Learn Hardcore Malay: Anak lelaki saya bosan menunggu, oleh itu dia teruskan membaca komik di bilik tidur. - My son is bored of waiting, therefore he continues reading a comic in the bedroom.

anak lelaki – son (your own male child).
- anak lelaki saya = my son
anak – child or son/daughter depending on context.
- anak saya can mean my child, my son, or my daughter.
budak lelaki – boy (a male child, not necessarily your own).
- budak lelaki itu = that boy
putera – a more formal / literary word, often used for prince or son (in very formal contexts).
- putera raja = prince

In everyday speech, anak lelaki (for “son”) and budak lelaki (for “boy”) are the most common.

Why is there no word for “is” in Anak lelaki saya bosan menunggu?

Malay usually doesn’t use a separate verb for “to be” in simple descriptive sentences.

Anak lelaki saya bosan menunggu
Literally: My son bored waiting
Meaning: My son is bored of waiting / bored while waiting.

The adjective bosan (“bored”) acts like “is bored” in English.
You don’t need adalah or ialah here. Those are used mainly:

for equating nouns (very formal):
- Dia ialah doktor. = He/She is a doctor.
in very formal written Malay for emphasis.

For normal spoken Malay with adjectives, you just say:

Saya lapar. = I am hungry.
Mereka penat. = They are tired.

What exactly does bosan mean? Is it the same as bored?

Bosan corresponds closely to English “bored”, but can also be like “fed up” in some contexts.

In your sentence:

Anak lelaki saya bosan menunggu
= My son is bored of waiting / bored while waiting.

Common uses:

Saya bosan. = I’m bored.
Saya bosan dengan kerja ini. = I’m fed up / bored with this job.

There is also jemu, which can mean “sick of / tired of (something repeated)”, and muak (fed up to the point of disgust, especially with food), but bosan is the most general everyday choice for “bored”.

What’s the difference between menunggu and tunggu?

Both come from the root tunggu (wait), but they’re used in different ways:

menunggu – “to wait” as a full verb in a sentence.
- Saya menunggu bas. = I’m waiting for the bus.
tunggu – the bare root; often used as:
- an imperative: Tunggu! = Wait!
- part of certain fixed phrases
- after certain auxiliaries (in colloquial Malay):
  - Nak tunggu siapa? = Who do you want to wait for?

In your sentence, menunggu is correct because it functions as a verb phrase:

bosan menunggu = bored (of) waiting

What does oleh itu mean, and how formal is it? Can I use jadi instead?

Oleh itu is a conjunction meaning roughly “therefore / thus / so”.

..., oleh itu dia teruskan membaca komik ...
= ..., therefore he continued reading comics ...

Formality:

oleh itu – more formal / written; common in essays, reports, news.
jadi – more informal / spoken, like “so”.
sebab itu / oleh sebab itu – “because of that / that’s why”, also fairly common.

In conversation, many people would say:

Anak lelaki saya bosan menunggu, jadi dia terus membaca komik di bilik tidur.

Why is dia used for “he”? Isn’t there a separate word for “she”?

Malay does not distinguish gender in third-person singular pronouns:

dia = he / she
mereka = they

So dia in your sentence can mean he or she; context tells you it’s the son.

Some notes:

For emphasis or clarity, people sometimes add a noun:
- dia lelaki itu (that man, he…) – but this is not very common.
For inanimate things, dia can be used in informal speech, but many speakers prefer ia or just omit the pronoun.

In your sentence, dia clearly refers back to anak lelaki saya.

Is dia teruskan membaca komik grammatically correct? What about dia terus membaca komik?

This is a subtle but important point.

terus (without -kan) = continue / keep (on) / go on (often intransitive or as an adverb).
teruskan (with -kan) = to continue something (transitive, needs an object).

More natural options:

Dia terus membaca komik di bilik tidur.
- Very common and natural.
- Literally: He continued reading comics in the bedroom.
- Here terus works like “kept (on)”.
Dia meneruskan membaca komik di bilik tidur.
- Also correct; a bit more formal.
- meneruskan is clearly a transitive verb “to continue (something)”.

Dia teruskan membaca komik is heard in colloquial speech, but strictly speaking, teruskan should take a clearer object, e.g.:

Dia teruskan komik itu. = He continued that comic.
Dia teruskan pembacaan komik itu. = He continued the reading of that comic. (very formal)

For learners, it’s safer and more standard to use:

dia terus membaca komik
or
dia meneruskan pembacaan komik (formal).

Why is membaca used instead of just baca?

Baca is the root verb “read”.
membaca is the meN- verb form, which is usually used as the main verb in standard sentences.

In standard Malay:

Saya membaca buku. = I read/am reading a book.
Dia suka membaca. = He/She likes reading.

Baca (without mem-) is more common in:

Imperatives: Baca ini. = Read this.
Informal speech after certain auxiliaries:
- Nak baca apa? = What do you want to read?

In your sentence, membaca is the correct standard form:

dia teruskan membaca komik = he continues reading comics.

Why is it di bilik tidur and not di dalam bilik tidur?

Both are possible:

di bilik tidur – in the bedroom / at the bedroom
di dalam bilik tidur – literally inside the bedroom

Dalam means “inside”. In everyday speech, di + place is often enough:

di rumah = at home / in the house
di sekolah = at school

Adding dalam can give a bit more emphasis on “inside”, but in this context there’s no real difference in meaning. So:

... membaca komik di bilik tidur.
and
... membaca komik di dalam bilik tidur.

are both acceptable; the shorter one is more common.

How would I say “in his bedroom” instead of just “in the bedroom”?

Malay often relies on context, so di bilik tidur will usually be understood as in his bedroom if you were already talking about him.

If you want to make the possession explicit, you can say:

di bilik tidurnya – in his/her bedroom
- -nya = his / her / its (neutral)

Or, more informally:

di bilik tidur dia – in his/her bedroom

So you could write:

Anak lelaki saya bosan menunggu, oleh itu dia terus membaca komik di bilik tidurnya.
= My son is bored of waiting, so he continues reading comics in his bedroom.

Could I omit dia in the second part and just say ..., oleh itu terus membaca komik di bilik tidur?

If you omit dia, the sentence becomes incomplete or sounds like an instruction/command, not a description.

..., oleh itu dia terus membaca komik di bilik tidur.
= ..., so he continued reading comics in the bedroom. (description)
..., oleh itu terus membaca komik di bilik tidur.
Sounds like: “..., therefore (you/one should) continue reading comics in the bedroom.”
– more like an imperative / instruction, because there’s no clear subject.

Malay does sometimes drop pronouns when the subject is very clear from context, but in written/learner Malay, it’s safer and clearer to keep dia here.