Learn Hardcore Malay: Pagi ini, saya melawat zoo bersama keluarga saya. - This morning, I visit the zoo with my family.

Both are correct. Putting Pagi ini at the start is slightly more formal/written and emphasizes when the action happened. Putting it at the end feels a bit more casual and neutral in speech.

The comma after Pagi ini is mainly a writing convention; in speech, it’s just a short pause.

What exactly does ini add in Pagi ini? How is pagi ini different from just pagi?

pagi = morning (in general)
pagi ini = this morning (today’s morning, and usually already past)
pagi tadi = earlier this morning (emphasizes that it is already over)

In your sentence, Pagi ini points to this morning (earlier today) and matches the English past tense visited.

If you said only pagi, like:

Pagi, saya melawat zoo...

it would sound incomplete or generic, more like in the morning, I visit the zoo... (habitually), and you’d usually need another word to fix the time, such as setiap pagi (every morning).

Why isn’t there a past tense word like “did” or “visited”? How do we know it’s in the past?

Malay normally does not change the verb form for tense. The verb melawat stays the same for past, present, and future.

Time is understood from:

Time words: pagi ini, semalam (yesterday), esok (tomorrow), etc.
Context.

Your sentence:

Pagi ini, saya melawat zoo...

is understood as past because pagi ini is already over at the time of speaking.

If you really want to emphasize past, you can add tadi or telah, but it’s not necessary:

Pagi tadi, saya melawat zoo... (earlier this morning)
Pagi ini, saya telah melawat zoo... (more formal, “I have visited the zoo this morning”)

What does melawat mean exactly? Is it always “to visit”?

melawat means to visit, usually in the sense of:

visiting a place (zoo, museum, city), or
visiting a person (often with a polite or slightly formal feel).

Examples:

Kami melawat muzium. – We visited the museum.
Kami melawat nenek di hospital. – We visited grandma in the hospital.

You could also say:

Saya pergi ke zoo pagi ini. – I went to the zoo this morning.

pergi ke (go to) is more neutral and everyday; melawat can sound slightly more formal or deliberate, like an outing or visit.

Do I need ke before zoo? Why is it melawat zoo, not melawat ke zoo?

With melawat, you do not use ke before the object:

✅ melawat zoo – correct
❌ melawat ke zoo – sounds wrong/unnatural in standard Malay

This is because melawat is a transitive verb that directly takes its object:

melawat zoo – visit the zoo
melawat kawan – visit a friend
melawat hospital – visit the hospital

You use ke with verbs like pergi:

pergi ke zoo – go to the zoo
pergi ke hospital – go to the hospital

Why is the word zoo just “zoo”? Should there be an article like “the”?

Malay doesn’t have a direct equivalent of English a / an / the.

So:

saya melawat zoo can mean:
- I visited the zoo
- I visited a zoo

The context decides whether it’s a specific zoo everyone already knows about, or just some zoo.

Also, zoo is just borrowed from English and used as is. You might see zo in older spelling or in some contexts, but zoo is the common modern form.

What does bersama mean, and how is it different from dengan?

Both bersama and dengan can mean with, but there are nuances:

bersama
- literally: together (with)
- often slightly more formal or emphasizes togetherness.
dengan
- very general word for with, using, by, etc.
- most common everyday choice.

In your sentence:

...bersama keluarga saya. – with / together with my family.

You could also say:

...dengan keluarga saya.

Both are correct. bersama can sound a touch more like “together with” and is a bit more formal/written.

Why is saya repeated at the end (keluarga saya)? Can I just say bersama keluarga?

keluarga = family
keluarga saya = my family

So:

bersama keluarga saya – with my family
bersama keluarga – with (the) family (more general, not clearly “my”)

In conversation, if it’s already clear we’re talking about your own family, Malaysians might drop saya and just say:

Pagi ini saya melawat zoo dengan keluarga.

This is understood as “with (my) family” from context, but keluarga saya is clearer and good for learners.

Does keluarga need a plural marker to show it’s “my family members”?

No. Malay usually doesn’t mark plural with an -s like English. keluarga can mean:

one family (as a unit), or
all the family members together.

So keluarga saya already includes the idea of multiple people (parents, siblings, etc.). You don’t need to add anything to show it’s plural.

If you really want to emphasize the whole family, you might see:

kami sekeluarga melawat zoo. – we, the whole family, visited the zoo.

Is the comma after Pagi ini necessary?

In writing, it’s common (and recommended) to put a comma after a fronted time phrase:

Pagi ini, saya melawat zoo...

It marks a natural pause. However, it’s not a hard grammatical requirement, and in informal writing you’ll sometimes see:

Pagi ini saya melawat zoo...

Both are understood the same in speech; the comma just helps readability.

Can I use aku instead of saya here? What’s the difference?

Both mean I / me, but differ in formality:

saya
- polite, neutral, used with strangers, in formal settings, in writing.
aku
- informal, used with close friends, family, people of the same age, or in songs/poetry.

So these are both grammatically correct:

Pagi ini, saya melawat zoo bersama keluarga saya. (neutral/polite)
Pagi ni, aku melawat zoo dengan family aku. (very casual, with slang)

As a learner, saya is the safest default.

Is there any difference between pagi ini and pagi tadi in this kind of sentence?

Yes, a small nuance:

pagi ini – this morning (from the perspective of “today” as a whole).
Often used if the morning is still part of the same overall day in your mind.
pagi tadi – earlier this morning.
Emphasizes that the event is already over, further back in time.

Both are fine in your sentence:

Pagi ini, saya melawat zoo...
Pagi tadi, saya melawat zoo...

In casual speech, pagi tadi is very common when you’re clearly talking about a past event earlier the same day.

Would it be natural to say Saya pergi melawat zoo or is that redundant?

You can say:

Pagi ini, saya pergi melawat zoo bersama keluarga saya.

It’s understandable, but it’s somewhat redundant, like saying “I went to visit the zoo.” In Malay, you usually pick one main verb:

saya melawat zoo – I visited the zoo.
saya pergi ke zoo – I went to the zoo.

Both are natural. For simple sentences, choosing just one is usually better.