Learn Hardcore Malay: Saya rasa tekanan di pejabat hari ini sangat teruk. - I feel the stress at the office today is very bad.

Saya rasa… = I feel / I think… (very commonly used in speech)
Saya berasa… = also I feel…, but sounds a bit more formal or written.
Saya merasakan… = I feel / I sense…, slightly heavier or more deliberate, and less used in casual speech.

So:

Saya rasa tekanan… = natural, everyday way to say I feel the pressure…
You could say Saya berasa tekanan…, but it is less common in casual conversation.
Saya merasakan tekanan… would be understood, but sounds more formal or literary.

Does rasa here mean “to feel emotionally” or “to think / to have an opinion”?

It can mean both, and in this sentence it actually carries both shades:

Emotional feeling: I feel that the pressure is very bad today.
Opinion: I think the pressure at the office today is very bad.

In everyday Malay, Saya rasa… is often used like English “I think…”, even for opinions, not only for physical or emotional feelings. Context decides whether it’s emotional or purely mental; here, it’s a mix of both.

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

Tekanan means pressure (both literal and figurative).

It comes from:

Root verb: tekan = to press
Suffix -an forms a noun: tekan → tekanan = pressure

So you can use tekanan for:

Physical pressure: tekanan darah = blood pressure
Mental/emotional pressure: tekanan di pejabat = pressure at the office

It is roughly like English “pressure”, while stres (from English stress) is also used but more colloquial.

Why is it tekanan di pejabat and not tekanan pejabat? What does di do here?

Di is a preposition meaning at / in / on (location).

di pejabat = at the office / in the office

So:

tekanan di pejabat = the pressure at the office

If you said tekanan pejabat, it sounds like “office’s pressure” (pressure belonging to the office), which is not the normal way to express “pressure at work” in Malay. Di clearly marks it as a location.

Compare:

di rumah = at home
di sekolah = at school
di pejabat = at the office

I’ve seen di sometimes written together with the word (e.g. dalam, diri). Why is it separate in di pejabat?

In modern Malay spelling:

Di as a preposition of place is written separately:
- di pejabat (at the office)
- di rumah (at home)
Di- as a passive verb prefix is written together with the verb:
- ditekan (is/was pressed)
- dibaca (is/was read)

So here, di is clearly a location preposition → it must be separate: di pejabat, not dipejabat.

Can the word order of di pejabat hari ini be changed? For example, can I say hari ini di pejabat?

Yes, you can change the order, and it’s still correct:

Saya rasa tekanan di pejabat hari ini sangat teruk.
Saya rasa tekanan hari ini di pejabat sangat teruk.
Saya rasa tekanan di pejabat sangat teruk hari ini.

All are grammatically fine. The differences are in emphasis and flow:

di pejabat hari ini (original) – neutral, smooth.
hari ini di pejabat – slightly emphasizes today first.
sangat teruk hari ini – puts more stress/emphasis on today as the time of being very bad.

In everyday speech, the original version is very natural, but the others are acceptable too.

Why is there no tense marking on rasa? How do we know it’s talking about today?

Malay verbs generally do not change form for tense. Instead, time is shown with time expressions or context.

Here:

hari ini = today

So:

Saya rasa… can mean I feel / I felt / I will feel, depending on context.
Adding hari ini fixes the time: I feel (today) that the pressure…

If you need to be very explicit, you can use time markers like:

tadi (a moment ago)
semalam (yesterday)
esok (tomorrow)
akan (will), sudah / telah (already), etc.

But the verb rasa itself does not change.

What does sangat teruk mean exactly, and can sangat go before the adjective?

Teruk means bad / terrible / awful / severe.
Sangat means very.

So:

sangat teruk = very bad / really terrible

You can place sangat:

Before the adjective: sangat teruk (more common)
After the adjective: teruk sangat

Both are used. In your sentence:

…sangat teruk = very natural and standard.
…teruk sangat = more colloquial, often used in speech.

Note: teruk is fairly strong, closer to “terrible / really bad” than just “a bit bad”.

Is teruk always negative? Could I use it for things like “the weather is very bad”?

Yes, teruk is always negative and can be used in many situations:

Keadaan trafik sangat teruk. = The traffic situation is very bad.
Cuaca hari ini teruk. = The weather today is bad/terrible.
Keputusan peperiksaan saya teruk. = My exam results are bad.

So in your sentence, tekanan… sangat teruk means the situation is seriously bad, not just mildly unpleasant.

Is Saya rasa… polite and neutral, or is it informal? Could I use aku instead of saya?

Saya is neutral and polite, suitable for almost any situation:

at work
with strangers
in formal or semi-formal contexts

You can say Saya rasa tekanan di pejabat hari ini sangat teruk at the office without sounding rude.

Aku is more informal/intimate:

with close friends
with family
in very casual situations

So you could say Aku rasa tekanan di pejabat hari ini sangat teruk, but that would sound very casual and is usually not suitable when talking about your workplace in a professional context.

Could the sentence be shortened in casual speech? How might people really say this?

Yes, in casual conversation people often shorten or loosen the sentence. Some possibilities:

Tekanan kat pejabat hari ni teruk gila.
(Very informal: kat = di, hari ni = hari ini, gila = slang “crazy/very”.)
Hari ni stress kat office teruk sangat.
(Mixing Malay and English, common in urban speech: stress, office.)
Tekanan kerja hari ni teruk.
(Replacing di pejabat with kerja = work.)

Your original sentence is correct, natural, and slightly more neutral/formal than these colloquial versions.

Grammatically, is Saya rasa tekanan di pejabat hari ini sangat teruk one clause or two? Is anything like bahawa omitted?

You can analyze it in two ways:

As if “that” is implied:
- Saya rasa (bahawa) tekanan di pejabat hari ini sangat teruk.
- Saya = I
- rasa = feel/think
- (bahawa) = that (often omitted in Malay)
- tekanan di pejabat hari ini sangat teruk = “the pressure at the office today is very bad”
Without explicitly thinking of bahawa, just:
- Saya rasa… (I feel…) + statement.

In practice, Malay speakers very often omit bahawa, so your sentence is completely natural without it.

Can I replace sangat with other words for different degrees of intensity?

Yes. Some common options:

agak teruk = rather / quite bad
amat teruk = very bad (a bit more formal than sangat)
teruk sekali = extremely bad
teruk gila (very informal/slang) = insanely bad

So you might say:

Saya rasa tekanan di pejabat hari ini agak teruk.
= I feel the pressure at the office today is quite bad.
Saya rasa tekanan di pejabat hari ini teruk sekali.
= I feel the pressure at the office today is extremely bad.