Learn Hardcore Malay: Bonus itu penting bagi pekerja di kilang. - That bonus is important for workers at the factory.

Bonus itu can be translated as:
- “That bonus” – a specific bonus you and the listener know about, or
- “The bonus” – natural in English even though Malay doesn’t have a separate word for “the”.

So itu makes bonus definite / specific. Without itu, bonus would be more general: “(a) bonus” or “bonuses in general”.

Why is there no word for “is” between bonus itu and penting?

Malay usually does not use a verb like “to be” (is/are/am) when linking a noun to an adjective.

English: The bonus is important.
Malay: Bonus itu penting. (literally: “That bonus important.”)

The linking “is” is just understood from the structure.

You can see adalah used as a kind of “is”, but it’s generally:

Used before nouns or noun phrases, not adjectives.
More common in formal or written Malay.

So:

Bonus itu penting. ✅ (natural)
Bonus itu adalah penting. ⚠️ grammatical but sounds stiff or bookish, and many speakers would avoid it in everyday speech.

What’s the difference between bagi and untuk here? Could I say “Bonus itu penting untuk pekerja di kilang”?

Yes, you can say: Bonus itu penting untuk pekerja di kilang. It’s natural and commonly used.

Subtle differences:

bagi
- Often has the nuance of “for (someone’s perspective / benefit)”.
- Common in slightly more formal language.
- Can also mean “in the opinion of”:
  - Bagi saya, bonus itu penting. = In my opinion, that bonus is important.
untuk
- More general “for / in order to / meant for”.
- Very common in everyday speech and writing.

In this sentence, bagi and untuk are both fine and mean roughly “for (the workers)”.

Is pekerja singular (“worker”) or plural (“workers”) here?

Pekerja can be singular or plural depending on context.

Malay does not normally mark plural with -s like English.
Here, pekerja di kilang almost certainly means “the workers in the factory”, because bonuses are usually relevant to a group.

If you specifically want to emphasize plural, you can say:

para pekerja = “the workers (as a group)” – often used in formal/official language.
- Bonus itu penting bagi para pekerja di kilang.

But in normal conversation, pekerja di kilang is enough and usually understood as plural.

What does di kilang literally mean? Is di “in” or “at”?

Di is a preposition that generally means “at / in / on”, depending on context.

di kilang = “at the factory” or “in the factory”.
- English chooses “at” or “in” depending on style, but Malay uses di for both.

So the full sentence can be understood as:
“That bonus is important for the workers at/in the factory.”

Could I move di kilang earlier, like “Bonus itu penting di kilang bagi pekerja”?

You could move it, but it will sound awkward or odd in most contexts.

Standard, natural order:

Bonus itu penting bagi pekerja di kilang.

If you change the order, you risk subtly changing what modifies what. For example:

bagi pekerja di kilang clearly means “for workers who are in the factory”.

If you say:

Bonus itu penting di kilang bagi pekerja.

it sounds more like:

“That bonus is important in the factory, for workers” – which is less natural and feels a bit clumsy in Malay.

Stick with the original order for clear, natural Malay.

Why is it pekerja di kilang and not pekerja kilang?

Both pekerja di kilang and pekerja kilang can appear, but they aren’t exactly the same:

pekerja di kilang
- Literally: “workers at/in the factory”.
- Clear that you’re talking about the location where they work.
- Very neutral and standard.
pekerja kilang
- Functions more like a compound noun: “factory workers”.
- Sounds a little more compact and is also common.

So you could say:

Bonus itu penting bagi pekerja kilang. = “That bonus is important for factory workers.”
Bonus itu penting bagi pekerja di kilang. = “That bonus is important for the workers in the factory.”

Both are fine; the original just highlights their location more explicitly.

Is bonus really a Malay word or just English put into Malay?

Bonus in Malay is a loanword from English, but it is fully accepted and very common in Malay.

Spelling and pronunciation are almost the same as in English (with Malay accent).
It behaves like a normal Malay noun:
- bonus tahunan = annual bonus
- mendapat bonus = to get a bonus

So, yes, it’s borrowed, but it is considered standard Malay now.

Where does the adjective go in Malay? Why is it bonus itu penting and not something like penting bonus itu?

In Malay, adjectives usually come after the noun they describe when the adjective is directly modifying that noun in a noun phrase:

baju merah = red shirt
kereta baru = new car

But in “Bonus itu penting”, penting is not an adjective directly inside a noun phrase; it is the predicate of the sentence (what is being said about the subject).

Structure:

Bonus itu = subject (“that bonus”)
penting = predicate adjective (“is important”)

So the pattern is essentially:

[Noun/NP] + [Adjective (as predicate)]
Bonus itu penting. = “That bonus (is) important.”

You wouldn’t say “Penting bonus itu” for a normal statement. That might only appear in special emphatic or poetic structures.

Can I drop itu and just say “Bonus penting bagi pekerja di kilang”? Does it change the meaning?

Yes, you can say:

Bonus penting bagi pekerja di kilang.

The difference is in specific vs general:

Bonus itu penting…
- More specific: “That bonus / the bonus is important…”, referring to a particular bonus already known in context.
Bonus penting…
- More general: “A bonus / bonuses are important…”
- Sounds like a general statement about the importance of bonuses.

So choose depending on whether you’re talking about a specific bonus or bonuses in general.

Could this sentence also mean “In the opinion of the workers in the factory, that bonus is important”?

Not in this exact form.

Bonus itu penting bagi pekerja di kilang.
- Default reading: “That bonus is important for the workers in the factory” (i.e., important to them / for their welfare).

To express “in the opinion of the workers”, you’d usually flip it:

Bagi pekerja di kilang, bonus itu penting.
- = “For the factory workers / In the view of the factory workers, that bonus is important.”

So bagi + [person] at the beginning of the sentence is often read as “in the opinion/view of [person]”.
In the original sentence, bagi pekerja di kilang is more naturally “for the workers in the factory”.