Learn Hardcore Malay: Jururawat memakai sarung tangan ketika memberi suntikan kepada pesakit. - The nurse wears gloves when giving injections to patients.

Malay normally doesn’t mark gender on job titles (same jururawat for all). If you want to make gender explicit, you add extra words like lelaki (male) or perempuan (female), e.g. jururawat lelaki.

Is sarung tangan singular or plural, and why is it written as two words?

Sarung tangan literally means hand cover and corresponds to glove / gloves in English.

sarung = cover / sheath / sleeve
tangan = hand

It is written as two words because it is a compound noun (like “hand cover”), not a single root word.

Malay usually does not mark plural with a special ending. So:

sarung tangan can mean a glove or gloves (one pair) depending on context.

If you really need to be explicit, you can say:

sepasang sarung tangan = a pair of gloves
beberapa pasang sarung tangan = several pairs of gloves

What does ketika do in this sentence, and how is it different from other words for when?

Ketika is a conjunction meaning when / while, introducing a time clause.

In the sentence, ketika memberi suntikan kepada pesakit = when (the nurse is) giving an injection to the patient.

Compared with other “when” words:

ketika – fairly neutral/formal; common in writing and careful speech.
semasa – very similar to ketika, often interchangeable in many contexts.
apabila – also when, quite common; sometimes used more for specific events.
bila – informal/colloquial when; often used in spoken Malay.

Here ketika fits well because this is a neutral, slightly formal description of a procedure.

Why is there no subject after ketika? Why not ketika jururawat memberi suntikan...?

Malay often omits the subject of a subordinate clause if it is the same as the subject of the main clause.

Main clause subject: jururawat
Subordinate clause after ketika: the subject is understood to be the same nurse.

So:

Jururawat memakai sarung tangan ketika memberi suntikan kepada pesakit.

is understood as:

Jururawat memakai sarung tangan ketika (jururawat) memberi suntikan kepada pesakit.

You can explicitly say:

Jururawat memakai sarung tangan ketika jururawat memberi suntikan kepada pesakit.

but it sounds heavier and is usually unnecessary unless you want special emphasis or need to avoid ambiguity.

Why do we say memberi suntikan and not just menyuntik?

Both are correct Malay, but the pattern is different:

memberi suntikan
- beri = to give → memberi (active verb) = to give
- memberi suntikan = to give an injection
menyuntik
- suntik = to inject → menyuntik = to inject

Typical patterns:

memberi suntikan kepada pesakit = to give an injection to the patient
menyuntik pesakit = to inject the patient

In your sentence, memberi suntikan sounds a bit more formal/procedural and keeps the indirect-object pattern with kepada pesakit.

You would not normally mix them like memberi suntikan pesakit (without kepada); that sounds wrong.

What does kepada mean here, and how is it different from pada or untuk?

In this sentence, kepada means to (as in to the patient):

memberi suntikan kepada pesakit = to give an injection to the patient

Basic distinctions:

kepada
- Used for indirect objects, especially when they are people or animals.
- Common after verbs like beri (give), hantar (send), cakap (speak), etc.
- Example: beri ubat kepada pesakit = give medicine to the patient.
pada
- General preposition meaning at / on / in / to (for places, times, and sometimes things).
- With people, it’s possible but less natural after beri; kepada is preferred.
untuk
- Means for in the sense of for the benefit/purpose of.
- Example: ubat untuk pesakit = medicine for the patient.

So here kepada is the right choice because the nurse is giving something to someone.

How do we know if this sentence is past, present, or future, since there’s no tense marking?

Malay verbs do not change form for tense. Memakai and memberi look the same in past, present, or future. The time is shown by:

Time words: semalam (yesterday), sekarang (now), esok (tomorrow), etc.
Aspect markers like sudah / telah (already), sedang (currently), akan (will).

Your sentence by itself could be understood as:

a general/habitual fact: “A nurse wears gloves when giving injections”
or a description of what normally happens in a procedure.

If you wanted to make it clearly present continuous, for example:

Jururawat sedang memakai sarung tangan ketika memberi suntikan kepada pesakit.
= The nurse is wearing/putting on gloves when giving an injection…

For past:

Jururawat telah/sudah memakai sarung tangan...

For future:

Jururawat akan memakai sarung tangan...

Why are there no words like the or a before jururawat and pesakit?

Malay normally does not use articles like the or a/an.

jururawat can mean a nurse or the nurse
pesakit can mean a patient or the patient

Definiteness is understood from context. If you need to be more precise, you can add other words:

seorang jururawat = a nurse (one nurse; classifier for people)
seorang pesakit = a patient
jururawat itu = that/the nurse
pesakit itu = that/the patient

But in many sentences, bare nouns like jururawat and pesakit are enough; the English translation adds a/the because English requires it, not because Malay has it.

Can we change the word order, for example starting with Ketika memberi suntikan kepada pesakit?

Yes. You can front the time clause:

Ketika memberi suntikan kepada pesakit, jururawat memakai sarung tangan.

This has the same basic meaning, but now the “when‑clause” is emphasised first. Note:

Put a comma after the fronted clause in writing.
You cannot move pieces around freely inside fixed units like sarung tangan or split memberi from suntikan.

Both orders are grammatical and natural:

Jururawat memakai sarung tangan ketika memberi suntikan kepada pesakit.
Ketika memberi suntikan kepada pesakit, jururawat memakai sarung tangan.

Is there a passive version of this sentence, and how would the nuance change?

A common passive version would be:

Sarung tangan dipakai oleh jururawat ketika memberi suntikan kepada pesakit.

Here:

dipakai = passive form of pakai (di-
- pakai)
oleh jururawat = by the nurse (can be omitted in informal style)

Nuance:

Active (Jururawat memakai sarung tangan...) focuses on the nurse doing the action.
Passive (Sarung tangan dipakai...) focuses on the gloves being worn.

In everyday explanations of what people do, the active form is more typical. The passive might be used in, for example, procedural writing focusing on the equipment.

How do you pronounce words like jururawat, sarung tangan, suntikan, and pesakit?

Approximate pronunciations (Malaysian standard):

jururawat: ju-ru-ra-wat
- /dʒu.ru.ra.wat/
- j as in judge
- each syllable clear; r is a light tap; final t is pronounced.
sarung: sa-rung
- /sa.ruŋ/
- final ng as in English sing, not finger.
tangan: ta-ngan
- /ta.ŋan/
- again ng as in sing, followed by an.
suntikan: sun-ti-kan
- /sun.ti.kan/
- u like in put, ti like tea, final kan pronounced clearly.
pesakit: pə-sa-kit
- /pə.sa.kit/
- pe- with a schwa (like the a in sofa), final -kit as in kit.