Hujan lebat menyebabkan jalan di desa itu licin.

Heavy rain causes the road in that village to be slippery.

Breakdown of Hujan lebat menyebabkan jalan di desa itu licin.

• itu: that
• di: in
• jalan: the road
• hujan: the rain
• licin: slippery
• desa: the village
• lebat: heavy
• menyebabkan: to cause

Questions & Answers about Hujan lebat menyebabkan jalan di desa itu licin.

What does each word in Hujan lebat menyebabkan jalan di desa itu licin literally mean?

Here’s a word-by-word breakdown:

• hujan – rain
• lebat – heavy (for rain, hair, foliage, etc.)
• hujan lebat – heavy rain
• menyebabkan – to cause; to bring about (from root sebab = cause)
• jalan – road / street
• di – at / in / on (location preposition)
• desa – village (more formal / standard term)
• itu – that / the (demonstrative placed after the noun)
• desa itu – that village / the village
• licin – slippery / smooth

So the structure is basically:

[Hujan lebat] [menyebabkan] [jalan di desa itu] [licin].
Heavy rain caused the road(s) in that village to be slippery.

Why is it hujan lebat and not lebat hujan?

In Malay, descriptive words (adjectives) normally come after the noun:

• hujan lebat – heavy rain
• baju merah – red shirt
• kereta besar – big car

So hujan (rain) comes first, then lebat (heavy).

Lebat hujan is not a normal noun phrase. You might see structures like:

• lebatnya hujan – how heavy the rain is / the heaviness of the rain

But as a simple phrase meaning heavy rain, the natural order is hujan lebat.

What exactly does menyebabkan do in this sentence? How is it formed?

Menyebabkan comes from the root sebab (cause) plus the prefix meN- and suffix -kan:

• sebab – cause (noun)
• menyebab – (not used on its own)
• menyebabkan – to cause something; to make something happen

Function in the sentence:

• Subject: Hujan lebat (heavy rain)
• Verb: menyebabkan (caused)
• Result clause: jalan di desa itu licin (the road in that village is/was slippery)

So menyebabkan links a cause (heavy rain) with its effect (the road becomes slippery).

Is jalan di desa itu licin a complete sentence by itself?

Yes, it can be a full sentence on its own:

• Jalan di desa itu licin.
  – The road(s) in that village is/are slippery.

Malay doesn’t need a verb like to be in this structure. The pattern is:

• [Subject] [Adjective]
  
  • Jalan di desa itu – subject
  • licin – predicate adjective

So in the original sentence, jalan di desa itu licin is functioning like the result that is caused by hujan lebat through menyebabkan.

Why is there no word like “is” or “are” before licin?

Malay usually does not use a separate “to be” verb (like is/are) when the predicate is an adjective or a noun.

• Jalan itu licin. – The road is slippery.
• Dia tinggi. – He/She is tall.
• Makanan itu sedap. – The food is delicious.

You only see adalah/ialah in more formal or specific structures, often linking a subject to a noun phrase, not to a simple adjective:

• Masalah utama adalah kekurangan air.
  – The main problem is the lack of water.

With a simple adjective like licin, adalah is normally left out.

How do I know if this sentence is past tense or present tense?

Malay verbs do not change form for tense. Menyebabkan itself is tenseless; the time is understood from context, or from time words.

The sentence could mean:

• Heavy rain causes the road(s) in that village to be slippery. (general fact)
• Heavy rain caused the road(s) in that village to be slippery. (past event)

If you want to make the past more explicit, you can add markers:

• Tadi hujan lebat menyebabkan jalan di desa itu licin.
  – Earlier, heavy rain caused the road in that village to be slippery.

• Hujan lebat telah menyebabkan jalan di desa itu licin.
  – Heavy rain has caused the road in that village to be slippery.

Without such markers, the tense is inferred from context.

Why is the preposition di used in di desa itu? Could I use pada instead?

