Learn Hardcore Malay: Di stesen minyak, abang saya periksa tayar motosikal dan parkir dekat kedai. - At the petrol station, my older brother checks the motorcycle tires and parks near the shop.

You would not use pada here, because pada is more for time or abstract “at/to” (e.g. pada pukul tiga = at three o’clock), while di is the standard choice for physical location.

Why is it “abang saya” and not “saya abang” for “my brother”?

In Malay, possessive pronouns like “my/your/his” come after the noun, not before it.

abang saya = my older brother
- abang = older brother (or a respectful term for an older male)
- saya = I / me / my

So the order is:

[noun] + [possessor]
abang saya = brother my

This is the normal pattern in Malay:

rumah saya = my house
kereta dia = his/her car
buku mereka = their book(s)

“Saya abang” would mean “I am (an) older brother”, not “my brother”.

What exactly does “abang” mean? Can it be used for any brother?

Abang specifically means:

older brother (male sibling older than you)

It’s also commonly used as a polite form of address to an adult male slightly older than the speaker, similar to “big brother” or sometimes like “sir” in a friendly way.

Notes:

Younger brother is adik lelaki (or just adik if context is clear).
For older sister, you use kakak.
In many Malay-speaking communities, a wife may call her husband abang as a term of endearment.

So abang saya is not just “my brother” in general; it specifically implies my older brother.

Why is the verb “periksa” used and not “memeriksa”?

Both periksa and memeriksa are related:

periksa = check / inspect (base form; often used in casual speech)
memeriksa = to check / to inspect (with the me- verb prefix; more formal/complete form)

In everyday spoken Malay, it’s very common to use the base form of many verbs (without the meN- prefix), especially in Malaysia:

Saya periksa tayar. = I check the tyre.
Dia baca buku. (instead of membaca) = He/She reads a book.

In more formal writing or very careful speech, you might see:

Abang saya memeriksa tayar motosikal.

But the sentence you have is perfectly natural in colloquial Malaysian Malay.

How does “tayar motosikal” work? Where is the word “of” as in “tyres of the motorcycle”?

Malay usually expresses “of” by simply putting two nouns next to each other, with the owned thing first and the owner second:

tayar motosikal = motorcycle’s tyres / the tyres of the motorcycle
- tayar = tyre
- motosikal = motorcycle

Other examples:

pintu kereta = the car door / the door of the car
baju saya = my shirt (literally “shirt my”)
kunci rumah = house key / key of the house

So there is no separate word for “of” here; the relationship is shown by noun + noun order.

There is no “the” or “my” before “tayar motosikal”. How do I know if it’s “the motorcycle’s tyres” or “a motorcycle’s tyres”?

Malay generally does not use articles like “a/an/the”. Definiteness is understood from context.

tayar motosikal can mean:
- the motorcycle’s tyres
- some motorcycle’s tyres
- my motorcycle’s tyres (if context already established whose bike)

If earlier in the conversation it’s clear that you’re talking about your motorcycle, then tayar motosikal will naturally be understood as “the tyres of (that) motorcycle”.

If you want to be more explicit, you can add possessors or demonstratives:

tayar motosikal saya = the tyres of my motorcycle
tayar motosikal itu = the tyres of that motorcycle

Is “parkir” really a Malay verb? Can I also say “parking”?

Yes, parkir is a normal Malay verb (borrowed and adapted from English “park” via Indonesian). In your sentence:

parkir = to park (a vehicle)

So:

abang saya parkir dekat kedai = my older brother parked near the shop

In colloquial Malaysian Malay, people also say:

parking (as a noun or verb in casual speech):
- Dia cari parking. = He/She is looking for a parking spot.
- Dia tengah parking. = He/She is parking (right now).

More formal options:

meletak kereta/motosikal = to put/park the car/motorcycle
memarkir (less common in everyday Malaysian speech, more Indonesian-style)

But parkir in your sentence sounds natural and understandable.

Why is it “dekat kedai” and not “dekat dengan kedai”?

Both forms exist:

dekat kedai = near the shop
dekat dengan kedai = near the shop (literally “near with the shop”)

In colloquial Malaysian Malay, it’s very common to drop dengan and just say:

dekat rumah = near the house
dekat sekolah = near the school

In more formal or careful Malay, you might see dekat dengan written or spoken, but dekat kedai is absolutely natural in everyday conversation.

How do I know this happened in the past? The verbs don’t change form.

Malay verbs do not change for tense like English verbs do. The same form is used for past, present, and future. Time is usually shown by:

Time words
- tadi = earlier
- semalam = yesterday
- esok = tomorrow
- nanti = later
Aspect markers (optional)
- sudah / telah = already (often used for past)
- sedang = in the middle of (doing something)
- akan = will (future)

In your sentence, context tells us it’s past. If you want to make it explicitly past, you could say:

Tadi di stesen minyak, abang saya sudah periksa tayar motosikal dan parkir dekat kedai.
= Earlier at the petrol station, my older brother had already checked the motorcycle tyres and parked near the shop.

But the original is still normal; Malay often relies on context.

Why is there no separate subject pronoun like “he”? Is “abang saya” the subject?

Yes. Abang saya is the subject of the sentence:

Abang saya periksa tayar motosikal dan parkir dekat kedai.
= My older brother checked the motorcycle’s tyres and parked near the shop.

Malay does not require an extra “he/she” pronoun if the subject is already a noun phrase. So you do not say:

✗ Abang saya dia periksa… (this sounds redundant, though you may hear it in some dialects)

If you simplified the sentence, you could also say:

Dia periksa tayar motosikal… = He/She checked the motorcycle’s tyres…

But you choose either the noun (abang saya) or the pronoun (dia) as subject, not both in standard Malay.

Why is there a comma after “di stesen minyak”? Could the sentence start directly with “Abang saya…”?

Di stesen minyak is a location phrase placed at the beginning of the sentence to set the scene:

Di stesen minyak, abang saya periksa tayar motosikal dan parkir dekat kedai.
= At the petrol station, my older brother checked the motorcycle’s tyres and parked near the shop.

The comma is similar to English: it separates the introductory location phrase from the main clause.

You can absolutely rephrase it as:

Abang saya periksa tayar motosikal dan parkir dekat kedai di stesen minyak.

That is still grammatical, but the emphasis is slightly different. Starting with di stesen minyak foregrounds the place.

Are there other common ways to say “stesen minyak” and “kedai” in everyday speech?

Yes, there are some common variants:

For stesen minyak (petrol/gas station):

pam minyak (lit. “oil pump”) – very common in Malaysia:
- Saya berhenti di pam minyak. = I stopped at the gas station.
stesen petrol – also understandable, especially with English influence.

For kedai (shop):

kedai is the general word for “shop/store”.
You might see more specific terms:
- kedai runcit = small grocery shop / convenience store
- kedai makan = small restaurant / eatery
- warung / gerai = stall, small roadside food place (depends on region)

In your sentence, stesen minyak and kedai are both very standard and natural.