Learn Hardcore Malay: Ibu sedang membaca majalahnya di sofa sambil memerhati kami. - Mother is reading her magazine on the sofa while watching us.

With sedang: Ibu sedang membaca… ≈ Mother is (currently) reading…
Without sedang: Ibu membaca… can mean Mother reads / Mother is reading depending on context.

So you can leave it out and the sentence is still grammatical, but sedang makes it clear that the action is happening right now, at this moment.

Why isn’t there a word for “is” like in English “Mother is reading”?

Malay normally does not use a separate verb “to be” for present‑tense sentences like this.

English: Mother *is reading her magazine.*
Malay: Ibu sedang membaca majalahnya.
(literally: Mother in‑progress read her magazine)

The idea of “is” is carried by the verb form (membaca) and aspect markers like sedang, not by a standalone word like is.

What does the me- prefix in membaca mean? Why not just baca?

The base verb is baca (to read). Membaca is formed with the meN- prefix:

baca → mem‑baca (because b takes mem-)

In standard Malay:

meN- + verb root often forms a formal active verb.
membaca is the normal form in sentences: Ibu sedang membaca…

You can use baca by itself in casual speech or imperatives:

Baca buku itu. – Read that book.
But in a neutral narrative sentence, membaca is more standard.

What exactly does majalahnya mean? Is it “the magazine” or “her magazine”?

Majalah = magazine
-nya is a clitic that can mean:

His/her/its (possessive)
The (a specific, known item)
Sometimes adds a sense of “that particular”

In this sentence, majalahnya is most naturally understood as:

“her magazine” – the magazine that belongs to her / the one she usually reads.

You could also say majalah dia for her magazine, but:

majalahnya sounds more compact and slightly more formal/natural in writing.
majalah dia feels more colloquial/spoken.

Context decides whether -nya is “the” or “his/her”; here it’s clearly “her” because the subject is Ibu.

If majalahnya already shows possession, why isn’t it majalah ibu or majalah ibu saya?

You have a few options to show possession:

majalahnya – her magazine (her = Ibu, understood from context)
majalah dia – her magazine (colloquial)
majalah Ibu – Mother’s magazine (more explicit, also more formal/specific)
majalah ibu saya – my mother’s magazine (very explicit: “my mother”)

In a simple family context, majalahnya is enough. The listener already knows “her” refers to Ibu mentioned just before. Malay often avoids repeating the same noun if the reference is clear.

Why is it di sofa and not something like atas sofa? In English we say “on the sofa”.

Both can be possible, but there is a nuance:

di = “at / in / on” (a general location preposition)
atas = “on top of”

For many everyday locations, Malay uses di + place word, even when English uses “on”:

di sofa – on the sofa / at the sofa
di kerusi – on the chair
di katil – on the bed

Atas is used when you want to emphasize on top of something as a surface:

Buku itu di atas meja. – The book is on the table.

Here, di sofa is the usual, natural way to say on the sofa.

What does sambil mean, and how is it different from other words for “while”?

Sambil links two actions done by the same subject at the same time.

In the sentence:

Ibu sedang membaca… sambil memerhati kami.
= Mother is reading… while (also) watching us.

Key points about sambil:

The subject is the same for both verbs:
- Subject: Ibu
- Actions: membaca (reading) and memerhati (watching)
It usually implies the first action is the main one, and the second is secondary/parallel.

Compare with:

sementara – “while/whereas”, often with different subjects:
Ibu membaca majalah sementara kami bermain.
Mother reads the magazine while we play.

So sambil = “while (doing X at the same time as Y)”, same subject.

What is the nuance of memerhati? How is it different from melihat or tengok?

Base root: perhati (to pay attention / to observe).
Memerhati = to observe / to watch (carefully).

Rough comparison:

memerhati – to observe, to watch attentively, slightly more formal.
melihat – to see / to look (at), neutral/common written form.
tengok (or tonton for shows) – colloquial look / watch in speech.

In this sentence, memerhati kami suggests she’s not just glancing, but quietly watching/monitoring you while reading. You could also say:

…sambil melihat kami. – perfectly acceptable, a bit more neutral.
…sambil tengok kami. – more colloquial/spoken.

Why is it kami and not kita? Both seem to mean “we/us”.

Malay distinguishes between:

kami – we/us excluding the listener
kita – we/us including the listener

In this sentence:

memerhati kami = watching us (but not you, the person I’m speaking to).

If Mother were watching both the speaker and the listener, you could say:

memerhati kita – watching us (you and me together).

So kami is correct if the group being watched does not include the person being spoken to.

Does Ibu mean “my mother”, or just “a mother”? And why is it capitalised?

Ibu literally means mother, but usage depends on context:

As a common noun (a mother, any mother):
- Seorang ibu sedang membaca. – A mother is reading.
As a family term / name-like (Mom / Mother):
- In families, Ibu = Mum/Mom.
- You can say Ibu sedang membaca… to mean Mom is reading…
- It is often capitalised when used like a proper name (like Mom, Dad in English).

In this sentence, Ibu is best understood as “Mom / Mother”, likely the speaker’s own mother, functioning like a proper name.

There’s no plural marker on majalah or kami. How do I know if things are singular or plural?

Malay usually does not mark plural with an ending like English -s. Plurality is:

Understood from context, or
Indicated with numbers/quantifiers or reduplication.

Examples:

majalah = magazine / magazines (context decides)
To be explicit: dua majalah (two magazines), banyak majalah (many magazines), or majalah‑majalah (plural via reduplication, often more formal/written).
kami already means we/us (plural), so no extra marker is needed.

In your sentence, majalahnya is strongly read as one specific magazine she’s reading right now, but grammatically it could be plural in other contexts.

Can I change the word order, like putting di sofa earlier, or will that sound wrong?

Malay word order is generally Subject – Verb – Object – Other information, but there is some flexibility.

Your sentence:

Ibu sedang membaca majalahnya di sofa sambil memerhati kami.

Other natural possibilities include:

Ibu sedang membaca majalahnya sambil memerhati kami di sofa.
(now di sofa is linked more to memerhati kami)
Di sofa, Ibu sedang membaca majalahnya sambil memerhati kami.
(fronting the location for emphasis)

All are grammatically fine; moving di sofa slightly changes which part it seems most closely connected to or what you are emphasizing. The original order is neutral and very natural.