Learn Hardcore Malay: Jiran saya datang ke halaman dan membantu saya menyapu air dengan penyapu lama. - My neighbor comes to the yard and helps me sweep the water with an old broom.

So the main pattern is S – V – (prepositional phrases / objects), which is a very normal, natural Malay word order. The clause after dan works the same way: (Subject understood) – Verb – Object – Instrument.

Why is it “jiran saya” and not “saya punya jiran” for “my neighbor”?

Both are possible, but they differ in style and frequency:

jiran saya
- Literally: neighbor my
- This is the most common and neutral way to express possession: noun + possessor pronoun.
- Works in almost any situation (spoken and written).
saya punya jiran
- Literally: I have neighbor / my have neighbor
- Colloquial and more informal. Sometimes it can mean “the neighbor I have” rather than just “my neighbor.”
- Common in casual speech, but less so in formal writing.

In this sentence, jiran saya is the most natural choice.

What does “halaman” mean here, and can it also mean “page” like in a book?

Here, halaman means yard / courtyard / compound (the outdoor area around a house).

Malay halaman is somewhat flexible:

Halaman rumah – yard / compound of a house
Halaman sekolah – school compound / school yard
In some contexts, halaman can also refer to a page (especially in Indonesia or in certain styles), but “muka surat” is more standard in Malaysia for “page.”

In your sentence, with datang ke halaman, the context clearly points to a yard / outdoor area, not a page.

Why is it “datang ke halaman” and not “datang di halaman”?

The prepositions ke and di have different roles:

ke = to, towards (movement / direction)
di = at, in, on (location / position)

datang ke halaman = came to the yard

Focus on movement from somewhere else towards the yard.

datang di halaman would sound odd, because datang already implies movement; pairing it with di (static location) clashes a bit.
If you want to describe being in the yard (without focus on movement), you’d say:

Dia berada di halaman. – He/She is in the yard.
Dia sedang berdiri di halaman. – He/She is standing in the yard.

So with datang, use ke to show direction.

Why is it just “datang ke halaman” and not “datang ke halaman rumah saya” (“came to my yard”)?

Malay often omits obvious details when the context makes them clear.

datang ke halaman – came to the yard
datang ke halaman rumah saya – came to my house’s yard

If it’s already clear that the scene is your home, halaman will be understood as your yard. Adding rumah saya is possible, but not necessary unless you need to contrast it (e.g., my yard vs someone else’s yard).

Why do we say “membantu saya menyapu air” and not something like “membantu saya untuk menyapu”?

Malay often links verbs directly without extra words like “to”:

membantu saya menyapu air
- Literally: helped me sweep the water
- membantu (to help) + saya (me) + menyapu (to sweep) + air (water)

This is a common verb chaining pattern:

Dia mengajar saya berenang. – He/She taught me to swim.
Mereka menyuruh saya datang awal. – They told me to come early.

You can say membantu saya untuk menyapu, but it’s usually more formal or heavier. In everyday Malay, membantu saya menyapu air is more natural and smooth.

Is it normal in Malay to say “menyapu air” (sweep water)? In English we’d usually say “mop” or “wipe”.

Yes, menyapu air is natural in Malay. It usually means:

Using a broom, rubber squeegee, or similar tool to push water away, often off the floor or out of the house.

Some related expressions:

menyapu lantai – sweep the floor (with a broom)
mengelap air – wipe water (with a cloth)
mengemop lantai – mop the floor

In your sentence, menyapu air suggests pushing/sweeping spilled or flood water with a broom, which is common in local contexts.

What does “dengan” do in “dengan penyapu lama”, and can I replace it with something else?

Here, dengan marks the instrument – the tool used to do the action:

dengan penyapu lama – with an old broom (using an old broom)

This “instrumental dengan” is very common:

menulis dengan pen – write with a pen
memotong dengan pisau – cut with a knife

You can also say:

…menyapu air menggunakan penyapu lama.

menggunakan = using (slightly more formal).
Both are correct, but dengan penyapu lama is shorter and very natural.

