Learn Hardcore Malay: Kepala saya masih sakit sedikit, oleh itu saya minum air dan berehat sekejap. - My head still hurts a little, therefore I drink water and rest for a while.

Kepala saya – subject (my head)
masih sakit sedikit – predicate (still hurts a bit)
oleh itu – connector (therefore / so)
saya – subject again (I)
minum air dan berehat sekejap – predicate (drink water and rest for a while)

Malay typically uses Subject–Verb–Object (SVO), like English, but adjectives can come after nouns and there is no linking verb “to be” in the present tense.
So Kepala saya sakit literally is “Head my hurt”, but it means “My head hurts” or “My head is hurting.”

Why is there no word for “is” in Kepala saya masih sakit sedikit?

Malay normally omits “to be” (am, is, are) in the present tense before adjectives or nouns.

English: My head is still a bit painful.
Malay: Kepala saya masih sakit sedikit.
(literally: Head my still painful a little.)

The adjective sakit (“sick / in pain / hurting”) acts like both “is” + “sick” in English. You don’t say ✗ kepala saya adalah sakit in this context; that would sound unnatural.

Why kepala saya and not saya kepala? Which one is “my head”?

In Malay, possession is usually shown by [thing] + [possessor].

kepala saya = my head (literally “head I”)
rumah saya = my house
telefon dia = his/her phone

Putting the pronoun after the noun is the normal way:

kepala saya ✅
saya kepala ❌ (ungrammatical)

You can sometimes hear saya punya kepala (“my head”, literally “I own head”), but that’s more casual/colloquial and not needed here.

What does masih do in this sentence, and where should it go?

masih means “still” (continuing from before).

In Kepala saya masih sakit sedikit, it tells us the pain hasn’t gone away yet:

Kepala saya sakit. – My head hurts.
Kepala saya masih sakit. – My head still hurts.

Position: masih usually comes before the adjective or verb it modifies:

masih sakit – still hurting
masih bekerja – still working
masih belajar – still studying

You could say:

Kepala saya masih sakit sedikit. – My head still hurts a bit.
Kepala saya masih sakit lagi. – My head still hurts (emphasis on “still”).

But you would not split it oddly like ✗ sakit masih kepala saya.

What’s the difference between sakit sedikit and sedikit sakit?

Both are understandable, but they have slightly different feel:

sakit sedikit (more common here)
- Literally: “hurt a little”
- Focuses on the degree of pain = it hurts, but not much.
- Sounds very natural in this sentence.
sedikit sakit
- Literally: “a little painful / a bit sick”
- Grammatically fine, but slightly less common here.
- More likely with other adjectives: sedikit letih (“a bit tired”), sedikit panas (“a bit hot”).

In practice, Malay speakers will usually say sakit sedikit or sakit sikit in this context.

I often see sikit instead of sedikit. Are they the same?

Yes, sikit is basically the colloquial / informal form of sedikit.

sedikit – more standard/formal
sikit – more casual/spoken

So you could say:

Kepala saya masih sakit sedikit. (neutral/standard)
Kepala saya masih sakit sikit. (very natural in everyday speech)

Meaning is the same: “a bit / a little.”

What does oleh itu mean exactly, and how formal is it?

oleh itu means “therefore / thus / so”. It links the cause and result:

Kepala saya masih sakit sedikit, oleh itu saya minum air dan berehat sekejap.
→ My head still hurts a bit, so I drink water and rest for a while.

In terms of style:

oleh itu – more formal / written, polite speech
jadi, so – more casual / spoken equivalents
sebab itu, kerana itu – “because of that / for that reason”, also acceptable

In everyday conversation, many people would say:

Kepala saya masih sakit sikit, jadi saya minum air dan berehat sekejap.

Why do we repeat saya instead of just saying it once?

Malay can drop repeated subjects if the meaning is obvious, especially in casual speech. But repeating saya here is:

clear
polite
perfectly natural

So:

Kepala saya masih sakit sedikit, oleh itu saya minum air dan berehat sekejap. ✅

In casual speech, you might hear:

Kepala saya masih sakit sikit, jadi minum air dan berehat sekejap.

Here saya is dropped in the second clause because it’s understood that the same person (I) is doing the actions. For careful or more formal Malay, it’s safer to keep the second saya.

Does air just mean “water”, or can it mean any drink?

air literally means “water”, but in everyday use it can be a bit broader:

air – water (default meaning)
air masak / air kosong / air putih – plain drinking water
air teh – tea (literally “tea water”)
air kopi – coffee
air oren – orange drink / orange juice (context-dependent)

In saya minum air, most listeners will understand “I drink water” (plain water), unless there is a specific context pointing to a particular drink. In your sentence about a headache, air = plain water is the natural interpretation.

What does berehat mean, and why is there no word like “to” before it?

berehat means “to rest / to take a break / to have a rest.”

Malay does not use “to” before verbs the way English does:

English: I want to rest.
Malay: Saya mahu berehat. (literally: “I want rest.”)

In your sentence:

saya minum air dan berehat sekejap
= “I drink water and rest for a while.”

Both minum and berehat are base verb forms; there’s no separate infinitive marker like English to.

What does sekejap mean, and are there other words with a similar meaning?

sekejap means “for a short while / briefly / for a moment.”

In berehat sekejap, it tells us how long the resting is:

berehat sekejap – rest for a bit
berehat lama – rest for a long time

Similar words:

sebentar – for a while / briefly (slightly more formal/neutral)
seketika – for a moment / for a short time (a bit more formal/literary)

All of these could work:

berehat sekejap – very common, casual
berehat sebentar – neutral, quite common
berehat seketika – more formal/“nice” style

Meaning is very close in this context.

Is this sentence formal or informal? Could I say it to a doctor?

The sentence is polite and neutral, mainly because of saya and oleh itu:

saya – polite “I”
oleh itu – slightly formal connector (“therefore”)

You can say it to a doctor; it sounds fine. You might add a bit more detail in real life, but grammatically and register-wise, it’s acceptable.

More casual to a friend:

Kepala saya masih sakit sikit, jadi saya minum air dan berehat sekejap.

More formal written style:

Kepala saya masih sedikit sakit, oleh itu saya minum air dan berehat seketika.

How would I change this sentence to past tense, like “My head was still hurting a bit, so I drank water and rested for a while”?

Malay doesn’t change the verb form for tense. You add time words or particles for past:

Common ways:

Add a past time word like tadi (earlier), semalam (yesterday):
- Tadi kepala saya masih sakit sedikit, jadi saya minum air dan berehat sekejap.
  → Earlier my head was still a bit sore, so I drank water and rested a while.
Add sudah or telah before the verb (more formal/clear past):
- Kepala saya masih sakit sedikit, jadi saya sudah minum air dan berehat sekejap.
  → My head was still a bit painful, so I already drank water and rested for a while.

Context + these markers tell the listener it’s past, even though the verb forms minum and berehat don’t change.

Could I say Saya masih sakit kepala sedikit instead of Kepala saya masih sakit sedikit?

Yes, but there’s a slight difference in structure:

Kepala saya masih sakit sedikit.
→ literally “My head still hurts a bit.”
Focus: the part of the body (head).
Saya masih sakit kepala sedikit.
→ literally “I still have a bit of a headache.”
Focus: you, with a headache (using sakit kepala as a set phrase).

Both are natural and correct.

sakit kepala is a common collocation meaning “headache”.
kepala saya sakit is a more literal body-part description.

In many situations, they are interchangeable in meaning.