Learn Hardcore Malay: Ibu menggoreng ikan dengan bawang di dalam kuali. - Mother fries fish with onions in the pan.

Ibu – mother
menggoreng – to fry / frying
ikan – fish
dengan – with
bawang – onion(s) / shallot(s) / garlic (general “allium” word; context decides)
di – at / in / on (location preposition)
dalam – inside
kuali – pan / wok

So literally: Mother frying fish with onion(s) in inside pan/wok.
Natural English: Mother is frying fish with onions in the pan.

What is the base form of menggoreng, and what does the prefix meng- do?

The base (root) verb is goreng = fry.

menggoreng = meng- + goreng.

meng- is a common verb-forming prefix.
It usually turns a root into an active, transitive verb (something the subject does to an object).

So:

goreng – fry (root form, also used in casual speech and in compounds, e.g. ikan goreng = fried fish)
menggoreng – to fry, frying (someone is performing the action on something)

In a sentence, the meng- form is the normal “doing” verb:

Ibu menggoreng ikan. – Mother fries / is frying fish.

Why is there no separate word for “is” in “Mother is frying fish…”?

Malay does not use a separate verb like English “to be” (am/is/are) before ordinary verbs.

English: Mother is frying fish.
Malay: Ibu menggoreng ikan.

The verb menggoreng alone already covers the action. There is no need (and it would be wrong) to say Ibu adalah menggoreng ikan.

So:

Ibu menggoreng ikan.
= Mother fries fish.
= Mother is frying fish.
= Mother fried fish.

Tense/aspect is understood from context, or can be made explicit with extra words (e.g. sedang, sudah, akan).

How do I show that the action is happening right now (“is frying” and not just “fries/fried”)?

You add an aspect marker like sedang before the verb:

Ibu sedang menggoreng ikan. – Mother is (currently) frying fish.

You can also combine it with the rest of the sentence:

Ibu sedang menggoreng ikan dengan bawang di dalam kuali.
– Mother is frying fish with onions in the pan (right now).

Other useful markers:

sudah / telah – has / already (completed action)
- Ibu sudah menggoreng ikan. – Mother has fried the fish already.
akan – will (future)
- Ibu akan menggoreng ikan. – Mother will fry the fish.

What is the difference between Ibu and other Malay words for “mother” like mak or emak?

All mean mother, but they differ in style and region:

Ibu
- More formal / neutral.
- Used in writing, polite speech, or as a respectful term (like “mother” rather than “mom”).
- Can also be used as a respectful title: Ibu Aisyah (Madam Aisyah).
emak / mak (or umi, mama, mummy, etc.)
- More informal, family/intimate use.
- Choice depends on dialect, region, and family habit.

In Ibu menggoreng ikan dengan bawang di dalam kuali, Ibu sounds like telling a story or describing your mother in a neutral or polite way, not calling her directly.

Does ikan mean “fish” in general, or is it singular or plural?

ikan is number-neutral:

It can mean fish (uncountable), a fish, or fish(es), depending on context.

Examples:

Ibu menggoreng ikan.
– Mother is frying fish. (could be one or several fish; context decides)

If you want to be clearer:

seekor ikan – one fish (for animals, ekor is the classifier)
dua ekor ikan – two fish
banyak ikan – a lot of fish

But in everyday speech, people usually just say ikan, and the listener understands from context (size of family, usual dish, etc.).

Does bawang mean onion or garlic? The English translation says “onions”.

bawang is a general word for oniony bulbs in the allium family. Context or a more specific word tells you exactly which one:

bawang merah – red onion / shallot
bawang besar – large onion (normal onion)
bawang putih – garlic
bawang hijau / daun bawang – spring onion / scallion

When you just say bawang in a cooking context, it often implies onions/shallots (whatever is normally used in that cuisine).

So:

Ibu menggoreng ikan dengan bawang
– Mother is frying fish with onions (most natural translation), but literally “with bawang” (oniony bulbs).

What exactly does dengan mean here? Is it “with”, “using”, or “and”?

dengan can cover several English ideas, including:

with (together with)
- Ibu pergi ke pasar dengan ayah. – Mother goes to the market with father.
with (using something / accompanied by something)
- Ibu menggoreng ikan dengan bawang.
  – Mother fries fish with onions (onions are included in the frying).
and (especially joining adjectives/adverbs)
- tinggi dengan kurus – tall and thin

In Ibu menggoreng ikan dengan bawang, dengan means the fish is being fried together with onions (used as an ingredient, not a tool).

What is the difference between di dalam, dalam, and di in phrases like di dalam kuali?

All three are related to location, but with slightly different focus:

di – basic preposition: at / in / on
- di kuali – in/on the pan
dalam – inside (can be a preposition or a noun “inside”)
- dalam kuali – inside the pan
- di dalam literally: “at the inside of”
di dalam – combines both, often slightly more explicit or emphatic than just di
- di dalam kuali – in the pan (emphasizing the interior)

In many everyday cases, di kuali and di dalam kuali are interchangeable; di dalam kuali just sounds a bit more “spelled out” as “inside the pan”.

Could I say Ibu menggoreng ikan di dalam kuali dengan bawang instead? Is the word order fixed?

Yes, that sentence is also grammatical and natural:

Ibu menggoreng ikan di dalam kuali dengan bawang.

Malay word order is relatively flexible for adverbial phrases (place, manner, time), as long as it remains clear.

Both of these are fine:

Ibu menggoreng ikan dengan bawang di dalam kuali.
Ibu menggoreng ikan di dalam kuali dengan bawang.

Subtle tendency:

Putting di dalam kuali earlier can slightly emphasize the place (in the pan).
Putting dengan bawang right after ikan can slightly emphasize what accompanies the fish (onions).

But in normal conversation, both orders mean the same thing.

Why are there no words like “a” or “the” in this Malay sentence?

Malay does not have articles equivalent to English a/an or the.

So:

ikan can be a fish, the fish, or just fish.
kuali can be a pan, the pan, or simply pan/wok.

Specificness is understood from context, or made explicit by adding extra information:

ikan itu – that fish / the fish (just mentioned or seen)
kuali besar itu – that big pan / the big pan

In Ibu menggoreng ikan dengan bawang di dalam kuali, natural English chooses “the pan” and “fish” according to what sounds most typical, but the Malay itself is neutral.

How would I make this sentence negative, like “Mother is not frying fish with onions in the pan”?

You use tidak (not) before the verb phrase:

Ibu tidak menggoreng ikan dengan bawang di dalam kuali.
– Mother is not frying fish with onions in the pan.
– Mother does not fry fish with onions in the pan.

If you add aspect markers, tidak still comes before the main verb:

Ibu tidak sedang menggoreng ikan. – Mother is not (currently) frying fish.
Ibu tidak akan menggoreng ikan. – Mother will not fry fish.

Is this sentence formal, informal, or neutral style?

The sentence is neutral:

Ibu – slightly more formal/polite choice for “mother”, but still very common and natural.
The structure [subject] + [meng- verb] + [object] + [adverbials] is standard neutral Malay.

You could easily use it in:

Everyday conversation: Tadi Ibu menggoreng ikan dengan bawang di dalam kuali.
A children’s story: Ibu menggoreng ikan dengan bawang di dalam kuali.
A simple school exercise.

To make it more casual in some varieties, someone might say:

Mak goreng ikan dengan bawang dalam kuali.
(dropping meng- in speech, using Mak instead of Ibu, dropping di before dalam), but the original sentence is clear, standard, and neutral.