Questions & Answers about Gigi saya sakit malam ini.
In Malay, gigi can mean tooth or teeth. The word itself does not change form for plural.
So gigi saya sakit can be translated as:
- My tooth hurts, or
- My teeth hurt,
depending on the context. If you want to be very clear, you can add a number:
- Satu gigi saya sakit = One of my teeth hurts.
- Dua gigi saya sakit = Two of my teeth hurt.
In Malay, possessive pronouns like saya (my) usually come after the noun they possess.
So the pattern is:
- gigi saya = my tooth / my teeth
- buku saya = my book
- rumah saya = my house
Saya gigi is ungrammatical. The noun almost always comes first, then the pronoun.
Malay doesn't separate verbs and adjectives in the same way English does. Words like sakit function as stative verbs or adjectives, depending on how you think about them.
- Literally, sakit means to be in pain / hurt / sick.
- In this sentence, gigi saya sakit can be understood as:
- "My tooth is painful" (adjective-like), or
- "My tooth hurts" (verb-like).
Malay does not need an extra verb like "to be" in this kind of sentence.
Malay often omits the verb "to be" in sentences that describe a state or quality.
So:
- Gigi saya sakit literally looks like "Tooth my painful",
but it is understood as "My tooth is painful" / "My tooth hurts".
You do not add adalah here. Adalah is used mainly in more formal, equational sentences like:
- Dia adalah doktor. = He/She is a doctor.
With adjectives like sakit, besar (big), cantik (pretty), you normally just put the adjective after the noun:
- Rumah itu besar. = That house is big.
- Adik saya sakit. = My younger sibling is sick.
Literally:
- malam = night / evening
- ini = this
So malam ini literally means "this night", but the natural English equivalent is "tonight".
With time expressions, ini is attached in the same way:
- pagi ini = this morning
- petang ini = this afternoon / this evening
- hari ini = today
Using ini with time words is the standard way to say "this [time]" in Malay.
You can say pada malam ini, but in everyday speech malam ini is more natural and common.
- Gigi saya sakit malam ini. → Completely normal and natural.
- Gigi saya sakit pada malam ini. → Grammatically okay, but sounds more formal or a bit heavy for such a simple sentence.
In casual conversation, you usually omit pada with simple time expressions like:
- esok (tomorrow)
- semalam (yesterday)
- malam ini (tonight)
You might see pada more in writing, or when the time expression is longer:
- pada malam Jumaat = on Friday night
Both refer to "this evening/this night", but with a different time perspective.
malam ini = tonight, still to come or currently happening.
- E.g., said earlier in the day or during the night itself.
malam tadi = last night / earlier this evening, already past.
- Used after the time has passed.
So:
- Gigi saya sakit malam ini. = My tooth hurts tonight (now or later tonight).
- Gigi saya sakit malam tadi. = My tooth hurt last night / earlier tonight.
Yes, Saya sakit gigi malam ini is also correct, but the structure and nuance are slightly different.
Gigi saya sakit malam ini.
- Literally: "My tooth is painful tonight."
- Focus is more directly on the tooth.
Saya sakit gigi malam ini.
- Literally: "I have toothache tonight."
- Pattern: Saya sakit [body part] = I have pain in [body part].
- This is a very common pattern for ailments:
- Saya sakit kepala. = I have a headache.
- Saya sakit perut. = I have a stomachache.
Both are natural; choose based on whether you want to highlight you having an ailment or the tooth itself.
Yes. Malam ini gigi saya sakit is grammatically correct.
The difference is mainly one of emphasis:
- Gigi saya sakit malam ini.
→ Neutral order, focusing on "my tooth hurts", and then specifying "tonight". - Malam ini gigi saya sakit.
→ Brings "tonight" to the front, giving it extra emphasis, like:
"Tonight, my tooth hurts."
Both are fine in everyday speech.
Both saya and aku mean "I" / "me", but differ in formality and social distance.
saya
- Polite, neutral, and safe in almost all situations.
- Used with strangers, older people, formal situations, and generally in public.
aku
- Casual, more intimate.
- Used with close friends, siblings, or people your own age when you’re comfortable with them.
In this sentence, using saya is a good default:
- Gigi saya sakit malam ini. = Neutral and polite.
You would not say Gigi aku sakit malam ini to a doctor you just met; that might be too casual unless you are in a very informal context.
Malay does not mark tense (past, present, future) with verb changes, unlike English.
The sentence Gigi saya sakit malam ini can, in other contexts, be interpreted as:
- My tooth hurts.
- My tooth is hurting.
The time expression (here, malam ini, "tonight") plus context tells you when it happens. If you need to be very clear, you can add time adverbs:
- tadi (earlier)
- sekarang (now)
- nanti (later)
For example:
- Gigi saya sakit tadi. = My tooth hurt earlier.
- Sekarang gigi saya sakit. = My tooth hurts now.
Ini means this, and with time words it works very regularly:
- hari ini = today
- pagi ini = this morning
- tengah hari ini = this midday / this noon
- petang ini = this afternoon / this evening
- malam ini = tonight
The structure is always:
- [time word] + ini = "this [time word]"
So Gigi saya sakit malam ini follows the same pattern, simply attaching ini to malam.