Why is it “penyapu lama” (old broom) and not “lama penyapu”?

In Malay, descriptive adjectives usually come after the noun:

penyapu (broom) + lama (old) → penyapu lama (old broom)
rumah besar – big house
kereta baru – new car
kawan baik – good friend

Putting the adjective before the noun (lama penyapu) is not grammatical in standard Malay.
So the correct pattern is noun + adjective: penyapu lama.

What’s the difference between “membantu” and “bantu”, and between “menyapu” and “sapu”?

The prefixes meN- (here mem-, meny-) create active transitive verbs, but the root forms can also be used as verbs in informal speech.

bantu (root) → membantu
- bantu saya – help me (informal, spoken)
- membantu saya – help me (more standard / neutral)
sapu (root) → menyapu
- sapu lantai – sweep the floor (informal, common in casual speech)
- menyapu lantai – sweep the floor (standard / neutral)

In careful or formal Malay, you usually see membantu, menyapu.
In casual conversation, many speakers drop the meN- and say bantu, sapu.

Why is there no past tense marker? How do we know this is in the past?

Malay does not have verb conjugation for tense like English.

The form datang (come), membantu (help), menyapu (sweep) can all be past, present or future, depending on context and extra words.

We know it’s past because:

The English translation you were given is past.
Context in a story/situation would normally make it clear.

If you want to mark past time explicitly, you can add time words:

tadi – just now / earlier
semalam – yesterday
sudah / telah – already (often used as past markers)

Examples:

Jiran saya tadi datang ke halaman… – My neighbor came to the yard just now…
Jiran saya telah/sudah datang ke halaman… – My neighbor has already come to the yard…

But it’s optional; the base verb form itself doesn’t change.

Why is “saya” repeated: “Jiran saya … membantu saya menyapu…”? Could we drop the second “saya”?

You could say either:

Jiran saya datang ke halaman dan membantu saya menyapu air…
Jiran saya datang ke halaman dan membantu menyapu air…

Both are possible.

In (1), saya makes it explicit that I am the one being helped.
In (2), saya is implied from context: the neighbor helped (me) sweep the water.

Malay often omits pronouns when they are obvious. Keeping saya here just makes it very clear and slightly more emphatic that you are the one being helped.

Could the subject “jiran saya” be omitted in the second clause after “dan”?

Yes, and that’s exactly what happens; the subject isn’t repeated:

Jiran saya datang ke halaman dan (dia) membantu saya menyapu air…

Malay commonly drops the repeated subject in coordinated clauses when it’s the same:

Dia masuk dan (dia) duduk. → Dia masuk dan duduk.
Mereka makan dan (mereka) berbual. → Mereka makan dan berbual.

So it’s understood that the same neighbor is the subject of both datang and membantu, even though jiran saya only appears before the dan.

Is “saya” the only option for “I / me” here, or could we use “aku”?

Both saya and aku mean “I / me”, but they differ in formality and relationship:

saya
- Polite, neutral, used with strangers, elders, formal situations.
- Very safe and widely acceptable.
aku
- More intimate / informal, used with close friends, siblings, or in some regional speech.
- Can sound rude or too casual in the wrong context.

In your sentence, saya is the most appropriate default.
With very close friends, you might hear:

Jiran aku datang ke halaman dan membantu aku menyapu air…

But that’s more casual, and the choice depends on who is speaking to whom.

Could we drop “ke” and just say “datang halaman”?

No. You can’t say datang halaman in standard Malay; you need a preposition.

datang ke halaman – correct (came to the yard)
datang di halaman – sounds wrong with datang, because di marks location, not movement.
datang halaman – ungrammatical in standard Malay.

With verbs of movement like pergi (go), datang (come), masuk (enter), Malay normally needs ke or another suitable preposition:

pergi ke sekolah – go to school
datang ke rumah saya – come to my house
masuk ke bilik – go/come into the room

So ke halaman is required here.