Learn Hardcore Malay: Hari ini hujan begitu lebat sehingga halaman rumah kami hampir banjir. - Today the rain is so heavy that our house yard almost floods.

The key point is that begitu often signals that a result or consequence is coming next. That’s why it combines naturally with sehingga:

Hujan begitu lebat sehingga…
= The rain was so heavy that…

So begitu lebat is not just “very heavy”; it prepares you for a following clause showing what happened because it was that heavy.

What is the function of sehingga in this sentence? Can I replace it with sampai or hingga?

In this sentence, sehingga means “so … that …” and introduces the result of the heavy rain:

Hujan begitu lebat sehingga halaman rumah kami hampir banjir.
= The rain was so heavy that our yard almost flooded.

About alternatives:

sehingga – more standard, often used for result (“so … that …”).
sampai – very common in spoken Malay with a similar meaning to sehingga in this kind of sentence:
- Hujan lebat sampai halaman rumah kami hampir banjir. (colloquial but natural)
hingga – usually means until / up to and is more about limits in time/space, not typically used in this exact “so … that …” pattern.

So:

Formal/neutral: begitu lebat sehingga…
Spoken: lebat sampai… is also very common.

Why is it hampir banjir and not something like hampir terbanjir? Is banjir a verb here?

Yes, banjir in hampir banjir functions like a verb:

banjir can be a noun: a flood
banjir can also be a verb: to flood / be flooded

So:

halaman rumah kami hampir banjir
= our yard almost flooded / almost became flooded

You could also say:

hampir kebanjiran
- This has a similar meaning, more like “almost got flooded / almost experienced flooding.”

But hampir terbanjir is not standard; ter- is not added that way to banjir in normal usage.

Common patterns:

jalan itu banjir = that road is flooded
rumah kami kebanjiran = our house got flooded
sungai melimpah lalu kawasan itu banjir = the river overflowed and that area flooded

Why is there no word like “is/was” before hujan begitu lebat? Shouldn’t there be something like adalah?

Malay usually does not use a linking verb like “is/was” between a subject and an adjective or descriptive phrase.

Hujan begitu lebat.
Literally: “The rain so heavy.”
Meaning: “The rain is/was so heavy.”

Adalah is not used here. In everyday sentences describing a state, you normally just put subject + description:

Dia penat. = He/She is tired.
Baju itu mahal. = That shirt is expensive.
Rumah itu besar. = That house is big.

You mainly see adalah in more formal writing, especially before nouns, and even then it’s often optional:

Masalah utama adalah kekurangan air.
Masalah utama kekurangan air. (also OK)

But for hujan begitu lebat, adding adalah would sound wrong in normal Malay.

How does the phrase halaman rumah kami work grammatically? Why is it not halaman kami rumah?

The basic pattern for possession in Malay is:

[thing] + [owner]

Here:

halaman = yard
rumah = house
kami = we / us (our)

Step by step:

halaman rumah = the yard of the house
halaman rumah kami = the yard of our house

So rumah kami means our house, and halaman is then added in front, giving our house’s yard.

You don’t say halaman kami rumah; word order in Malay is:

head noun first (halaman)
then information that narrows it down (rumah kami = which house)

What is the difference between kami and kita here? Could I say halaman rumah kita instead?

Kami and kita both translate as we / us / our, but:

kami = we (not including you) – exclusive
kita = we (including you) – inclusive

In halaman rumah kami, the speaker is talking about our house, excluding the person being spoken to (e.g. talking to a friend about your family’s house).

If the listener is also part of that household, you would naturally say:

halaman rumah kita = the yard of our house (including you, the listener)

Using kami vs kita is important for politeness and clarity about whether the listener is part of the group.

Where does hari ini fit in the sentence structure, and can it be moved or omitted?

Hari ini means today and functions as a time expression. In Malay, time expressions are flexible in position.

Original:

Hari ini hujan begitu lebat sehingga halaman rumah kami hampir banjir.
= Today, the rain was so heavy that our yard almost flooded.

You can also say:

Hujan begitu lebat hari ini sehingga halaman rumah kami hampir banjir.
Hujan begitu lebat sehingga halaman rumah kami hampir banjir hari ini. (less common but possible in speech)

You may omit hari ini if the time is already clear from context:

Hujan begitu lebat sehingga halaman rumah kami hampir banjir.

Malay doesn’t need tense endings, so time is shown through words like hari ini, semalam (yesterday), tadi (earlier), etc., or just by context.

Is lebat used only for rain, or can it describe other things as well?

Lebat is most commonly seen with rain:

hujan lebat = heavy rain
lebat sungguh hujan hari ini = the rain is really heavy today

But lebat can also describe other things that are thick / dense / abundant:

rambut lebat = thick hair
daun yang lebat = dense foliage / lots of leaves
bulu mata lebat = thick eyelashes

So in this sentence, lebat is “heavy / intense” rain, but the adjective itself is broader than only weather.

Could I say hujan sangat lebat or hujan terlalu lebat instead of hujan begitu lebat? Would the meaning change?

You can, but the nuance changes:

hujan sangat lebat
- sangat = very
- Focuses on degree: “The rain is very heavy.”
- No built‑in idea of a consequence.
hujan terlalu lebat
- terlalu = too (excessively)
- Implies it’s too heavy, often with a negative feel: it’s more than desirable.
hujan begitu lebat
- begitu = so (to such an extent)
- Naturally leads to a result clause:
  - Hujan begitu lebat sehingga… = The rain was so heavy that…

So:

If you want to introduce a result with sehingga, begitu lebat is ideal.
sangat lebat and terlalu lebat are fine if you simply want to emphasize how strong the rain is, without necessarily linking to a specific consequence.

Is there a more colloquial / spoken version of this sentence that people might actually say?

In everyday spoken Malay (especially in Malaysia), people might simplify and use more casual forms:

Hari ni hujan lebat gila sampai laman rumah kami hampir banjir.
- hari ni = hari ini (today)
- gila = literally “crazy”, used colloquially like “really / insanely”
- sampai = used like sehingga in speech
- laman = variant of halaman (yard), very common in speech

A slightly less slangy but still colloquial version:

Hari ni hujan lebat sangat sampai halaman rumah kami hampir banjir.

Your original sentence is perfectly natural in standard Malay; the colloquial versions just sound more like casual conversation.