Air masuk dari bumbung yang bocor sehingga lantai ruang tamu basah.

Water comes in from the leaking roof so that the living room floor is wet.

Breakdown of Air masuk dari bumbung yang bocor sehingga lantai ruang tamu basah.

• air: the water
• adalah: to be
• dari: from
• lantai: the floor
• masuk: to enter
• basah: wet
• ruang tamu: the living room
• yang: that/which
• sehingga: so that
• bumbung: the roof
• bocor: leaking

Questions & Answers about Air masuk dari bumbung yang bocor sehingga lantai ruang tamu basah.

In English air means the stuff we breathe. Why does air here mean water?

In Malay, air (pronounced roughly like ah‑yer) means water, not air.

• air (Malay) = water
• udara (Malay) = air (what we breathe)

So Air masuk... = Water came in..., not The air came in.... This is a very common false friend for English speakers.

Why isn’t there any word like the or a before air, bumbung, or lantai ruang tamu?

Malay normally doesn’t use articles like a/an or the. Nouns are “bare” by default, and context tells you whether it’s specific or general:

• air can mean water / the water / some water
• bumbung can mean a roof / the roof
• lantai ruang tamu can mean the living room floor / a living room floor

If you really need to be explicit, you add other words, for example:

• air itu – that/the water
• sebuah bumbung – one (classifier) roof
• lantai ruang tamu itu – that living room floor

But in this sentence, normal Malay just leaves them bare.

What is the function of yang in bumbung yang bocor?

yang introduces a relative clause (like that/which/who in English).

• bumbung – roof
• bocor – leaking
• bumbung yang bocor – the roof that is leaking / the leaky roof

Structure:

• [bumbung] [yang bocor]
  
  • bumbung = noun (roof)
  • yang bocor = clause describing the noun (that is leaking)

So yang is not “the”; it’s a linker that turns bocor into a description of bumbung.

Could I say bumbung bocor instead of bumbung yang bocor?

Yes, you can, but there is a nuance.

• bumbung yang bocor – “the roof that is leaking”, slightly more descriptive/explicit.
• bumbung bocor – “leaky roof” / “roof leaking”, a bit more compact and often used too.

In many everyday contexts, they are interchangeable:

• Air masuk dari bumbung bocor... – also acceptable and natural.

However, yang is very common when you are clearly making a relative clause:

• bumbung yang bocor itu sudah dibaiki – the roof that was leaking has been repaired.

Without yang here, it would sound more like simply “the leaky roof has been repaired”, which is still fine, but the relative-clause feeling is weaker.

Why is it dari bumbung and not daripada bumbung?

Both dari and daripada can mean from, but they’re used differently.

Very broadly:

• dari – from a place, time, or direction
• daripada – from a person, source, or comparison

Examples:

• Saya datang dari Kuala Lumpur. – I come from Kuala Lumpur.
• Hadiah ini daripada ibu saya. – This present is from my mother.

A roof is a physical location where the water is coming from, so dari bumbung is natural:

• Air masuk dari bumbung yang bocor... – Water came in from the leaking roof...

Daripada bumbung would sound odd here in standard Malay.

What exactly does masuk mean here? Is it necessary?

masuk means to enter / to go in / to come in.

• Air masuk dari bumbung... – literally: Water entered from the roof...

It emphasises the movement of water from outside to inside.

You could rephrase the sentence in other (still correct) ways, for example:

• Air menitis dari bumbung yang bocor... – Water dripped from the leaking roof...
• Air mengalir dari bumbung yang bocor... – Water flowed from the leaking roof...

But if you remove masuk and don’t replace it, the sentence becomes incomplete:

• ✗ Air dari bumbung yang bocor sehingga lantai ruang tamu basah. – feels like something is missing (no main verb for air).

So masuk is doing important work as the main verb of the clause about air.

What does sehingga mean in this sentence? Is it like so or until?

Here sehingga introduces a result, very similar to so that / to the point that / until (as a result) in English.

• Air masuk dari bumbung yang bocor sehingga lantai ruang tamu basah.
  = Water came in from the leaking roof, so that the living room floor became wet.

