil minum susu dan membaca komik.

On Sundays, I prefer to sit at home while drinking milk and reading comics.

Breakdown of Pada hari Ahad, saya lebih suka duduk di rumah sambil minum susu dan membaca komik.

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Questions & Answers about Pada hari Ahad, saya lebih suka duduk di rumah sambil minum susu dan membaca komik.

Why do we say pada hari Ahad and not just Ahad? What is the function of pada and hari here?

pada is a preposition that, among other uses, marks time expressions like days, dates, and specific times. It’s similar to on in on Sunday.

hari literally means day. When naming days of the week, Malay very often uses hari + day name, e.g.:

hari Isnin – Monday
hari Selasa – Tuesday
hari Ahad – Sunday

So:

Ahad = Sunday
hari Ahad = Sunday (literally: day Sunday)
pada hari Ahad = on Sunday

You can also say:

hari Ahad, saya… (common in spoken Malay)
Ahad, saya… (also possible in speech, more informal/shortened)

pada hari Ahad sounds a bit more complete and slightly more formal or careful, which is natural in written sentences or careful speech.

What is the difference between Ahad and Minggu? Can I say Pada hari Minggu instead?

This depends on the variety of Malay/Indonesian:

In Malaysian Malay (Bahasa Malaysia):
- The standard word for Sunday is Ahad.
- Minggu usually means week, e.g. minggu depan = next week.
- Some speakers do say hari Minggu for Sunday, but hari Ahad is the standard in Malaysia.
In Indonesian (Bahasa Indonesia):
- Minggu is the normal word for Sunday.
- Ahad is also known but sounds more formal/religious and is less common in everyday speech.

So:

In Malaysia: Pada hari Ahad is the safest choice for Sunday.
In Indonesia: Pada hari Minggu is the natural choice for Sunday.

What exactly does lebih suka mean, and how is it different from just suka?

suka = to like
lebih = more

So lebih suka literally means (to) like more, i.e. to prefer.

Compare:

Saya suka duduk di rumah.
I like staying at home.
Saya lebih suka duduk di rumah.
I prefer to stay at home. (I like it more than other options.)

You use lebih suka when there is some comparison, even if the other option is not mentioned:

Saya lebih suka duduk di rumah (daripada keluar).
I prefer to stay at home (rather than go out).

Also:

paling suka = like the most / favourite
- Saya paling suka membaca komik. – I like reading comics the most.

Why is lebih placed before suka? Could we say suka lebih?

In Malay, lebih almost always comes before the word it modifies, whether that word is an adjective or a verb of liking:

lebih besar – bigger, more big
lebih laju – faster
lebih suka – like more / prefer

suka lebih is not used to mean prefer. It would sound ungrammatical or at least very strange in this context.

So the normal pattern is:

lebih + [adjective/verb]
paling + [adjective/verb]

Does duduk di rumah mean literally sit at home, or more stay at home?

Literally, duduk means to sit. However, in Malay (and many related languages) duduk is often used more broadly to mean to stay / to be (somewhere), especially in casual speech.

So in saya lebih suka duduk di rumah, the natural interpretation is:

I prefer to stay at home, not literally I prefer to sit at home.

Some related options:

tinggal di rumah – live at home / stay (reside) at home
berada di rumah – be at home (a bit more formal or written)

But for everyday I like staying at home, suka duduk di rumah is very common and natural.

Could we say tinggal di rumah instead of duduk di rumah in this sentence? Is there a difference?

You can say it, but the nuance changes a bit:

duduk di rumah here = stay at home (for that time, that day)
tinggal di rumah usually = live at home / reside at home

So:

Pada hari Ahad, saya lebih suka duduk di rumah…
On Sundays, I prefer to stay at home…

If you say:

Pada hari Ahad, saya tinggal di rumah…

it sounds more like a statement of residence (On Sundays, I live at home…), which is odd because where you live doesn’t normally change by day.

So in this context, duduk di rumah is the natural choice for stay at home (instead of going out).

What does sambil mean, and how is it used in this sentence?

sambil is a conjunction that means while / whilst, used when:

The same subject is doing two (or more) actions
The actions happen at the same time

In the sentence:

…saya lebih suka duduk di rumah sambil minum susu dan membaca komik.

The subject saya is:

duduk di rumah – staying at home
minum susu – drinking milk
membaca komik – reading comics

All of these are done at the same time. sambil links the main action (duduk di rumah) with the other concurrent actions (minum susu dan membaca komik).

