Ayah menyalakan lampu suluh ketika kabus tebal.

Father turns on the flashlight when the fog is thick.

Breakdown of Ayah menyalakan lampu suluh ketika kabus tebal.

• ketika: when
• ayah: the father
• tebal: thick
• menyalakan: to light
• kabus: the fog
• lampu suluh: the flashlight

Questions & Answers about Ayah menyalakan lampu suluh ketika kabus tebal.

In English we say “when the fog was thick.” Why does the Malay phrase “ketika kabus tebal” have no verb like “was”?

Malay often drops the verb “to be” in sentences that link a noun and an adjective.

• kabus = fog
• tebal = thick

So “kabus tebal” literally is “fog thick”, and that already counts as a complete clause meaning “the fog was thick.”
Malay usually does not insert a linking verb in this kind of sentence (no ialah/adalah here).

So:

• ketika kabus tebal = when the fog was thick
  even though there is no separate word for “was.”

What exactly does “ketika” mean, and can I replace it with “apabila”, “semasa” or “bila”?

All of these can be translated as “when”, but their usage and feel are slightly different.

• ketika

  • Meaning: when / at the time when
  • Style: fairly neutral–formal, common in writing and careful speech.
  • Fits well in your sentence.

• apabila

  • Very close to ketika, also neutral–formal.
  • You can say: Ayah menyalakan lampu suluh apabila kabus tebal.

• semasa

  • More like “during / while”, emphasising a period of time.
  • Suggests the fog is an ongoing condition:
    
    • Ayah menyalakan lampu suluh semasa kabus tebal.
    • = Dad turned on the torch during the thick fog.

• bila

  • Informal spoken Malay for when.
  • Common in conversation, but less in formal writing:
    
    • Ayah menyalakan lampu suluh bila kabus tebal.

So yes, you can swap them in most everyday contexts, but ketika / apabila sound more standard, semasa has a “during” nuance, and bila is more colloquial.

What is the difference between “menyalakan” and “menyala”? Why is “menyalakan” used here?

They come from the same root nyala (light, flame).

• menyala

  • Intransitive: the thing itself is lit / burning / shining
  • Examples:
    
    • Lampu itu menyala. = The light is on.
    • Api sudah menyala. = The fire is already burning.

• menyalakan (sesuatu)

  • Transitive and causative: to cause something to be lit / to turn something on / to light something.
  • Pattern: meN- + nyala + -kan → to make (something) light up.
  • Examples:
    
    • Saya menyalakan lilin. = I light the candle.
    • Dia menyalakan api. = He/She lights the fire.

In your sentence:

• Ayah menyalakan lampu suluh …
  = Dad turned on the torch / lit the torch.

You need menyalakan because Dad is doing something to the torch (causing it to light), not just describing that the torch is on.

Why is it “lampu suluh” and not just “suluh”?

Lampu suluh is a fixed compound noun in Malay meaning “torch / flashlight.”

• lampu = lamp / light
• suluh (noun/verb) = historically a torch; as a verb, to shine a light on / to illuminate.

In modern usage, “lampu suluh” is the normal, everyday way to say flashlight / torch in Malaysian Malay. Just “suluh” on its own is less commonly used as a simple noun for “torch” in contemporary speech and is also a verb (“to shine a light on something”), so lampu suluh is clearer.

So:

• Ayah menyalakan lampu suluh.
  = Dad turned on the flashlight / torch.

How do we know this sentence is in the past tense (Dad turned on the torch)? There’s no past marker in Malay.

Malay normally does not mark tense with verb endings like English does. The bare verb form can refer to past, present, or future, depending on context.

So:

• Ayah menyalakan lampu suluh ketika kabus tebal.
  could be translated as:
  • Dad turns on the torch when the fog is thick. (habit)
  • Dad turned on the torch when the fog was thick. (past event)
  • Dad will turn on the torch when the fog is thick. (future, in the right context)

Your English translation chooses past because that’s the most natural interpretation as a single, completed event.

