Learn Hardcore Malay: Di sekolah menengah dulu, saya pernah ponteng kelas dan kena denda menyalin nota lima kali. - Back in high school, I once skipped class and was punished by having to copy notes five times.

Di sekolah menengah dulu ≈ “Back in secondary school” / “When I was in secondary school (in the past)”.
Without dulu, Di sekolah menengah just means “At secondary school”, and the time is less clearly in the past. Context might still make it clear, but dulu makes the “back then” feeling explicit.

So dulu isn’t strictly required grammatically, but it’s very natural here and adds the nuance of “back in those days”.

What exactly is sekolah menengah? Is it “middle school” or “high school”?

Sekolah menengah means secondary school in a broad sense.

In Malaysia (and generally in Malay usage):

Sekolah rendah = primary / elementary school
Sekolah menengah = secondary school (covers what many English speakers call middle + high school)

In English translation, people often choose “high school” because it’s the closest common concept, but structurally it may cover a slightly wider age range than some English-speaking systems.

Why is pernah used in saya pernah ponteng kelas? What does pernah add?

Pernah roughly means “have ever / once (in the past) / at some point before.”

Saya ponteng kelas ≈ “I skipped class.” (a simple statement, can sound more like a specific occasion)
Saya pernah ponteng kelas ≈ “I have skipped class before / I once skipped class (in my life).”

So pernah:

Emphasises that this happened at least once in the past,
Often carries the nuance that it’s part of your life experience, not necessarily a regular habit.

It’s similar in feel to the English present perfect (“I’ve skipped class before”) rather than simple past.

Is pernah a past tense marker? Do I still need other past words like telah?

Pernah is not a pure tense marker like English past tense; it marks experience / occurrence at some time in the past.

You can use:

Pernah – for life experience or has/have ever done
- Saya pernah ponteng kelas. = I have skipped class before.
Telah / sudah – more like “already / did”, focusing on completion
- Saya telah/sudah ponteng kelas. (grammatical but odd in this context; sounds overly formal or like you’re reporting a completed action.)

In this sentence, pernah is the natural choice because you are talking about something you did at some point in the past, as part of your past behaviour.

What does ponteng mean exactly? Is it formal or slang?

Ponteng means to skip / to play truant / to bunk off, usually from school or class.

Ponteng kelas = skip class
Ponteng sekolah = skip school

Nuance and register:

It’s informal–neutral everyday Malay, very commonly used in speech and casual writing.
It’s not rude, but for very formal contexts (e.g. an official report), people might prefer tidak hadir ke sekolah (“did not attend school”) or ponteng sekolah might still appear but surrounded by more formal language.

So in the given sentence, ponteng is exactly the natural word to use.

Can ponteng be used for skipping things other than school, like work?

Yes, ponteng can be extended informally to other obligations:

Ponteng kerja – skip work, be absent from work without good reason
Ponteng latihan – skip practice/training

However, it still has a casual, slightly naughty flavour. For formal or serious contexts, you’d normally see phrases like tidak hadir bekerja (did not come to work), ponteng kerja (more colloquial, but still used).

What does kena mean in kena denda? Is it the same as “get” in English?

In kena denda, kena functions as a light verb meaning something like “to get / to be subjected to / to suffer (something)”, usually unpleasant.

Kena denda ≈ “got punished / got a penalty / was penalised”
The nuance is that something (usually bad) happened to you.

Other examples:

Saya kena marah. – I got scolded.
Dia kena tipu. – He/she got cheated.
Mereka kena pukul. – They got beaten up.

So yes, it’s somewhat like English “got” when used for bad experiences: “I got punished”, “I got scolded”.

What’s the difference between kena denda, didenda, and dikenakan denda?

All relate to being punished, but with different tone and formality:

Kena denda
- Very common and conversational.
- Emphasises the experience of having the punishment fall on you.
- Saya kena denda. = I got punished.
Didenda
- Standard passive form of mendenda (to fine/punish).
- More neutral and somewhat more formal than kena denda.
- Saya didenda. = I was punished / I was fined.
Dikenakan denda
- Formal and bureaucratic-sounding.
- Often used in official documents, news reports, rules.
- Saya dikenakan denda. ≈ I was imposed a fine / I was subjected to a penalty.

In your sentence, kena denda matches the casual, storytelling tone.

Why is it menyalin nota and not menulis nota? What’s the difference?

Menyalin = to copy something that is already written.
- Menyalin nota = copying notes, writing them out again from an existing source (e.g. from the board, from your own notes).
Menulis = to write / to compose.
- Menulis nota = writing notes (creating them).

In a punishment context:

Menyalin nota lima kali clearly means “copying the notes five times”, not creating new content. That fits the idea of a repetitive, boring punishment task.

How does lima kali work in menyalin nota lima kali? Why at the end?

Lima kali means “five times.”

Placement:

Menyalin nota lima kali = “copy the notes five times.”

In Malay, adverbs of frequency or repetition like sekali, dua kali, lima kali often come after the verb phrase:

Saya baca buku dua kali. – I read the book twice.
Dia tonton filem itu tiga kali. – He watched that movie three times.

You can also say sebanyak lima kali for emphasis or formality:

…kena denda menyalin nota sebanyak lima kali.
(still “copy the notes five times” but a bit more formal/emphatic)

Why is there no past tense marker like “-ed” in Malay for “skipped” or “was punished”?

Malay does not change verb forms for tense. Verbs stay the same for past, present, and future:

ponteng can mean “skip / skipped / will skip”
kena denda can mean “get punished / got punished / will get punished”

Pastness is shown by:

Time words: dulu (before, in the past), semalam (yesterday), tadi (earlier), etc.
Aspect words: pernah (have ever), sudah / telah (already), sedang (in the middle of), akan (will).

In your sentence:

Dulu (“back then”) and pernah (“have ever”) make it clear the events are in the past without changing the verb forms.

Is the word order Di sekolah menengah dulu, saya… fixed, or can I move things around?

The word order is flexible, but the current order is very natural:

Di sekolah menengah dulu, saya pernah ponteng kelas dan kena denda…
– fronting the time phrase Di sekolah menengah dulu is like saying “Back in secondary school, I once skipped class and got punished…” in English. It sets the scene.

You could also say:

Saya pernah ponteng kelas di sekolah menengah dulu dan kena denda…

This is still correct but slightly changes the rhythm. Fronting Di sekolah menengah dulu feels more like storytelling and is very common in spoken and written Malay when giving background context.

Is this whole sentence formal, or is it more casual? Where is it appropriate to use?

The sentence:

Di sekolah menengah dulu, saya pernah ponteng kelas dan kena denda menyalin nota lima kali.

is natural, everyday Malay with a casual tone, because of:

Ponteng – informal/neutral word for “skip (class)”.
Kena denda – conversational passive-like expression.

You can comfortably use it:

In conversation
In personal writing, social media, informal essays or stories.

For very formal writing (e.g. official reports), you’d adjust the style:

Semasa di sekolah menengah, saya pernah tidak hadir ke kelas dan telah didenda menyalin nota sebanyak lima kali.

But for most real-life use, the original sentence is perfectly fine and natural.