Learn Hardcore Malay: Langit malam di desa itu begitu hitam sehingga bintang kelihatan sangat jelas. - The night sky in that village is so black that the stars look very clear.

Langit malam di desa itu... = The night sky in that village...
Langit malam desa itu... (without di) would sound like that village’s night sky, which is also possible but slightly different in feel and less neutral than using di.

Why is there no word like is/was (a verb “to be”) before begitu hitam?

Malay usually drops the verb “to be” (is/was/are) when linking a noun to an adjective:

langit itu hitam = that sky (is) black
air ini sejuk = this water (is) cold
dia marah = he/she (is) angry

So in:

Langit malam di desa itu begitu hitam...

there is no separate word for is/was. The meaning “was so black” (or is so black) is understood from context and the adjective phrase begitu hitam.

Does this sentence mean “is so black” or “was so black”? How do you see tense in Malay?

On its own, the sentence is tense-neutral. It could mean:

The night sky in that village is so black...
The night sky in that village was so black...

Malay does not normally mark tense with verb endings. Time is shown by:

Time words: semalam (last night), tadi (earlier), esok (tomorrow)
Context (you already know they’re talking about the past, present, etc.)

If you want to make the past clearer, you can add a time word, e.g.:

Semalam, langit malam di desa itu begitu hitam...
Last night, the night sky in that village was so black...

What exactly does begitu mean here, and how does begitu ... sehingga ... work?

Begitu literally means so / like that, and in this pattern it means “so (adjective)”:

begitu hitam = so black
begitu besar = so big
begitu cantik = so beautiful

The combination begitu ... sehingga ... expresses “so ... that ...”:

begitu hitam sehingga... = so black that...
begitu bising sehingga saya tak boleh tidur
= so noisy that I can’t sleep

So the structure is:

begitu + ADJECTIVE + sehingga + result clause
so + ADJECTIVE + that + result

What does sehingga mean, and can I replace it with something like jadi or kerana?

In this sentence, sehingga means “to the point that / so that / such that”. It introduces the result of the situation described before it.

Langit... begitu hitam sehingga bintang kelihatan sangat jelas.
The sky was so black that the stars were very clear.

Substitutions:

jadi = so / therefore (more like a logical conclusion)
- Langit... sangat hitam, jadi bintang kelihatan jelas.
  The sky was very black, so the stars were clear. (cause–effect, but weaker “so ... that ...” feeling)
kerana = because (introduces a cause, opposite direction)
- Bintang kelihatan sangat jelas kerana langit sangat hitam.
  The stars were very clear because the sky was very black.

So sehingga is best when you want the specific pattern “so (adj) that (result)”.

What does kelihatan mean, and how is it different from lihat, nampak, or terlihat?

Kelihatan means “to be visible / to appear”, from the root lihat (to see).

lihat = to see (active: someone sees something)
kelihatan = to be seen / to be visible (the thing is what appears)
nampak = to see / to be visible (more informal, flexible)
terlihat = to be seen / to be visible (often similar to kelihatan)

In the sentence:

bintang kelihatan sangat jelas
= the stars are very clearly visible / the stars appear very clearly

You are describing how the stars appear, not the act of someone seeing them. That’s why kelihatan is used, not lihat.

Why is bintang (star) singular in Malay, but in English we say stars?

Malay does not always mark plural nouns with a special form. Bintang can mean:

a star / the star / stars / the stars, depending on context.

Ways Malay can show plural more clearly:

Reduplication: bintang-bintang = stars (often emphasises “many / various”)
Using a number or word like banyak (many):
- banyak bintang = many stars
- tiga bintang = three stars

In bintang kelihatan sangat jelas, the context (night sky) makes it obvious we mean stars, so plain bintang is natural.

Why do adjectives like hitam and jelas come after what they describe, not before like in English?

Basic rule: in Malay, adjectives usually come after nouns:

langit hitam = black sky
bintang jelas = clear stars
orang tinggi = tall person

In the sentence, you see adjective phrases:

begitu hitam = so black
sangat jelas = very clear

So you could also have:

langit yang begitu hitam = the sky that is so black
bintang yang sangat jelas = the stars that are very clear

The general pattern is:

noun + (adverb +) adjective
e.g. langit sangat gelap, bintang sangat terang

What is the difference between begitu and sangat here? Both seem to mean “very”.

Both can intensify adjectives, but they’re used slightly differently:

sangat = very (simple intensifier)
- sangat hitam = very black
- sangat jelas = very clear
begitu = so / that ~ (often implies a result or comparison)
- begitu hitam = so black (as in: to such an extent)

In this sentence, the pattern is:

begitu hitam sehingga... = so black that... (sets up a result)
sangat jelas = very clear (just intensifying jelas)

You normally use begitu when you want the “so ... that ...” structure, and sangat when you just want “very”.

Could I say Langit malam di desa itu sangat hitam sehingga... instead of begitu hitam?

You can, and it would be understood:

Langit malam di desa itu sangat hitam sehingga bintang kelihatan sangat jelas.

This still means something like:

The night sky in that village was very black so that the stars were very clear.

However, begitu hitam sehingga... feels more idiomatic for the “so ... that ...” pattern. Sangat hitam sehingga... is possible but sounds a bit more like “very black, to the point that...”, slightly less natural than begitu in many contexts.

Is desa the usual word for “village”? I often see kampung instead.

Both desa and kampung can mean village, but there are nuances and regional preferences:

desa
- More formal / standard
- Used in writing, administration, official terms
- Neutral: rural area / village
kampung
- Very common in everyday speech
- Can carry cultural or emotional associations: hometown, home village, rural home
- Also used in compound phrases, e.g. masakan kampung (village-style food)

In this sentence, desa gives a slightly more neutral or descriptive feel.
You could say:

Langit malam di kampung itu...

and it would sound a bit more colloquial and homely.