Pada hujung minggu, kami berjalan di hutan kecil berhampiran rumah.

On weekends, we walk in the small forest near the house.

Breakdown of Pada hujung minggu, kami berjalan di hutan kecil berhampiran rumah.

• di: in
• kecil: small
• rumah: the house
• berjalan: to walk
• pada: on
• kami: we
• hujung minggu: the weekend
• berhampiran: near
• hutan: the forest

Questions & Answers about Pada hujung minggu, kami berjalan di hutan kecil berhampiran rumah.

Why is it pada and not di in pada hujung minggu?

In Malay, pada is the normal preposition used with time expressions, similar to on/at in English when talking about days or time periods.

• pada hujung minggu ≈ on the weekend / at the weekend
• pada hari Isnin ≈ on Monday
• pada waktu malam ≈ at night

Using di with time (di hujung minggu) can be heard in casual speech, but pada is standard and sounds more natural and correct in writing or careful speech.

You can drop pada in relaxed conversation and just say:

• Hujung minggu, kami berjalan di hutan kecil…

but you generally wouldn’t replace pada with di in this context.

Does hujung minggu literally mean “end of the week”? Is it the normal way to say “weekend”?

Yes, literally:

• hujung = end / tip
• minggu = week

So hujung minggu literally means end of the week, and it is the standard way to say weekend.

Other related expressions:

• pada hujung minggu – on/at the weekend
• setiap hujung minggu – every weekend
• hujung minggu lepas – last weekend
• hujung minggu depan – next weekend

You might also see akhir minggu in some contexts, but hujung minggu is much more common in everyday Malay.

What is the difference between kami and kita, and why is kami used here?

Malay distinguishes between two kinds of we:

• kami = we / us excluding the person spoken to (the listener is not part of the group)
• kita = we / us including the person spoken to (the listener is part of the group)

In the sentence:

• Pada hujung minggu, kami berjalan di hutan kecil berhampiran rumah.

the speaker is talking about a group that does not include the listener (for example, “my family and I, but not you”). So kami is appropriate.

If the speaker wanted to include the listener (e.g. talking to someone who also went on the walk), they would say:

• Pada hujung minggu, kita berjalan di hutan kecil berhampiran rumah.
  (On the weekend, we walked in the small forest near the house – you and I / all of us including you.)

Does berjalan just mean “to walk”, or does it mean something like “to go for a walk / outing”?

The verb berjalan has a few related meanings, depending on context.

1. To walk (on foot)
   When talking about people and movement on foot, berjalan usually just means to walk:

   • Dia berjalan ke sekolah. – He/She walks to school.

2. To go for a walk / stroll
   In a recreational context, especially with no destination mentioned, it can be understood as going for a walk:

   • Kami berjalan di hutan kecil… – We walked in the small forest / We went for a walk in the small forest.

3. To run / proceed (for events, processes, etc.)
   With abstract subjects, berjalan can mean to run / to proceed / to go on:

   • Mesyuarat berjalan dengan lancar. – The meeting went smoothly.

In your sentence, because it is about people in a forest, the natural reading is we walked / we went for a walk.

Why is it di hutan kecil and not ke hutan kecil? What is the difference between di and ke here?

di and ke both relate to place, but they have different functions:

• di = at / in / on (a location, static)
• ke = to / towards (a destination, movement)

Comparing:

• berjalan di hutan kecil – walking in the small forest (location of the activity)
• berjalan ke hutan kecil – walking to the small forest (destination)

The original sentence:

• kami berjalan di hutan kecil berhampiran rumah

focuses on where the walking took place (inside the forest), not the movement from the house to the forest. That is why di is used, not ke.

Why is the word order hutan kecil and not kecil hutan? How do adjectives normally work in Malay?

In Malay, adjectives almost always come after the noun they modify.

Pattern:

• noun + adjective

Examples:

• rumah besar – big house
• kereta baru – new car
• hutan kecil – small forest

So:

• hutan kecil is correct.
• kecil hutan is not correct Malay.

If you want to make the description more specific or emphasize it, you might add itu or use yang:

• hutan kecil itu – that small forest / the small forest
• hutan yang kecil itu – that forest which is small (more emphatic or contrastive)

But the base order remains noun + adjective.

What exactly is berhampiran in berhampiran rumah? Do I need to say berhampiran dengan rumah?

berhampiran is formed from:

• hampir = near / almost
• ber-…-an = a common verb/adjectival pattern

So berhampiran means near / nearby / in the vicinity of. It can function like an adjective or as a preposition meaning “near to”.