If you want to mark time more explicitly, you can add adverbs or particles:

• Past:

  • Tadi, semalam, kelmarin, etc.
  • Ayah tadi menyalakan lampu suluh ketika kabus tebal.
  • Ayah telah menyalakan lampu suluh ketika kabus tebal. (telah = has/ had, formal-ish)

• Ongoing:

  • Ayah sedang menyalakan lampu suluh. = Dad is turning on / lighting the torch.

• Future:

  • Ayah akan menyalakan lampu suluh. = Dad will turn on the torch.

Why is it “kabus tebal” and not “tebal kabus”? What’s the rule for adjective order?

In Malay, the usual rule is:

Noun + Adjective

So:

• kabus tebal = literally “fog thick” → thick fog
• baju merah = shirt red → red shirt
• rumah besar = house big → big house

Putting the adjective before the noun (tebal kabus) is non‑standard in everyday prose. It may appear in:

• Poetry / song lyrics (for stylistic effect)
• Very specific set phrases or literary language

In normal speech and writing, you should use:

• kabus tebal, hujan lebat, angin kencang, etc.

Does “Ayah” mean “dad”, “father”, or “my dad”? Why is there no word for “my”?

Ayah is the common word for father / dad in Malay.

In real use, kinship terms (ayah, ibu, mak, abah, etc.) often function like pronouns and can imply “my” from context:

• Ayah menyalakan lampu suluh.
  → Very naturally understood as “My dad turned on the torch.” if you are speaking about your own family.

If you want to be explicit, you can say:

• Ayah saya menyalakan lampu suluh. = My father turned on the torch.
• Bapa saya menyalakan lampu suluh. (more formal word bapa)

So:

• Ayah can mean “(my) dad” depending on context; Malay often leaves possessive “my/your/etc.” understood rather than stated.

Can we drop the subject or object, like just saying “Menyalakan lampu suluh ketika kabus tebal”?

Malay is somewhat pro-drop: it can omit subjects or objects when they’re obvious from context, especially in conversation.

Examples:

• (Dia) menyalakan lampu suluh.
  = (He/She) turned on the torch.
• Ayah menyalakan (lampu suluh).
  = Dad turned it on. (if “torch” has just been mentioned)

However, your exact sentence:

• Menyalakan lampu suluh ketika kabus tebal.

on its own sounds incomplete or like part of instructions (“Turn on the torch when the fog is thick”), but then you’d normally change form:

• Nyalakan lampu suluh ketika kabus tebal.
  (imperative: “Turn on the torch when the fog is thick.”)

For a simple descriptive sentence, it’s more natural to keep the subject:

• Ayah menyalakan lampu suluh ketika kabus tebal.

What’s the difference between “kabus” and “kabut”? I’ve seen both.

Both are related and often translated as “fog / mist.”

• kabus

  • Preferred in Malaysian Malay.
  • Common word in Malaysia for fog / mist.

• kabut

  • Standard in Indonesian.
  • Also understood in Malaysia, and occasionally used, but kabus is more typical there.

So:

• In Malaysia: kabus tebal is the natural phrase for thick fog.
• In Indonesia: you’d more likely see kabut tebal.

Should there be a classifier like “sebuah” before “lampu suluh”, e.g. “Ayah menyalakan sebuah lampu suluh …”?

Malay often uses numeral + classifier (kata bilangan + kata penyukat):

• sebuah rumah = one house
• sehelai baju = one shirt
• seekor kucing = one cat

For lampu suluh, the usual classifier is sebuah:

• sebuah lampu suluh = one torch / one flashlight

However, in everyday sentences where the number is not important or already understood, Malay frequently drops the classifier:

• Ayah menyalakan lampu suluh.
  = Dad turned on the torch / a torch (number not emphasised).

You’d include sebuah if you want to stress the quantity:

• Ayah menyalakan sebuah lampu suluh dan memberi saya satu lagi.
  = Dad turned on one torch and gave me another one.

So the original sentence without sebuah is completely natural.