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Guru menegur murid yang bercakap kuat di dalam kelas.

Guru menegur murid yang bercakap kuat di dalam kelas.
The teacher scolds the pupil who is speaking loudly in the classroom.
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Questions & Answers about Guru menegur murid yang bercakap kuat di dalam kelas.

What exactly does menegur mean here? Is it the same as marah or memarahi?

Menegur comes from the base word tegur, meaning to rebuke, to call someone out, to admonish, to correct. It usually suggests:

  • pointing out someone’s mistake,
  • often in a corrective, teaching, or warning tone,
  • not necessarily very angry.

Marah means angry (an adjective), and memarahi means to scold angrily.

So in rough order of “harshness”:

  • menegur – to admonish / to tell someone off (can be mild or neutral).
  • memarahi – to scold angrily.
  • marah – to be angry.

In this sentence, Guru menegur murid… suggests the teacher is correcting or scolding the student, but it doesn’t automatically say the teacher is furious; it could be a firm reminder.

Why is it menegur and not just tegur? What is the meN- prefix doing?

Tegur is the base word (root). The prefix meN- turns it into an active verb in standard Malay:

  • tegur – the root; you might see it in imperatives like Tegur dia! (Rebuke him/her!).
  • menegur – to rebuke / to admonish (used in normal sentences with a subject).

In standard narrative sentences like this, you normally use the meN- form:

  • Guru menegur murid… – The teacher admonished the student…

Using just tegur in a full sentence (Guru tegur murid…) can occur in informal speech, but menegur is the standard, grammatically complete form.

What is the function of yang in murid yang bercakap kuat?

Yang introduces a relative clause, similar to English who/that.

  • murid – student
  • yang bercakap kuat – who was speaking loudly

So:

  • murid yang bercakap kuat = the student who was speaking loudly

Structure:
[noun] + yang + [clause describing the noun]

Examples:

  • guru yang baik – the teacher who is kind
  • buku yang saya beli – the book that I bought

Without yang, murid bercakap kuat would just look like the student speaks loudly (a full clause), not the student who speaks loudly (a noun phrase). Yang “glues” the description to murid.

Is murid singular or plural here? How would I say the students?

Murid itself does not show singular or plural; it’s neutral. The number is understood from context.

In this sentence, murid yang bercakap kuat most naturally sounds like the (one) student who was speaking loudly, because the clause yang bercakap kuat seems to pick out a specific individual.

To make it clearly plural, you can say:

  • Guru menegur para murid yang bercakap kuat di dalam kelas.
    The teacher scolded the students who were talking loudly in class.

Common ways to show plural:

  • para murid – the students (formal/written)
  • murid-murid – students (reduplication)
  • Add a number: tiga orang murid – three students.
Could the sentence also mean “The teacher is scolding the student…” (present tense)? There’s no tense marker.

Yes. Malay verbs do not change form for tense. Menegur can be past, present, or even future, depending on context.

So Guru menegur murid… can be understood as:

  • The teacher scolded the student… (past), or
  • The teacher is scolding the student… (present), or
  • The teacher scolds the student… (habitually), depending on context.

If you want to make it clearly ongoing right now, you can add sedang:

  • Guru sedang menegur murid yang bercakap kuat di dalam kelas.
    The teacher is (currently) scolding the student who is speaking loudly in class.

For clearly past, you can add a time word:

  • Tadi guru menegur murid… – Earlier, the teacher scolded the student…
Why is it bercakap and not just cakap?

Cakap is the root; bercakap is the standard verb form to talk / to speak.

  • cakap – root; also used informally as a verb (Dia cakap banyak in casual speech).
  • bercakap – standard verb form in more careful or formal Malay.

In standard sentences, especially in writing or neutral speech, you’d usually say:

  • Dia bercakap. – He/She is talking.

So murid yang bercakap kuat is the more standard/neutral way of saying the student who was talking loudly.

Why is kuat used to mean loud? Doesn’t kuat mean strong?

Yes, kuat literally means strong, but by extension it also means:

  • loud (for sounds),
  • intense (for smells, flavours, etc.).

In bercakap kuat, kuat means with a strong/loud voice = to speak loudly.

Similar uses:

  • suara kuat – a loud voice
  • bau kuat – a strong smell
  • rasa kopi ini kuat – this coffee has a strong taste

So bercakap kuat is a natural way to say to talk loudly in Malay.

Is bercakap kuat the same as bercakap dengan kuat? Which one is better?

Both are grammatically correct:

  • bercakap kuat – literally talk loud; very natural and common.
  • bercakap dengan kuat – literally talk with loud(ness); a bit more explicit/formal-sounding.

In everyday speech and in many written contexts, bercakap kuat is perfectly normal and a bit more concise. Dengan is often omitted when the adverb is clear:

  • berjalan perlahan (walk slowly) vs berjalan dengan perlahan
  • bercakap kuat (speak loudly) vs bercakap dengan kuat

So the original sentence is very natural as it is.

What is the difference between di dalam kelas and just di kelas?

Both can mean in class / in the classroom, and in many contexts they are interchangeable.

  • di kelas – in class / in the classroom (common, slightly shorter).
  • di dalam kelas – inside the classroom; sometimes feels a bit more explicit or slightly more formal.

In practice, you will often hear:

  • Guru menegur murid yang bercakap kuat di kelas.

Di dalam literally emphasizes “inside,” but in this sentence it doesn’t add much extra meaning; it just sounds a bit more explicit.

Can di dalam kelas be moved to the front of the sentence?

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

  • Di dalam kelas, guru menegur murid yang bercakap kuat.
    In the classroom, the teacher scolded the student who was speaking loudly.

This is still correct. Putting di dalam kelas first emphasizes the setting (in the classroom) before telling you what happened.

Could I say Guru menegur murid di dalam kelas yang bercakap kuat instead? Does the meaning change?

That word order is grammatically possible but sounds awkward and potentially confusing.

  • murid yang bercakap kuat di dalam kelas clearly means
    the student who was speaking loudly in the classroom.

If you say:

  • murid di dalam kelas yang bercakap kuat,
    it can sound like the student in the class who speaks loudly, but the structure is clumsy.

In Malay, it’s usually best to:

  • keep the noun (murid) and its describing clause (yang bercakap kuat di dalam kelas) together, as in the original sentence.

    So the original murid yang bercakap kuat di dalam kelas is the clearest and most natural.

What’s the difference between guru and cikgu?

Both refer to a teacher, but usage differs:

  • guru

    • general word for teacher (any level).
    • used in writing, narration, third-person reference.
    • e.g. Guru itu baik. – That teacher is kind.

  • cikgu

    • very commonly used to address a teacher directly.
    • also used informally to refer to teachers, especially schoolteachers.
    • e.g. Cikgu, saya tak faham. – Teacher, I don’t understand.

In your sentence, using guru is natural because we’re talking about the teacher, not addressing them:

  • Guru menegur murid… – The teacher reprimanded the student…