Both of these are acceptable:

• berhampiran rumah – near the house
• berhampiran dengan rumah – near to the house

Here dengan is optional; many speakers omit it in this structure. All of these are natural:

• di hutan kecil berhampiran rumah
• di hutan kecil berhampiran dengan rumah

For a slightly more informal option, you might also hear:

• di hutan kecil dekat rumah
• di hutan kecil dekat dengan rumah

How do we know whose house rumah refers to? Why isn’t it rumah kami?

In Malay, possession is often left implicit if it is obvious from context. The bare noun rumah can easily be understood as our house / the house we are talking about, without stating the possessor.

So in context, berhampiran rumah is naturally read as:

• near the house (our house / the house previously mentioned)

If you need to be explicit, you can add a possessive pronoun:

• rumah saya – my house
• rumah kami – our house (excluding the listener)
• rumah kita – our house (including the listener)
• rumah mereka – their house

Then the phrase would become:

• di hutan kecil berhampiran rumah kami – in the small forest near our house.

How do we know whether this sentence is past, present, or habitual? Malay doesn’t show tense here.

Malay verbs do not change form for tense (no -ed, -s, etc.). The time reference is usually understood from:

• time expressions (e.g. semalam, esok, pada hujung minggu), and
• context, or additional words like sudah / telah (already), akan (will).

The sentence:

• Pada hujung minggu, kami berjalan di hutan kecil berhampiran rumah.

on its own can be interpreted as:

1. Habitual – On weekends, we (usually) walk in the small forest near the house.
2. A specific past weekend – Last weekend, we walked… (especially if context makes it clear you are talking about the past).

If you want to clearly mark a specific past weekend, you can say:

• Pada hujung minggu lepas, kami berjalan… – Last weekend, we walked…

For a clear future meaning:

• Pada hujung minggu, kami akan berjalan di hutan kecil… – On the weekend, we will walk…

Can pada hujung minggu go at the end of the sentence instead of at the beginning?

Yes. Time expressions in Malay are flexible in position. Two natural options are:

1. At the beginning (very common for setting the scene):

   • Pada hujung minggu, kami berjalan di hutan kecil berhampiran rumah.

2. At the end:

   • Kami berjalan di hutan kecil berhampiran rumah pada hujung minggu.

Both are grammatical. Putting pada hujung minggu at the beginning emphasizes the time more, similar to English “On the weekend, we…”.

Placing it in the middle (splitting subject and verb), like:

• Kami pada hujung minggu berjalan di hutan…

is technically possible but sounds awkward and is not the usual pattern in everyday Malay.

Is hutan kecil “a small forest” or “the small forest”? How do you know, since there is no a/the?

Malay does not have articles like a or the. A bare noun phrase like hutan kecil can mean either:

• a small forest (indefinite), or
• the small forest (definite),

depending on context.

To make it clearly definite, you can add itu (that):

• hutan kecil itu – that small forest / the small forest

To make it clearly “a” forest (one forest, introducing it):

• sebuah hutan kecil – a small forest (with the classifier sebuah, often used for buildings, large objects, etc.)

In your sentence, hutan kecil is best understood as the small forest that is known to both speaker and listener (the familiar one near the house).

How do you pronounce some of these words, especially hujung and berhampiran?

Here is a simple pronunciation guide (stress is fairly even, but you can mark the slightly stronger syllable):

• pada – PA-da

  • pa as in *pa*pa
  • da as in duh

• hujung – HU-jung

  • hu like hoo in hoop
  • jung with ng like in English song (not like the g in finger)

• minggu – MING-gu

  • ming as in ming in mingling (again with ng as in song)
  • gu like goo

• berjalan – ber-JA-lan

  • ber with a short, relaxed vowel (like ber in Berlin)
  • ja like ja in Java
  • lan like lun in London but with a as in father

• hutan – HU-tan

  • hu like hoo
  • tan like tahn (a as in father)

• kecil – ke-CHIL

  • ke like a very short ke in kernel (schwa sound)
  • cil like cheel but shorter

• berhampiran – ber-ham-PI-ran

  • ber short, like above
  • ham as in hum but with a as in cup or father (depending on accent)
  • pi like pee
  • ran like run with a in father or cup (again accent-dependent)

Malay pronunciation is generally regular: each letter has a fairly consistent sound, and every syllable is clearly pronounced.