Learn Hardcore Malay: Stesen televisyen tempatan itu menyiarkan berita pagi setiap hari Isnin. - That local television station broadcasts the morning news every Monday.

Itu is a demonstrative that usually means that (as opposed to ini = this). It can also function a bit like the when you are talking about a specific, known thing.

In Malay, demonstratives like itu and ini normally come after the whole noun phrase, not before it as in English.

stesen televisyen tempatan itu
= that local television station / the local television station (we both know about)

The order is:

[head noun] + [other modifiers like adjectives] + [demonstrative]
stesen televisyen (TV station) + tempatan (local) + itu (that)

So you do not say itu stesen televisyen tempatan in standard Malay for this meaning; you put itu at the end of the phrase.

Why does tempatan (local) come after stesen televisyen, unlike English where adjectives usually come before the noun?

In Malay, descriptive words (adjectives) almost always come after the noun they describe.

stesen televisyen tempatan
literally: station television local
meaning: local television station

Other examples:

rumah besar = big house
kereta baru = new car
bandar kecil = small town

So the basic pattern is:

noun + adjective
stesen televisyen + tempatan

How do we know the tense of menyiarkan? Could it mean broadcasted, is broadcasting, or will broadcast?

Menyiarkan itself does not show tense. Malay verbs generally do not change form for past, present, or future. Tense and aspect are shown by:

Time words (like semalam, esok, setiap hari Isnin), and/or
Particles like sudah/telah (already), akan (will), sedang (in the process of).

In this sentence:

setiap hari Isnin = every Monday
This clearly indicates a habitual, repeated action.

So the natural English translation is:

That local TV station *broadcasts the morning news every Monday.*

But grammatically, depending on context, menyiarkan could also be used in:

Semalam stesen televisyen tempatan itu menyiarkan berita khas.
= Yesterday, that local TV station broadcasted a special news programme.
Esok stesen televisyen tempatan itu akan menyiarkan berita khas.
= Tomorrow, that local TV station will broadcast a special news programme.

The verb form stays menyiarkan; time markers around it tell you the tense.

What exactly is the difference between siar, menyiarkan, and siaran?

They are all related but have different roles:

siar – basic root meaning to broadcast / to air / to publish
menyiarkan – active verb form: to broadcast something
- meN- (active prefix) + siar
  - -kan (object‑focused suffix)
- siar → syiar spelling change under the prefix, giving menyiarkan
siaran – noun: a broadcast, a programme, a transmission

Usage:

Stesen itu menyiarkan berita pagi.
= The station broadcasts the morning news.
Saya menonton siaran berita pagi itu.
= I watched that morning news broadcast.

In everyday speech, you may also hear menyiar, but menyiarkan is the more standard and complete form, especially in writing, because of the -kan suffix that clearly makes it a transitive verb (broadcast something).

Is stesen televisyen singular or plural? How would I say local television stations?

On its own, stesen televisyen is not marked for number. It can mean:

a / the television station
television stations

The number is understood from context or from other words.

In this sentence:

stesen televisyen tempatan itu
Because of itu, most readers will understand it as that local TV station (one specific station).

To clearly show plural, you have a few common options:

Reduplication
- stesen-stesen televisyen tempatan = local TV stations
Add a number or quantifier
- beberapa stesen televisyen tempatan = several local TV stations
- banyak stesen televisyen tempatan = many local TV stations
Combine both (for emphasis or formality)
- beberapa buah stesen televisyen tempatan
  (using buah, a common classifier for objects)

So for local television stations in a clear plural sense, you can say:

stesen-stesen televisyen tempatan
beberapa stesen televisyen tempatan

Why is there no word like on before Monday? Can I say pada hari Isnin or setiap Isnin instead of setiap hari Isnin?

Malay often omits a preposition in time expressions where English needs on, at, or in.

In the sentence:

setiap hari Isnin
literally: every day Monday
meaning: every Monday

You have several natural alternatives:

setiap hari Isnin (as in the sentence) – very common and clear
setiap Isnin – also common and slightly shorter
pada setiap hari Isnin – more formal/emphatic, often in writing
pada hari Isnin – on Monday (not necessarily repeated unless context says so)

Pada is the general preposition for times and dates:

pada pukul lapan = at eight o'clock
pada hari Isnin = on Monday
pada bulan Mei = in May

So yes, you can say:

Stesen televisyen tempatan itu menyiarkan berita pagi pada setiap hari Isnin.
Stesen televisyen tempatan itu menyiarkan berita pagi setiap Isnin.