Basic pattern:

[Subject] [main action] sambil [other action(s)].
- Saya belajar sambil mendengar muzik.
  I study while listening to music.

Important: sambil is only used when the subject is the same for both actions. If the subjects are different, you would not use sambil; you’d use something like sementara, ketika, or just separate clauses.

How is sambil different from sementara or ketika?

Summary:

sambil – while (same subject, simultaneous actions, often both are active)
sementara – while, whereas (often different subjects, or contrasting actions)
ketika – when (neutral time marker, often introducing a past-time background)

Examples:

sambil (same subject):
- Saya memasak sambil menyanyi.
  I cook while singing.
  (Subject saya does both actions.)
sementara (often different subjects/roles):
- Saya memasak sementara dia membasuh pinggan.
  I cook while he washes the dishes.
  (Different subjects: saya and dia.)
ketika (when):
- Ketika saya kecil, saya suka membaca komik.
  When I was little, I liked reading comics.

In your sentence, because the same person is staying at home, drinking milk, and reading comics, sambil is the correct conjunction.

Why do we say minum susu and not meminum susu? What is the difference?

Both minum and meminum come from the same root minum (to drink), but:

minum is the basic, everyday form: to drink
meminum is the meN- verb form and is more formal/literary; it can also sound more transitive/emphasize the object in some contexts.

In normal modern Malay, for simple actions like drink milk, drink water, drink coffee, people almost always use the basic form:

minum susu – drink milk
minum air – drink water
minum kopi – drink coffee

meminum susu is grammatically possible, but in everyday speech it sounds stiff or overly formal. In your sentence, minum susu is the natural choice.

Why do we say membaca komik and not just membaca or membaca buku komik? Does komik need buku?

membaca = to read
komik = comic / comics (borrowed from English)

In Malay, komik is usually understood as comic books / comic strips, so:

membaca komik = read comics

You can say:

membaca buku komik – read comic books

but buku is not necessary; komik alone is enough in most contexts.

If you said just membaca with no object, it would be incomplete here:

Saya duduk di rumah sambil minum susu dan membaca.
I stay at home while drinking milk and reading.

This is grammatically okay but more general (reading something). The original sentence is more specific: reading comics.

Why is dan used between minum susu and membaca komik? Could we drop membaca and say minum susu dan komik?

dan means and, and it is joining two verbs/verb phrases:

minum susu – drink milk
membaca komik – read comics

So the pattern is:

sambil [verb phrase A] dan [verb phrase B]

Because minum and membaca are different actions, each one needs its own verb. If you say:

minum susu dan komik

this looks like:

minum [susu dan komik]
drink [milk and comics]

which is nonsensical. Therefore, you must repeat the verb:

minum susu dan membaca komik

How does this sentence express tense? There is no past or future marker, so how do we know when it happens?

Malay does not usually change the verb form to mark tense (no -ed, -ing, will, etc.). Instead, tense and aspect are understood from:

Time expressions (like pada hari Ahad)
Context
Optional particles like sudah, akan, sedang, etc.

In your sentence:

Pada hari Ahad, saya lebih suka duduk di rumah sambil minum susu dan membaca komik.

pada hari Ahad suggests a habitual action (what you generally do on Sundays).
There is no sudah (already), akan (will), or sedang (currently), so it’s understood as a general preference.

If you needed to be very explicit, you could add markers:

Dulu, pada hari Ahad, saya lebih suka… – In the past, on Sundays, I preferred…
Nanti pada hari Ahad, saya akan lebih suka… – In future, on Sunday, I will prefer…

But normally the simple form plus a time phrase is enough.

Why is the pronoun saya used here, and how would the sentence change if we used aku instead?

saya and aku both mean I / me, but they differ in formality and social context:

saya – polite, neutral, used in most formal and semi-formal situations; safe with strangers, older people, at work, in writing, etc.
aku – informal/intimate; used with close friends, family, or in casual settings; can sound rude in formal contexts if misused.

In the sentence:

Pada hari Ahad, saya lebih suka duduk di rumah sambil minum susu dan membaca komik.

Using saya makes it neutral and polite.

If you say:

Pada hari Ahad, aku lebih suka duduk di rumah sambil minum susu dan membaca komik.

it sounds more casual, like talking to a friend or writing in a diary. Grammatically both are correct; the choice depends on the relationship and context.