Learn Hardcore Malay: Teman serumah saya membantu saya bersihkan dapur.

Yes, teman serumah is a normal, everyday way to say housemate in Malay. You’ll also hear rakan serumah (slightly more formal) or kawan serumah (very casual).

Why is saya repeated: “Teman serumah saya membantu saya…”? Could you drop one of them?

There are two different saya here:

teman serumah saya = my housemate (possessive saya)
membantu saya = helps me (object saya)

You can’t usually drop the first saya if you want to keep the meaning my housemate.
You can often drop the second saya if it’s obvious from context:

Teman serumah saya membantu bersihkan dapur.
My housemate helped (me/us) clean the kitchen.

In conversation, if it’s clear who is being helped, people may leave out that second saya.

What is the function of membantu here, and how is it different from tolong?

membantu is a verb meaning to help / to assist. In the sentence:

membantu saya = helps me

Difference from tolong:

membantu = the action of helping; neutral/formal; used as a normal verb.
- Dia membantu saya. = He/She helps me.
tolong = can be a verb (to help), but very commonly a polite request word like please / do me a favour.
- Tolong bersihkan dapur. = Please clean the kitchen.
- Dia tolong saya semalam. = He/She helped me yesterday. (more casual than membantu)

In your sentence, membantu is the standard choice and sounds natural and slightly more neutral/formal than tolong.

Why is it “membantu saya bersihkan dapur” and not “…untuk bersihkan dapur” or “…membersihkan dapur”?

All of these are possible, but they differ in style and nuance:

membantu saya bersihkan dapur
- Very natural, conversational.
- Structure: membantu [saya] [bersihkan dapur]
- The help is directly linked to the cleaning activity.
membantu saya untuk bersihkan dapur
- More explicit: untuk = to / in order to.
- A bit more formal or explanatory.
- Often used in writing or careful speech.
membantu saya membersihkan dapur
- membersihkan is a full verb to clean (something).
- Grammatically fine and common.
- Feels a bit more formal or “bookish” than bersihkan here.

So your sentence is a natural, slightly more casual way of saying My housemate helps me clean the kitchen.

What’s the difference between bersih, bersihkan, and membersihkan?

They are related but not the same:

bersih = clean (adjective):
- Dapur itu bersih. = The kitchen is clean.
bersihkan = to clean (something) / clean up (verb, often more colloquial):
- Saya bersihkan dapur. = I clean the kitchen.
membersihkan = also to clean (something) (verb, more “full”/formal form):
- Saya membersihkan dapur setiap hari. = I clean the kitchen every day.

Patterns:

bersih (adj) → membersihkan (verb) via meN‑…‑kan
bersihkan often sounds more colloquial / action-focused;
membersihkan sounds a bit more formal / written.

In your sentence, bersihkan dapur is perfectly natural in everyday speech.

How is the sentence structured grammatically? What is the subject, and what is the object?

Sentence: Teman serumah saya membantu saya bersihkan dapur.

Breakdown:

Teman serumah saya = subject (who does the action)
- head noun: teman
- modifier: serumah
- possessor: saya (my)
membantu = main verb (helps)
saya = direct object of membantu (who is being helped)
bersihkan dapur = verb phrase that describes what the help is for
- bersihkan = to clean (something)
- dapur = the kitchen (object of bersihkan)

Very loose English structure:
[My housemate] [helps] [me] [clean the kitchen].

Could you change the word order, like “Saya dibantu teman serumah saya bersihkan dapur”? Is that still correct?

Yes, that’s possible, but the style and focus change.

Teman serumah saya membantu saya bersihkan dapur.
- Active voice, neutral: My housemate helps me clean the kitchen.
Saya dibantu teman serumah saya bersihkan dapur.
- Passive voice (dibantu = am helped).
- Roughly: I am helped by my housemate to clean the kitchen.

The passive version puts more focus on “saya” (I/me) as the one affected, and is more common in formal writing or when you want to emphasise the person being helped rather than the helper.

For everyday speech, the original active version is more typical.

Why is it “dapur” and not something like “di dapur”? Does it mean clean the kitchen or clean in the kitchen?

dapur on its own = the kitchen (as a noun, object of the verb clean).
- bersihkan dapur = clean the kitchen (treating the kitchen as the thing being cleaned).
di dapur = in the kitchen (preposition + noun, location).
- Saya makan di dapur. = I eat in the kitchen.

Your sentence uses dapur as the object of bersihkan, so it means:

bersihkan dapur = clean the kitchen
not clean in the kitchen.

Could you also say “Teman serumah saya tolong saya bersihkan dapur”? Would that sound natural?

Yes, that’s understandable and can sound natural in informal speech.

Teman serumah saya membantu saya bersihkan dapur.
- Neutral / slightly formal.
- More standard in writing or careful speech.
Teman serumah saya tolong saya bersihkan dapur.
- More casual / colloquial.
- Feels like “My housemate helps me clean the kitchen” with a bit of an informal tone.

In many conversations, people use tolong this way, but membantu is safer if you want to sound neutral or write formally.

Do I need to mark tense, like past or future, in this sentence? How do I know when this happened?

Malay verbs do not change form for tense. membantu itself does not show past, present, or future.

Time is shown by:

time words:
- semalam = yesterday
- tadi = earlier
- nanti = later
- esok = tomorrow
context

Examples:

Teman serumah saya membantu saya bersihkan dapur semalam.
My housemate helped me clean the kitchen yesterday.
Nanti teman serumah saya membantu saya bersihkan dapur.
Later my housemate will help me clean the kitchen.

Without a time word or context, your sentence is time‑neutral; it can be understood as present/generic (“does/usually does”) or past depending on the situation.

Is there any politeness or formality issue with saya in this sentence? Could I use aku?

saya = polite / neutral “I, me”, safe with almost anyone
aku = casual/intimate “I, me”, used with close friends, family, etc.

In your sentence:

Teman serumah saya membantu saya bersihkan dapur.
- Polite/neutral; fine in almost any context.

If you switch to aku, you normally also change saya consistently:

Teman serumah aku tolong aku bersihkan dapur.
- Very casual, sounds like talking to a close friend.

Using aku in a formal or respectful context can sound too informal or even rude, so saya is usually the better default.

Is there any difference between “Teman serumah saya membantu saya bersihkan dapur” and “Teman serumah saya membantu saya membersihkan dapur” in meaning?

The core meaning is the same: My housemate helps me clean the kitchen.

Subtle differences:

bersihkan dapur
- Slightly more colloquial / conversational.
- Feels a bit more like “clean up the kitchen”.
membersihkan dapur
- Slightly more formal / bookish.
- Feels more like a “full” verb in careful writing.

In everyday spoken Malay, both are acceptable, but bersihkan dapur sounds a bit more relaxed and is very natural in conversation.