Minggu depan, saya akan melawat zoo bersama keluarga saya.

Next week, I will visit the zoo with my family.

Breakdown of Minggu depan, saya akan melawat zoo bersama keluarga saya.

• saya: I
• bersama: with
• keluarga: the family
• akan: will
• saya: my
• melawat: to visit
• zoo: the zoo
• minggu depan: next week

Questions & Answers about Minggu depan, saya akan melawat zoo bersama keluarga saya.

Why does the sentence start with Minggu depan and then a comma? Can I put Minggu depan at the end instead?

Starting with Minggu depan (next week) emphasizes when the action happens. This is very natural in Malay and quite common:

• Minggu depan, saya akan melawat zoo bersama keluarga saya.
  Next week, I will visit the zoo with my family.

You can move it to the end:

• Saya akan melawat zoo bersama keluarga saya minggu depan.

Both are correct and mean the same thing. Putting Minggu depan at the front is just a stylistic choice to highlight the time.

What does akan mean, and do I always need it for the future tense?

Akan is a marker for future time, similar to “will” in English.

• Saya akan melawat zoo.
  I will visit the zoo.

However, Malay often omits akan if the time is already clear from context:

• Minggu depan saya melawat zoo.
  Still understood as I will visit the zoo next week.

So:

• With akan = slightly more explicit or formal.
• Without akan = still correct, especially in casual speech, as long as the time (e.g. minggu depan) makes the future meaning clear.

What is the function of melawat here, and is it different from just lawat?

Melawat is the verb meaning to visit. It is built from the root lawat plus the prefix meN-, which forms an active verb:

• lawat → base/root form (you will see it in dictionaries, compounds, or short informal use)
• melawat → proper active verb form: to visit

In normal standard sentences, you use melawat:

• Saya akan melawat zoo.
  I will visit the zoo.

In casual speech or text messages, some speakers may shorten it to lawat, but melawat is the standard and safer choice for learners.

Could I use a different verb instead of melawat, like mengunjungi or ziarah? Do they mean the same thing?

They are similar but not always interchangeable:

• melawat – to visit, general and very common; good for places like zoos, friends, hospitals, etc.
• mengunjungi – also to visit, a bit more formal or literary; common in written language and news.
• ziarah – to visit with a respectful/ritual nuance, often used for visiting graves, elders, or in religious contexts.

For a zoo, the most natural choices are:

• melawat zoo
• mengunjungi zoo (more formal)

Ziarah zoo would sound odd in normal conversation.

Why is it zoo and not a Malay word? Is zoo really used in Malay?

Yes, zoo is a fully accepted loanword in Malay, pronounced very similarly to English.

There is also a more “Malay-sounding” term:

• kebun binatang – literally animal garden, meaning zoo.

In modern Malaysia and Indonesia, zoo is extremely common and perfectly natural. You could say:

• melawat zoo – very common, everyday speech
• melawat kebun binatang – understandable, a bit more descriptive or formal

Both are correct; zoo is the more usual word in daily conversation.

What does bersama mean, and how is it different from dengan?

Both can mean “with”, but they have slightly different flavours:

• bersama – together with, often a bit more formal or emphasising togetherness.
• dengan – with, the general preposition; extremely common and slightly more neutral.

In this sentence:

• bersama keluarga saya = together with my family / with my family

You could also say:

• Saya akan melawat zoo dengan keluarga saya.

This is also correct and very natural. The difference is subtle:

• bersama → has a slight nuance of togetherness.
• dengan → plain with, very general.

Why is keluarga saya used instead of just keluarga? Would bersama keluarga still make sense?

Keluarga = family
Keluarga saya = my family

If you say only:

• bersama keluarga

it can mean with (the) family, but it doesn’t clearly say whose family. In context, it might be understood, but keluarga saya is precise and explicit: my family.

So:

• bersama keluarga saya = with my family (clear, specific)
• bersama keluarga = with (some/the) family (could be yours, could be someone else’s, depends on context)

What is the nuance of using saya instead of aku here?

Both saya and aku mean I / me, but they differ in formality and context:

• saya – polite, neutral, standard; used with strangers, in formal situations, with elders, and in writing.
• aku – more intimate and informal; used with close friends, family, or in casual speech, songs, and poetry.

In this sentence:

• Minggu depan, saya akan melawat zoo bersama keluarga saya.
  is polite and standard.

You could say:

• Minggu depan, aku akan melawat zoo bersama keluargaku.

This sounds more intimate or casual and is usually used when talking to someone close to you.

Is akan absolutely necessary for the future here, or could I say just Minggu depan, saya melawat zoo?

You can drop akan and still be correct:

• Minggu depan, saya akan melawat zoo.
• Minggu depan, saya melawat zoo.

Both can mean Next week, I will visit the zoo.

Because minggu depan clearly indicates future time, akan becomes optional. Using akan makes the future aspect more explicit and can sound a bit more careful or formal, but it is not grammatically required in everyday speech.

In English we say “visit the zoo”. Why is there no word like “the” or “to” in melawat zoo?

Malay does not use articles like “the” or “a”, and it often doesn’t need a preposition “to” before a direct object.

• melawat (verb) + zoo (direct object)

So:

• I will visit the zoo.
  → Saya akan melawat zoo.

There is:

• no the (because Malay has no articles),
• no to (because melawat directly takes an object).

If you want to express movement more literally, you might say something like pergi ke zoo (go to the zoo), but for visit the zoo, melawat zoo is straightforward and correct.

Is keluarga treated as singular or plural in Malay? Do I need to mark it as plural to mean my family members?

Keluarga is a collective noun meaning family; it already implies more than one person. Malay typically does not change the noun form to show plural:

• keluarga = family (one family unit, multiple people)
• keluarga saya = my family

You do not need to add anything to show plural. Context makes it clear that keluarga includes multiple family members. If you really wanted to emphasise all members, you might say seluruh keluarga saya (my whole family), but it’s not necessary for the basic meaning.