They all mean essentially the same thing; the original form is natural and idiomatic.

What does berita pagi literally mean, and why is pagi placed after berita?

Literally:

berita = news
pagi = morning

So berita pagi literally is news [of the] morning, which is naturally translated in English as morning news.

In Malay, modifiers usually follow the word they modify:

noun + describing word
berita (news) + pagi (morning; functioning as a time descriptor)

You cannot reverse it as pagi berita in this sense; that would not mean morning news.

More examples of this pattern with time words:

kelas malam = evening class
mesyuarat petang = afternoon meeting
siaran tengah hari = midday broadcast

If I want to emphasise that the news itself is in the morning, where should pagi go relative to hari Isnin? Is setiap hari Isnin pagi correct?

Setiap hari Isnin pagi is understandable, but it sounds slightly awkward and is not the most natural option.

More natural ways to express every Monday morning include:

Setiap pagi Isnin – common in speech, understood as every Monday morning.
Setiap hari Isnin pada waktu pagi – clearer and more explicit, especially in writing.
Setiap hari Isnin, pada waktu pagi – with a comma in writing for clarity.

Applied to your sentence, two good versions are:

Stesen televisyen tempatan itu menyiarkan berita setiap pagi Isnin.
Stesen televisyen tempatan itu menyiarkan berita pada setiap hari Isnin pada waktu pagi. (more formal/wordy)

The original berita pagi setiap hari Isnin is already quite clear in context: the morning news, every Monday.

What’s the difference between setiap hari Isnin, setiap Isnin, and tiap-tiap hari Isnin?

All three mean that something happens repeatedly on Mondays; differences are mainly in style and slight nuance:

setiap hari Isnin
- Literally: every Monday (day)
- Very common and clear; suitable in speech and writing.
setiap Isnin
- Literally: every Monday
- Slightly shorter; also very natural in both speech and writing.
tiap-tiap hari Isnin
- tiap-tiap is the reduplicated form of tiap, similar to setiap.
- This can sound a bit more colloquial or emphatic: each and every Monday.
- In writing, setiap is more neutral/formal than tiap-tiap.

So, in practice:

setiap hari Isnin ↔ setiap Isnin = almost interchangeable.
tiap-tiap hari Isnin = also correct; feels slightly more informal/emphatic.

Are there other natural ways to say local TV station in Malay, like using TV instead of televisyen or saluran instead of stesen?

Yes, several variants are used, with small differences in nuance:

stesen televisyen tempatan
- Very standard and formal‑neutral.
- Literally: local television station.
stesen TV tempatan
- Common in speech and informal writing.
- TV is just a shorter, more casual form of televisyen.
saluran TV tempatan
- saluran = channel.
- Focuses more on the channel (e.g. Channel 3) than on the physical station/company.

So:

If you mean the broadcasting organisation/company:
stesen televisyen tempatan / stesen TV tempatan is best.
If you mean a channel on TV:
saluran TV tempatan (local TV channel).

In your sentence, stesen televisyen tempatan itu is the natural choice to talk about that particular local broadcasting station.

Could this sentence be written in the passive voice? How would that change the structure and the verb menyiarkan?

Yes, you can change it to a passive construction. The usual passive prefix in Malay is di-.

Active (original):

Stesen televisyen tempatan itu menyiarkan berita pagi setiap hari Isnin.
= That local television station broadcasts the morning news every Monday.

Passive:

Berita pagi disiarkan oleh stesen televisyen tempatan itu setiap hari Isnin.
literally: The morning news is broadcast by that local television station every Monday.

Changes:

menyiarkan (active) → disiarkan (passive)
- di-
  - siar
    - -kan → disiarkan
The object (berita pagi) comes to the front.
The agent (stesen televisyen tempatan itu) is introduced with oleh (by).

Both are grammatical and natural; the active version is often a bit more straightforward in everyday style.

How do you pronounce televisyen and Isnin in Malay?

Approximate English-based guides:

televisyen
- Syllables: te-le-vi-syen
- Roughly: teh-leh-VEE-syen
- Notes:
  - e = like the e in bed or a schwa, depending on accent.
  - sy = sh sound (like sh in shoe).
  - So visyen ≈ vee-shen.
Isnin
- Syllables: Is-nin
- Roughly: EES-neen
- i is like ee in see.
- Malay stress is relatively even; you don’t strongly stress one syllable the way English does.

IPA-style approximations:

televisyen ≈ /tɛləˈviʃɛn/
Isnin ≈ /isnin/

For learners, saying teh-leh-VEE-shen and EES-neen will be close enough to be easily understood.