Cita-cita adik perempuan saya ialah menjadi doktor gigi suatu hari nanti.

My younger sister's ambition is to become a dentist one day.

Breakdown of Cita-cita adik perempuan saya ialah menjadi doktor gigi suatu hari nanti.

• adalah: to be
• saya: my
• menjadi: to become
• adik perempuan: the younger sister
• cita-cita: the ambition
• doktor gigi: the dentist
• suatu hari nanti: one day (in the future)

Questions & Answers about Cita-cita adik perempuan saya ialah menjadi doktor gigi suatu hari nanti.

What does cita-cita mean in this sentence?

Cita-cita means an ambition, aspiration, or life goal – usually something long‑term and important, like a dream career.

Nuances compared to similar words:

• cita-cita: a concrete, usually serious ambition (e.g. future job, big achievement).
• impian: a dream, which can be more abstract or romantic/idealistic.
• harapan: a hope, something you wish will happen.

So here, Cita-cita adik perempuan saya = My younger sister’s ambition (her long‑term goal in life).

Why is it written as cita-cita with a hyphen and repetition? What does that do?

The hyphen shows reduplication (repeating a word), which is very common in Malay.

• The base word is cita (from Sanskrit), but in modern Malay you almost always see the full form cita-cita, not just cita on its own.
• In many words, reduplication can mark plurality or add nuance, but for cita-cita, the reduplicated form has become the standard dictionary form meaning “ambition/aspiration”.

In practice, you treat cita-cita as a single vocabulary item: you don’t normally say cita alone with the same meaning.

Does adik mean “younger sister” or just “younger sibling”? Why add perempuan?

On its own:

• adik = younger sibling (gender not specified).

To show gender, you add:

• adik perempuan = younger sister
• adik lelaki = younger brother

In the sentence:

• adik perempuan saya = my younger sister

If you only said adik saya, it would mean my younger sibling and the gender would be unclear from that phrase alone.

Why is it adik perempuan saya and not something like “adik saya perempuan”? How does this word order work?

In Malay noun phrases, the general order is:

[main noun] + [descriptors] + [possessor]

So:

• adik (main noun)
• perempuan (descriptor: female)
• saya (possessor: my)

→ adik perempuan saya = “my younger sister”

If you say adik saya perempuan, that typically sounds like a full sentence:

• Adik saya perempuan. = “My younger sibling is female.”

So:

• adik perempuan saya = one noun phrase (“my younger sister”)
• adik saya perempuan = a clause (“my younger sibling is female”)

In this sentence we need a noun phrase as part of cita-cita adik perempuan saya (“my younger sister’s ambition”), so adik perempuan saya is the correct structure.

What is ialah doing here? Is it like “is”? Can it be left out, and how is it different from adalah?

Yes, ialah is a kind of copula, similar to English “is/are” in equational sentences.

In this sentence:

• Cita-cita adik perempuan saya = subject
• ialah ≈ “is”
• menjadi doktor gigi suatu hari nanti = complement

→ “My younger sister’s ambition is to become a dentist someday.”

About ialah vs adalah:

• Traditional grammar:
  
  • ialah is used before nouns (or noun‑like phrases).
  • adalah is often said to be used before adjectives or prepositional phrases.
• Actual modern usage: native speakers often mix them, but ialah here sounds natural and slightly formal.

Can you omit it?

• Yes, in everyday speech many people would just say:
  • Cita-cita adik perempuan saya (ialah) menjadi doktor gigi suatu hari nanti.
• Leaving it out is more casual; keeping ialah makes it more standard/formal, especially in writing.

What does menjadi mean here, and how is it different from jadi or sebagai?

Menjadi is a verb meaning “to become” or “to turn into”.

In this sentence:

• menjadi doktor gigi = to become a dentist

Common contrasts:

1. jadi vs menjadi

   • jadi can mean “become”, but also “so/therefore”, “end up”, “okay (agreed)”, etc.
   • menjadi is more clearly “to become / to serve as” and is often used before a noun/profession:
     • Dia mahu menjadi doktor. = She wants to become a doctor.

2. sebagai

   • sebagai = “as” (in the role of):
     • Dia bekerja sebagai doktor gigi. = She works as a dentist.
   • It doesn’t mean “to become”; it describes the role you already have.

So, menjadi doktor gigi is the natural way to say “to become a dentist” in an ambition/future‑goal context.

How does doktor gigi work grammatically? Is it literally “tooth doctor”? Where are the articles and plurals?

Yes, literally doktor gigi is “doctor (of) teeth”, which corresponds to dentist in English.

Grammar points:

• doktor = doctor
• gigi = tooth / teeth
  → Together: a compound noun meaning “dentist”.

Articles:

• Malay normally has no articles like “a” or “the”.
• doktor gigi by itself can mean:
  • “a dentist”
  • “the dentist”
  • “dentists”
    depending on context.
• If you really want to emphasize “a (single) dentist”, you can say:
  • seorang doktor gigi = one person who is a dentist.

Plural:

• Malay usually doesn’t mark plural on the noun:
  • doktor gigi can be “dentist” or “dentists”.
• You only mark plural if needed, e.g.:
  • ramai doktor gigi = many dentists.

What exactly does suatu hari nanti mean? Could I just say “later” or “in the future” instead?

Suatu hari nanti literally breaks down as:

• suatu = a/one/certain (indefinite)
• hari = day
• nanti = later / in the future

Put together, suatu hari nanti means “someday (in the future)” or “one day, in the future”, with:

• suatu hari = “one day / some day”
• nanti reinforcing that it’s in the future, not the past.

Alternative ways to express a similar idea:

• pada masa depan = in the future
• pada suatu hari nanti = on some day in the future
• satu hari nanti (colloquial variant of suatu hari nanti)

But suatu hari nanti is a very common, natural way to say “one day / someday” in Malay, nicely matching the tone of an ambition.

How would I change the sentence to talk about a different family member, like a younger brother or an older sister?

You mainly change the family term inside Cita-cita … saya.

Key words:

• adik perempuan = younger sister
• adik lelaki = younger brother
• kakak perempuan or just kakak = older sister
• abang = older brother
• anak saya = my child

Examples:

• Cita-cita adik lelaki saya ialah menjadi doktor gigi suatu hari nanti.
  = My younger brother’s ambition is to become a dentist someday.

• Cita-cita kakak saya ialah menjadi doktor gigi suatu hari nanti.
  = My older sister’s ambition is to become a dentist someday.

• Cita-cita abang saya ialah menjadi doktor gigi suatu hari nanti.
  = My older brother’s ambition is to become a dentist someday.

The rest of the sentence (ialah menjadi doktor gigi suatu hari nanti) can stay the same.

Is this sentence formal or informal? How would a more casual version sound in everyday speech?

The original sentence is neutral to slightly formal, very suitable for writing (essays, schoolwork, exams):

• Cita-cita adik perempuan saya ialah menjadi doktor gigi suatu hari nanti.

More casual spoken versions might:

1. Drop ialah:

   • Cita-cita adik perempuan saya nak jadi doktor gigi satu hari nanti.

2. Use nak instead of hendak/mahu explicitly:

   • Adik perempuan saya nak jadi doktor gigi satu hari nanti.
     (“My younger sister wants to be a dentist one day.”)

3. Use satu instead of suatu in speech:

   • … satu hari nanti. (very common colloquial variant)

So the given sentence is good “standard Malay”, and you can make it more casual by simplifying some parts, especially ialah → (omit) and suatu → satu in speech.