Learn Hardcore Malay: Periuk besar itu begitu kotor sehingga saya perlu tambah lebih banyak sabun. - That big pot is so dirty that I need to add more soap.

Literally: “That big pot so dirty until I need add more many soap.”
Natural English: “That big pot was so dirty that I needed to add more soap.”

Why is there no word for “is/was” in this Malay sentence?

Malay usually does not use a separate verb for “to be” (is/was/am) before adjectives or nouns in simple statements.

Periuk besar itu begitu kotor
literally: “That big pot so dirty”
understood as: “That big pot is/was so dirty.”

You only add a “to be” verb (ialah, adalah) in specific cases, often in more formal writing or when linking two nouns/long phrases, e.g.:

Masalah utama ialah kekurangan masa.
“The main problem is lack of time.”

With adjectives like kotor, you just put the adjective after the noun phrase; no “is/was” needed.

How does periuk besar itu work? Why is the order “pot big that” and not like English?

In Malay, the normal order inside a noun phrase is:

Noun
Adjective(s)
Demonstrative (ini = this, itu = that)

So:

periuk – pot
periuk besar – big pot
periuk besar itu – that big pot

Compare:

periuk itu besar – That pot is big. (full sentence: noun + demonstrative, then adjective as predicate)
periuk besar itu – that big pot (a single noun phrase, not a full sentence)

So periuk besar itu = “that big pot”, with “big” after “pot” and “that” at the very end.

What exactly does begitu mean here, and why is it used with sehingga?

Begitu literally means “so / like that / to such an extent.”
In this structure, begitu … sehingga … works like English “so … that …”:

Periuk besar itu begitu kotor – That big pot was so dirty
sehingga saya perlu tambah lebih banyak sabun – that I needed to add more soap.

Together:

begitu kotor sehingga … – so dirty that …

You could also say:

Periuk besar itu sangat kotor, jadi saya perlu tambah lebih banyak sabun.
“That big pot was very dirty, so I needed to add more soap.”

Here sangat = “very” and jadi = “so / therefore”, but you lose the specific “so X that Y” structure.

Does sehingga mean “until” or “so that”? How is it being used here?

Sehingga has two common uses:

Temporal “until/up to”
- Dia bekerja sehingga tengah malam.
  “He worked until midnight.”
Result “so that / to the point that”
- Dia terlalu penat sehingga tertidur di meja.
  “He was so tired that he fell asleep at the table.”

In your sentence, it’s the second use:

begitu kotor sehingga saya perlu tambah lebih banyak sabun
“so dirty that I needed to add more soap.”

You could often replace this sehingga with sampai in spoken Malay:

… begitu kotor sampai saya perlu tambah lebih banyak sabun.
(more colloquial)

Why is it tambah and not menambah here? Is one more correct?

Both tambah and menambah are correct; the difference is mainly style and formality.

tambah – base verb “add”
menambah – the same verb with the meN- prefix, often a bit more formal or “complete.”

In everyday speech and much writing, Malays frequently use the base form:

saya perlu tambah sabun – I need to add soap.
saya mahu beli roti – I want to buy bread. (instead of membeli)

Using menambah here would sound slightly more formal:

… sehingga saya perlu menambah lebih banyak sabun.

So tambah in this sentence is natural and correct.

Why do we say lebih banyak sabun instead of just lebih sabun?

Lebih banyak sabun literally = “more much soap”, but idiomatically it’s just “more soap.”

lebih – more
banyak – many / much
sabun – soap

Reasons for using both lebih and banyak:

Lebih by itself usually compares amounts of something, but it’s uncommon to say lebih sabun alone; it sounds incomplete or unnatural.
Banyak expresses quantity (“a lot”), and lebih banyak strengthens it to “a greater quantity / more (than before).”

Other natural options:

tambah sabun lagi – add soap again / add more soap
tambah sabun lebih banyak – also acceptable, just different word order.

But lebih banyak sabun is the most straightforward and standard way to say “more soap.”

Is it necessary to say both lebih and banyak, or could I just say lebih banyak without sabun?

In this sentence you need the noun sabun:

lebih banyak by itself = “more (of them/it)” but doesn’t say more of what.
lebih banyak sabun = “more soap” (complete).

You can drop sabun only if it’s very clear from the previous context:

Mula-mula saya letak sabun.
First I put in some soap.
Kemudian saya tambah lebih banyak.
Then I added more.

But in the stand‑alone sentence you’re analysing, you keep sabun.

Can I leave out saya? Would … sehingga perlu tambah lebih banyak sabun still be correct?

Yes, you can omit saya if the context makes it clear who is acting:

Periuk besar itu begitu kotor sehingga perlu tambah lebih banyak sabun.

This is understandable and common in informal speech, meaning roughly:

“That big pot was so dirty that (I/you/we/people) needed to add more soap.”

However:

With saya, the subject is explicit: “I needed to add…”
Without it, the sentence becomes more general or ambiguous.

In careful or formal writing, it’s usually better to keep saya if you specifically mean “I.”

What is the difference between saya and aku here? Could I say aku instead?

You could say:

… sehingga aku perlu tambah lebih banyak sabun.

Grammatically it’s fine, but saya and aku differ in politeness and context:

saya
- Polite, neutral.
- Used in formal situations, with strangers, at work, or whenever you want to sound respectful.
aku
- Informal, intimate.
- Used with close friends, family, or in casual speech; can sound rude if used with the wrong person.

So saya is the safer, more generally appropriate choice unless you know the relationship and tone are very casual.

How do we know if this sentence is past, present, or future in Malay?

Malay verbs usually do not change form for tense. There’s no change like “need / needed” or “add / added.”

saya perlu tambah
can mean:
- I need to add
- I needed to add
- I will need to add
  depending on context and time expressions.

To make the time clearer, Malay uses time words:

tadi – earlier / just now
semalam – last night
sekarang – now
nanti – later

Examples:

Tadi, periuk besar itu begitu kotor sehingga saya perlu tambah lebih banyak sabun.
“Earlier, that big pot was so dirty that I needed to add more soap.”
Kalau periuk besar itu begitu kotor, saya perlu tambah lebih banyak sabun.
“If that big pot is that dirty, I need to add more soap.”

So tense is understood from context, not from verb changes.

Is the sentence formal, informal, or neutral? Would people actually say it like this?

The sentence is neutral and natural. It’s fine in everyday conversation and in most types of writing.

You might hear slightly more colloquial versions, for example:

Periuk besar tu kotor gila, sampai saya kena tambah lagi sabun.
(very casual; with slang and tu instead of itu)

Or a bit more formal:

Periuk besar itu begitu kotor sehingga saya perlu menambah lebih banyak sabun.

But your original sentence is standard, clear, and something people would definitely say or write.

Do I need a classifier like sebuah before periuk here?

No classifier is required here. Periuk besar itu is perfectly natural.

sebuah periuk besar – a big pot
sebuah periuk besar itu – “that one big pot” (rare, sounds a bit heavy or overly specific unless you need to emphasise one single pot)

Usually you’d say:

Periuk besar itu – that big pot
Sebuah periuk besar – a big pot (introducing it, not pointing to it)

Because you already have itu (that), and you’re talking about a specific known pot, adding sebuah isn’t necessary.