Learn Hardcore Malay: Pakaian basah dijemur di halaman belakang rumah. - Wet clothes are hung out to dry in the backyard.

pakaian – clothes, clothing
basah – wet
dijemur – is/are hung out to dry (literally: jemur “to dry in the sun/air” with the passive prefix di-)
di – at / in / on (a preposition of location)
halaman – yard, compound, garden (the open area around a house)
belakang – back / behind
rumah – house

So the structure is roughly: clothes wet are-hung-to-dry at yard back (of) house.

Why is the adjective basah placed after pakaian, not before it?

In Malay, adjectives normally come after the noun:

pakaian basah – wet clothes
rumah besar – big house
kucing hitam – black cat

Putting basah before pakaian (✗ basah pakaian) would sound wrong or at least very unnatural for a simple noun phrase. So pakaian basah is the normal order.

What is dijemur exactly, and how is it different from jemur or menjemur?

The root verb is jemur, which means “to dry (something) in the sun/air, to hang out to dry.”

From that root you get:

menjemur – active voice: “to hang (something) out to dry”
- Ibu menjemur pakaian basah. – Mother hangs the wet clothes out to dry.
dijemur – passive voice: “is/are hung out to dry / being dried in the sun”
- Pakaian basah dijemur. – The wet clothes are hung out to dry.

So:

menjemur focuses on the doer (who is doing the drying),
dijemur focuses on the thing being dried (the wet clothes).

Is dijemur a passive verb? Where is the subject of the sentence?

Yes. dijemur is a passive form.

Pakaian basah is the grammatical subject (“wet clothes”).
The person doing the action (the agent) is not mentioned in this sentence.

If you want to mention the agent, you can add oleh (“by”):

Pakaian basah dijemur oleh ibu. – The wet clothes are hung out to dry by mother.
Pakaian basah dijemur oleh pembantu. – …by the maid.

In everyday speech, Malays often omit the agent when it’s obvious from context.

What is the difference between the prefix di- in dijemur and the word di before halaman?

They are two different things that just happen to look and sound the same:

di- (with a hyphen) as a prefix
- attaches to verbs: di
  - jemur → dijemur
- marks passive voice: “is/are [verb]-ed”
di as a preposition
- a separate word, written without a hyphen to the next word
- used for location: di halaman, di rumah, di sekolah
- means “at / in / on”

So:

dijemur – “is/are hung out to dry” (verb, passive)
di halaman belakang rumah – “in the backyard of the house” (prepositional phrase showing location)

How do I say this sentence in active voice instead of passive?

Active voice focuses on the doer of the action. For example:

Ibu menjemur pakaian basah di halaman belakang rumah.
– Mother hangs the wet clothes out to dry in the backyard.

Structure:

Ibu (mother) – subject / doer
menjemur – active verb (“hangs out to dry”)
pakaian basah – object
di halaman belakang rumah – location

Passive version:

Pakaian basah dijemur di halaman belakang rumah.
(No doer mentioned; focus on the clothes.)

Does pakaian mean “clothes” (plural) or “a piece of clothing” (singular)?

Malay doesn’t mark plural the same way English does, so pakaian can be:

clothes in general (often plural in meaning), or
clothing as an uncountable noun, or
in some contexts, an item/outfit of clothing.

In this sentence, pakaian basah is most naturally understood as “wet clothes” (plural in meaning), but nothing in the word itself explicitly marks singular or plural.

If you really wanted to emphasize plurality, you could say:

pakaian-pakaian basah – wet clothes (many pieces)

But in normal speech, pakaian basah is enough.

Why doesn’t the Malay sentence use words like “the” or “some”? How do we know if it’s “the wet clothes” or “wet clothes” in general?

Malay generally does not have articles like “a/an” or “the”.

pakaian basah can mean:
- the wet clothes
- wet clothes
- some wet clothes

The exact interpretation comes from context, not from a specific word like “the” or “some.” In an everyday situation (e.g. talking about laundry), Pakaian basah dijemur di halaman belakang rumah is most naturally understood as:

“The wet clothes are hung out to dry in the backyard.”

How is the phrase di halaman belakang rumah structured, and why is it in that order?

di halaman belakang rumah literally goes:

di – at/in
halaman – yard, compound
belakang – back
rumah – house

The basic noun is halaman (yard). The extra words narrow it down:

halaman rumah – the yard of the house
halaman belakang rumah – the back yard (literally: the yard at the back of the house)

In Malay, you typically go:

Main noun: halaman (yard)
Then modifiers: belakang rumah (behind the house)

So halaman belakang rumah = “the yard [that is at the] back of the house,” i.e. the backyard.

Can I just say di halaman belakang without rumah? Does it still mean “in the backyard”?

Yes, you can say:

Pakaian basah dijemur di halaman belakang.

This would usually be understood as “The wet clothes are hung out to dry in the backyard,” if it’s clear you are talking about a house.

Adding rumah makes it more explicit:

di halaman belakang rumah – in the backyard of the house

Without rumah, it’s slightly more general, but in many everyday contexts the meaning is effectively the same.

There is no tense marker in the sentence. How do I know if it means “are being hung,” “were hung,” or “will be hung”?

Malay usually doesn’t change the verb form for tense. dijemur stays the same for past, present, or future. The tense comes from time expressions or context.

Examples:

Semalam, pakaian basah dijemur di halaman belakang rumah.
– Yesterday, the wet clothes were hung out to dry in the backyard.
Sekarang, pakaian basah sedang dijemur di halaman belakang rumah.
– Right now, the wet clothes are being hung out to dry in the backyard.
Esok, pakaian basah akan dijemur di halaman belakang rumah.
– Tomorrow, the wet clothes will be hung out to dry in the backyard.

So the basic sentence Pakaian basah dijemur di halaman belakang rumah can be translated as:

“The wet clothes are hung out to dry in the backyard,”
or
“The wet clothes are being hung out to dry in the backyard,”

depending on context.

How can I say “are currently being hung out to dry” more explicitly?

To emphasize that the action is happening right now, Malays often use sedang before the verb:

Pakaian basah sedang dijemur di halaman belakang rumah.
– The wet clothes are currently being hung out to dry in the backyard.

sedang roughly corresponds to the English “am/is/are … -ing” progressive aspect.

Can I change the word order and say Di halaman belakang rumah, pakaian basah dijemur?

Yes. Putting the location first is very natural:

Di halaman belakang rumah, pakaian basah dijemur.
– In the backyard, the wet clothes are (being) hung out to dry.

This just emphasizes the location a bit more. The meaning is essentially the same. Malay word order is fairly flexible, especially with adverbials like time and place:

Pakaian basah dijemur di halaman belakang rumah.
Di halaman belakang rumah, pakaian basah dijemur.

Both are correct.

What exactly does jemur imply? Is it just “hang” or specifically “dry in the sun”?

jemur specifically carries the idea of:

putting something out in the sun/air so it can dry.

So dijemur is not just “hung” anywhere; it’s:

“hung out to dry,” usually outdoors or in a place with sun or good airflow.

If you just wanted “hung” (e.g. put on a hanger in a closet), you’d more likely use:

digantung – is/are hung (suspended)
- Baju digantung dalam almari. – The shirt is hung in the wardrobe.

In this sentence, dijemur tells us this is about drying wet clothes, typically outside in the yard.