Breakdown of Kadang-kadang iklan di televisyen sangat membosankan.
Questions & Answers about Kadang-kadang iklan di televisyen sangat membosankan.
Kadang-kadang means sometimes / occasionally.
- The repetition is a common Malay pattern called reduplication, often used to express:
- repetition or frequency,
- a “non-absolute” sense (not always, not never).
So kadang-kadang literally feels like “at times”, “now and then”.
You cannot normally say kadang by itself in standard Malay with the meaning “sometimes”. You’ll hear sekali-sekala, kadangkala, or ada kalanya as alternatives, but kadang alone is not used in the same way.
Yes, in standard Malay spelling, most full-word reduplications are written with a hyphen:
- kadang-kadang (sometimes)
- buku-buku (books)
- orang-orang (people)
The hyphen marks that the word is reduplicated, not two separate words.
There are some fixed forms that look like single words, such as kadangkala, but that’s considered a different (though related) word, not just “kadang” + “kala” with a hyphen removed by the writer.
Iklan can mean “advertisement” or “advertisements” depending on context. Malay usually does not mark plural on the noun itself.
In this sentence:
- Kadang-kadang iklan di televisyen sangat membosankan.
→ “Sometimes TV ads are very boring” (plural sense from context).
If you really want to emphasise plural, you can use:
- iklan-iklan – reduplication to stress “ads (plural)”
- banyak iklan – “many ads”
But in everyday speech, just iklan is usually enough, and listeners understand singular or plural from context.
di is a preposition meaning “in / on / at” when used with locations.
- iklan di televisyen = ads on television
- di rumah = at home
- di sekolah = at school
If you say iklan televisyen, it tends to mean “television advertisements” (as a type/category), similar to “TV advertising” in English.
If you say iklan di televisyen, you’re picturing ads that appear on television.
You cannot just drop di if you want to say “on television” in the sense of location or medium.
In Malay:
- televisyen – standard Malay spelling (from British English “television”).
- TV / tivi – common in spoken and informal writing, very widely understood.
- televisi – more common in Indonesian; Malaysians will still understand it, but it’s not the usual Malay form.
In most modern contexts you’ll see:
- di televisyen – more formal/neutral.
- di TV – casual, very common in speech and informal writing.
Malay usually does not use a verb “to be” before adjectives.
So:
- Iklan di televisyen sangat membosankan.
Literally: “TV ads very boring.”
Meaning: “TV ads are very boring.”
In Malay, an adjective (like membosankan) can act as the predicate of the sentence without needing a separate “is/are” word.
You might see adalah in more formal writing, but it is used differently and not simply as a direct equivalent of “is/are” before adjectives in ordinary sentences like this.
- bosan = bored (a feeling/state)
- membosankan = boring (causing boredom)
Examples:
- Saya bosan. – I am bored.
- Filem itu membosankan. – That movie is boring.
- Filem itu membuat saya bosan. – That movie makes me bored.
In the original sentence:
- membosankan describes the ads as something that causes boredom, so it matches English “boring”, not “bored”.
The base word is bosan (bored).
membosankan is built like this:
- meN- prefix (here realised as mem-)
- bosan
- -kan suffix
So: meN- + bosan + -kan → membosankan
Functionally:
- The meN-…-kan pattern often means “to cause/make something be in that state”.
- So membosankan = “to cause boredom / to be boring”.
This pattern is very productive in Malay, e.g.:
- besar (big) → membesarkan (to enlarge, to raise a child)
- ramai (many people) → meramaikan (to make it crowded)
In this sentence, the word order is standard:
- sangat membosankan = very boring
In Malay, sangat usually comes before the adjective:
- sangat besar – very big
- sangat cantik – very beautiful
- sangat membosankan – very boring
You may also see terlalu membosankan (“too boring”), amat membosankan (very boring, slightly more formal), or begitu membosankan (“so boring”). But the position is the same: the intensifier comes before the adjective/verb.
Yes. Kadang-kadang (sometimes) is quite flexible in position. Common options:
Kadang-kadang iklan di televisyen sangat membosankan.
– “Sometimes, TV ads are very boring.” (adverb at the start)Iklan di televisyen kadang-kadang sangat membosankan.
– “TV ads are sometimes very boring.” (adverb in the middle)Iklan di televisyen sangat membosankan kadang-kadang.
– Possible, but less natural; might sound slightly marked or conversational for emphasis.
The first two are the most natural and common in standard speech and writing.
Kadang-kadang iklan di televisyen sangat membosankan. is neutral: fine in conversation, writing, and most situations.
In very casual spoken Malay, you might hear:
- Kadang-kadang iklan kat TV bosan gila.
- kat = colloquial form of di (at/in/on)
- TV = informal spelling
- bosan gila = “crazy boring / extremely boring” (slangy emphasis)
Your original sentence is good, natural standard Malay and safe everywhere.
You can add itu to point to specific ads, meaning “those (ones)”:
- Kadang-kadang iklan-iklan di televisyen itu sangat membosankan.
Breakdown:
- iklan-iklan – explicitly plural “ads” (optional)
- di televisyen itu – “those on television” / “those TV ads”
- kadang-kadang – sometimes
- sangat membosankan – very boring
You could also say:
- Kadang-kadang iklan di televisyen itu sangat membosankan.
Even without iklan-iklan, the plural idea is still clear from context.