Di is the normal preposition for physical location:

• di rumah – at home
• di sekolah – at school
• di desa itu – in/at that village

Pada is more often used for:

• time: pada pukul tiga (at three o’clock)
• more abstract location or relation: pada masa itu (at that time), tanggungjawab pada ibu bapa (responsibility to/for parents)

Pada desa itu would sound wrong in this sentence. For a physical place like a village, you want di.

What exactly does itu do in desa itu?

Itu is a demonstrative meaning that / the. In Malay, it usually comes after the noun:

• desa itu – that village / the village
• jalan itu – that road / the road
• kereta itu – that car / the car

Here, desa itu suggests a specific village already known to both speaker and listener (like “that village” or contextually “the village”).

If you say only desa, it’s more indefinite (a village / villages in general), depending on context.

Why is jalan singular in Malay when the English translation may use roads (plural)?

Malay usually does not mark plural with a special ending. One form can mean road or roads, depending on context:

• jalan – road / roads
• buku – book / books
• pelajar – student / students

If you want to emphasize plurality, you can:

• double the noun: jalan-jalan (roads, many streets)
• add a quantifier: banyak jalan (many roads), beberapa jalan (several roads)

In this sentence, jalan di desa itu licin can be understood as:

• the road in that village is slippery, or
• the roads in that village are slippery

English often forces you to choose singular or plural; Malay often leaves it more flexible.

Could we say jalan licin di desa itu instead of jalan di desa itu licin?

You could say jalan licin di desa itu, but the focus and structure change.

• jalan di desa itu licin
  – The roads in that village are slippery.
  Structure: [roads in that village] are [slippery].

• jalan licin di desa itu
  – more like the slippery roads in that village (a noun phrase), not usually used as a full sentence without more context.

In the original, licin functions as the predicate (what is being said about the roads). Moving licin before di desa itu makes it look more like an adjective modifying jalan in a noun phrase, rather than a predicate in a full clause.

What is the difference between desa and kampung?

Both can be translated as village, but there are nuances:

• desa

  • More formal / standard term.
  • Common in writing, official documents, geography, and in Indonesia especially.

• kampung

  • Very common in everyday speech, especially in Malaysia and Brunei.
  • Can mean village, hometown, or rural home area.
  • In Malaysia, kampung is often the natural choice in speech.

You could often say:

• Hujan lebat menyebabkan jalan di kampung itu licin.

with almost the same meaning in many contexts, especially in Malaysia.

Could I rewrite this sentence using kerana or sebab instead of menyebabkan?

Yes. Instead of a causative verb (menyebabkan), you can use a cause conjunction:

1. Kerana (because)

   • Jalan di desa itu licin kerana hujan lebat.
     – The roads in that village are slippery because of the heavy rain.

2. Sebab (because / cause)

   • Jalan di desa itu licin sebab hujan lebat.
     – Same meaning; sebab is often more informal in this use.

Grammatically:

• With menyebabkan, the cause is the subject:

  • Hujan lebat menyebabkan … (Heavy rain causes …)

• With kerana/sebab, the result becomes the subject, and the cause goes in a kerana/sebab clause:

  • Jalan di desa itu licin kerana/sebab hujan lebat.

What is the difference between menyebabkan, membuat, and menjadikan here?

All three can express causation, but with different feel/register:

1. menyebabkan

   • More formal / neutral.
   • Focuses on cause-effect.
   • Very natural in writing and neutral speech.
   • Hujan lebat menyebabkan jalan di desa itu licin.

2. membuat

   • Literally to make; very common in spoken Malay.
   • Slightly more colloquial in this use.
   • Hujan lebat membuat jalan di desa itu licin.

3. menjadikan

   • Literally to make something become X.
   • Often used with an explicit state or status.
   • Sounds a bit more formal or emphatic:
     
     • Hujan lebat menjadikan jalan di desa itu licin.

All three are grammatically acceptable in this sentence; menyebabkan suits a neutral or slightly formal style and highlights the cause-and-effect relationship.