Learn Hardcore Malay: Guru menunjukkan apa yang ada dalam beg pertolongan cemas di bilik darjah. - The teacher shows what is inside the first-aid bag in the classroom.

Guru can mean “a teacher” or “the teacher” depending on context.
beg pertolongan cemas can mean “a first-aid bag” or “the first-aid bag”.

The definiteness (whether it’s the specific teacher/bag or just a teacher/bag) is understood from the situation or from earlier sentences, not from an explicit word like “the”.

What is the base word of “menunjukkan”, and how is this verb formed?

The base word (root) is tunjuk (“to show; to point”).

menunjukkan is formed like this:

tunjuk (root)
add the prefix meN- → menunjuk (“to show”)
add the suffix -kan → menunjukkan

In many contexts:

menunjuk ≈ “to show / to point” (less common in standard written Malay)
menunjukkan ≈ “to show something (to someone)” or “to demonstrate”

The -kan often adds a “to someone / for someone” or causative nuance: make something seen / known to someone.

Why do we say “menunjukkan apa yang ada” and not just “menunjukkan apa ada”?

The word yang is needed to link “apa” (“what”) with the clause that describes it.

apa yang ada literally: “what that exists / what that is there” → natural translation: “what is (in …)”.

Structure:

apa = what
yang = marker introducing a descriptive clause
ada = exists / is there

Without yang, apa ada sounds ungrammatical in this meaning.
Yang works somewhat like a relative pronoun / clause marker (similar to “that/which” in English, but used more broadly).

What does “ada” mean in “apa yang ada dalam beg …”?

Here ada means “exist / there is / there are”.

So apa yang ada dalam beg … = “what is (there) in the bag …” / “what there is in the bag …”.

Other common uses of ada:

Saya ada buku. = I have a book.
Ada orang di luar. = There is someone outside.

So ada can mean both “to have” and “to exist / there is/are”, depending on the structure.

What exactly does “beg pertolongan cemas” mean, word by word?

Literally:

beg = bag
pertolongan cemas = first aid (literally “emergency help/assistance”)

So beg pertolongan cemas = “bag of first aid”, i.e. “first-aid bag / first-aid kit”.

In Malay, the main noun usually comes first and its modifier comes after:

beg sekolah = school bag
guru bahasa = language teacher

So beg pertolongan cemas is “bag (for) first aid,” not “pertolongan cemas beg”.

What’s the difference between “guru” and “cikgu”? Could we use “cikgu” here?

guru = teacher (neutral, standard, often used in writing and formal contexts)
cikgu = teacher (more informal, often used by students addressing their teacher, or in spoken language)

In this sentence, Guru menunjukkan … is standard and natural.
You could say Cikgu menunjukkan … in a more informal, conversational context, especially if the narrator is a student referring to their own teacher.

Why is “di bilik darjah” at the end? Does it describe where the teacher is or where the bag is?

In “... apa yang ada dalam beg pertolongan cemas di bilik darjah.”, the most natural reading is:

beg pertolongan cemas di bilik darjah = the first-aid bag in the classroom

So “di bilik darjah” is specifying which first-aid bag: the one in the classroom.

More literally:

apa yang ada dalam [beg pertolongan cemas di bilik darjah]
= what is inside [the first-aid bag in the classroom]

Context could also imply the teacher and the bag are both in the classroom, but grammatically “di bilik darjah” most directly attaches to “beg pertolongan cemas”.

What does “bilik darjah” literally mean, and how is it different from “kelas”?

Literally:

bilik = room
darjah = class / grade (year level)

So bilik darjah = classroom (literally “class/grade room”).

Difference from kelas:

kelas can mean:
- a class session (lesson): kelas Matematik = Maths class
- a group of students: kelas 5 Amanah
- informally, also a classroom (depending on context)
bilik darjah focuses on the physical room, and is clearer/formal as “classroom”.

In this sentence, di bilik darjah = in the classroom.

Why is it “dalam beg …” and not “di beg …”? What’s the difference between “di” and “dalam”?

di = at / in / on (general location preposition)
dalam = inside

In practice:

di is often used before place nouns: di rumah, di sekolah, di bilik darjah.
dalam emphasizes being inside something: dalam beg, dalam kotak, dalam poket.

So:

dalam beg pertolongan cemas = inside the first-aid bag
di bilik darjah = in/at the classroom

You sometimes see di dalam together (e.g. di dalam beg), which strongly emphasizes “inside,” but dalam beg is already clear and natural.

Does “menunjukkan” need an indirect object like “to the students”? Where did “to the students” go?

Menunjukkan usually takes:

someone who shows (subject),
something that is shown (object),
optionally, someone to whom it is shown.

In this sentence, only the thing shown is mentioned: apa yang ada dalam beg pertolongan cemas … (“what is in the first-aid bag …”).

If you want to mention the indirect object, you can add kepada:

Guru menunjukkan apa yang ada dalam beg pertolongan cemas kepada murid-murid di bilik darjah.
= The teacher shows what is in the first-aid bag to the students in the classroom.

Omitting “to the students” is fine when it’s obvious from context that the teacher is showing it to the class.

How is tense expressed here? How do we know if it’s past, present, or future?

Malay verbs usually don’t change form for tense. Menunjukkan stays the same for past, present, or future.

The sentence Guru menunjukkan apa yang ada dalam beg pertolongan cemas di bilik darjah. could mean:

The teacher showed … (past)
The teacher is showing … (present)
The teacher shows … (habitual)

To make the time clearer, Malay would add time words:

Tadi guru menunjukkan … = Earlier, the teacher showed …
Sekarang guru menunjukkan … = Now the teacher is showing …
Esok guru akan menunjukkan … = Tomorrow the teacher will show …

Can we move “di bilik darjah” to the front of the sentence?

Yes, you can front the location for emphasis or style:

Di bilik darjah, guru menunjukkan apa yang ada dalam beg pertolongan cemas.

This means the same thing (“In the classroom, the teacher shows what is in the first-aid bag”), just with extra emphasis on the location. The rest of the structure stays the same.