Common uses of sehingga:

1. Result / consequence (as in this sentence)

   • Dia bekerja sehingga letih. – He worked until he was tired / so much that he became tired.

2. Up to (a point in time/amount)

   • Kedai dibuka sehingga pukul 10 malam. – The shop is open until 10 p.m.

Roughly:

• sehingga (result) ≈ so that / to the point that
• sehingga (time/limit) ≈ until / up to

In this sentence, it’s clearly the first: a cause–effect link between water coming in and floor getting wet.

Why does the sentence end with basah without any verb like is or became?

In Malay, adjectives can function directly as predicates, without a separate verb like to be.

• Lantai ruang tamu basah.
  Literally: Living room floor wet.
  Natural English: The living room floor is wet.

So:

• basah – wet (adjective), but it also works as “is wet / became wet” depending on context.

Malay often omits “to be”:

• Dia marah. – He is angry.
• Kereta itu besar. – That car is big.
• Baju saya kotor. – My clothes are dirty.

In context with sehingga, we naturally interpret basah as a result state: the floor ended up wet.

How does lantai ruang tamu work? Why is there no word like of or in?

lantai ruang tamu is a noun–noun compound:

• lantai – floor
• ruang tamu – living room (literally “guest area/space”)
• lantai ruang tamu – the living room floor / the floor of the living room

Malay often uses Noun + Noun to show relationships like “X of Y”:

• pintu rumah – door of the house / house door
• tingkap bilik – room window / window of the room
• lantai ruang tamu – living room floor

You could also say:

• lantai di ruang tamu – the floor in the living room

This is also correct, just a slightly different structure (using the preposition di = in/at). The compound lantai ruang tamu is shorter and very natural.

How do we know this sentence is in the past? There’s no word like was or has.

Malay verbs generally do not change form for tense, and there’s often no tense marker like “did/was/has”. Time is understood from context or from time words.

• Air masuk dari bumbung... – can mean:
  • Water comes in from the roof... (present, if you’re describing a regular problem), or
  • Water came in from the roof... (past, if you’re telling a story about something that happened).

To make the past clearer, you can add words:

• tadi – earlier / just now
• semalam – yesterday
• sudah / telah – already / (past marker, more formal)

For example:

• Tadi, air masuk dari bumbung yang bocor... – Earlier, water came in from the leaking roof...
• Air telah masuk dari bumbung yang bocor... – Water has already come in from the leaking roof...

But it’s very normal in Malay to leave these out when context is obvious.

Could I change the word order to Air dari bumbung yang bocor masuk sehingga lantai ruang tamu basah?

Yes, that order is still grammatical and understandable:

• Air dari bumbung yang bocor masuk sehingga lantai ruang tamu basah.

However, the original order is more natural:

• Air masuk dari bumbung yang bocor...

Having the verb (masuk) right after the subject (air) is the default, neutral order: Subject – Verb – (other info).

When you say Air dari bumbung yang bocor masuk..., you’re inserting a long description (dari bumbung yang bocor) between the subject and the verb. It sounds a bit heavier, but still acceptable.

Does bocor mean “leaking” (an adjective) or “to leak” (a verb)?

bocor can be both:

1. Adjective – leaking, leaky

   • bumbung bocor – a leaky roof
   • paip bocor – a leaking pipe

2. Verb – to leak

   • Bumbung itu bocor. – The roof is leaking.
   • Paip di dapur bocor. – The pipe in the kitchen is leaking.

Malay often uses the same root word as both adjective and verb, with no change in form. Context tells you which function it has. In bumbung yang bocor, it’s basically “roof that is leaking”, so it has a “verb-y” feel inside the relative clause.

Is this sentence formal, informal, or neutral? Would it sound natural in everyday conversation?

The sentence is neutral and natural. It would sound fine in:

• everyday conversation
• storytelling
• informal writing
• even in fairly neutral formal writing (e.g. a report), though very formal documents might be more elaborate.

You might slightly tweak style in different contexts (e.g. add time markers or more detail), but the core sentence is good, idiomatic Malay.