Learn Hardcore Malay: Ramai saudara-mara datang dari desa untuk menghadiri perkahwinan ini. - Many relatives come from the village to attend this wedding.

Using banyak saudara-mara would sound odd or slightly off to native speakers, even though you would probably still be understood. For people, think ramai, not banyak:

Ramai pelajar di sini. – There are many students here.
Banyak buku di atas meja. – There are many books on the table.

What exactly does saudara-mara mean, and why is there a hyphen?

Saudara-mara means relatives / extended family.

Details:

saudara by itself can mean:
- sibling
- relative
- or even just “you” (formal / neutral in some contexts)
mara on its own is not normally used with this meaning in modern Malay; in this combination it’s part of a fixed expression.

The hyphen shows this is a compound / reduplicated-like form functioning as one unit meaning “relatives” (plural idea is already built in). It’s not just “saudara and mara”; it’s one lexical item.

So:

seorang saudara – one (specific) relative / sibling
saudara-mara – relatives (in general, typically more than one)

You don’t need to add a plural marker; saudara-mara already implies plurality.

Why is there no word for “they” in the Malay sentence?

Malay often omits pronouns when the subject is clear from context.

In Ramai saudara-mara datang dari desa untuk menghadiri perkahwinan ini, the subject is:

Ramai saudara-mara – many relatives

Because the subject is explicitly stated, you don’t add a separate “they”. The verb datang simply follows the subject.

If you tried to say something like Mereka ramai saudara-mara datang…, that would be ungrammatical. The structure is simply:

[Ramai saudara-mara] [datang]…
- Subject: many relatives
- Verb: came / come

How do we know datang means “came” (past) and not “come” (present)?

Malay verbs usually do not change form for tense. The same verb datang can mean:

come / are coming (present)
came (past)
will come (future)

Tense is understood from context or from time words (like semalam – yesterday, esok – tomorrow).

In your sentence, the English translation is “came” because we are talking about an event (a wedding) that has happened or is being described as a specific event. But grammatically, the Malay sentence could also be used in a narrative present.

If you want to make the past clearer, you can add:

Ramai saudara-mara telah datang… – Many relatives have come…
Ramai saudara-mara sudah datang… – Many relatives have already come…

But telah and sudah are optional; the original sentence is perfectly normal.

What is the difference between dari and daripada, and why is dari used here?

Both dari and daripada are often translated as from, but they have typical uses:

dari – mainly for places, times, directions, origins
- datang dari desa – come from the village
- dari pagi sampai malam – from morning till night
daripada – mainly for people, sources, comparisons, or abstract “from”
- Hadiah ini daripada ibu saya. – This gift is from my mother.
- Lebih baik daripada dulu. – Better than before.

In datang dari desa, we are talking about origin in terms of place, so dari is natural.

Saying datang daripada desa is not standard; it sounds off to most speakers in this context.

What is the nuance of desa here? Is it the same as kampung?

Both desa and kampung can be translated as village, but there are nuances:

desa
- More formal / literary.
- Often used in writing, official contexts, or more “elevated” style.
- Can evoke a rural, pastoral feeling.
kampung
- More everyday / colloquial.
- Very common in daily speech.
- Also means “hometown area” or “home village” in some contexts.

In conversation, many people might say:

Ramai saudara-mara datang dari kampung…

Using desa in your sentence makes it sound a bit more formal or written, but it’s still natural.

Why do we say untuk menghadiri instead of just menghadiri or hadir?

Untuk means for / in order to / to (do something) when followed by a verb.

untuk menghadiri perkahwinan ini – to attend this wedding / in order to attend this wedding

You could say:

Ramai saudara-mara datang menghadiri perkahwinan ini.
(also understandable, but sounds slightly more formal or compressed)

Using untuk makes the purpose explicit and is very natural in speech:

Saya datang untuk belajar. – I came to study.
Mereka pergi ke bandar untuk membeli-belah. – They went to town to shop.

Hadir is the root verb “to be present / attend”. In this sentence, it’s turned into menghadiri (see next question). You wouldn’t normally say datang untuk hadir perkahwinan ini; menghadiri is the correct form here.

What is the difference between hadir and menghadiri?

Both come from the root hadir (present, to be present), but:

hadir – intransitive: to be present / to attend (without an object)
- Ramai tetamu hadir. – Many guests are present.
menghadiri – transitive: to attend (something), with a direct object
- Ramai saudara-mara menghadiri perkahwinan ini. – Many relatives attended this wedding.

menghadiri is formed with the meN- prefix:

hadir → menghadiri

In your sentence, menghadiri perkahwinan ini treats perkahwinan ini as the object of the verb “attend”, so the transitive form is needed.

You could express a similar idea less formally as:

Ramai saudara-mara datang ke perkahwinan ini. – Many relatives came to this wedding.

What does perkahwinan mean exactly, and how is it formed?

Perkahwinan means marriage or wedding (ceremony/event) depending on context.

It is built from the root kahwin (to marry) with the circumfix per-…-an:

kahwin – to marry
per + kahwin + an → perkahwinan – marriage / wedding (noun)

Usage examples:

Majlis perkahwinan – wedding ceremony
Usia perkahwinan mereka sudah 10 tahun. – Their marriage is already 10 years old.

In your sentence, perkahwinan ini is best understood as this wedding (event).

Why is ini placed after perkahwinan instead of before it, like in English?

In Malay, demonstratives like ini (this) and itu (that) usually follow the noun:

perkahwinan ini – this wedding
rumah itu – that house
buku ini – this book

So the structure is:

[noun] [ini/itu]

Putting ini before the noun (ini perkahwinan) is either:

a different structure (e.g. Ini perkahwinan abang saya. – This is my brother’s wedding.), where ini is the subject, or
simply ungrammatical for “this wedding” as a noun phrase.

So in your sentence, perkahwinan ini is the correct and normal order for “this wedding.”