Breakdown of Saya suka menonton blog video tentang sejarah di rumah.
Questions & Answers about Saya suka menonton blog video tentang sejarah di rumah.
Both menonton and melihat are often translated as to watch / to see, but they’re not used in exactly the same way.
- menonton = to watch something like TV, films, videos, performances (more like “to watch actively on a screen or stage”).
- Saya suka menonton blog video… = I like watching video blogs…
- melihat = to see / to look at (more general, can be quick or accidental).
- Saya melihat anjing di jalan. = I saw a dog on the street.
Because blog video is something you watch on a screen, menonton is the most natural verb here.
You could say melihat blog video, and people would understand, but it sounds less natural than menonton in this context.
In everyday modern Malay, you will very often see:
- vlog (from English video blog)
- Saya suka menonton vlog sejarah di rumah.
blog video is understandable and not wrong, but:
- vlog is shorter and more common online.
- Some people also say video blog, especially in more English‑influenced contexts.
So the most natural version today is usually:
- Saya suka menonton vlog tentang sejarah di rumah.
or even - Saya suka menonton vlog sejarah di rumah. (see next question on tentang)
tentang means about / regarding.
- blog video tentang sejarah = video blogs about history
- blog video sejarah = history video blogs (literally: history video-blogs)
In meaning, they are almost the same here, and both are acceptable.
Nuance:
- tentang makes the “about” relationship explicit and can sound a bit more formal or careful.
- Without tentang, sejarah directly describes blog video, like an adjective.
So you can say:
- Saya suka menonton blog video tentang sejarah di rumah.
- Saya suka menonton blog video sejarah di rumah.
Both are natural. In casual speech, dropping tentang is very common.
Malay normally does not change verb forms to show tense.
The verb menonton looks the same for past, present, and future.
So Saya suka menonton blog video tentang sejarah di rumah can mean:
- I like watching video blogs about history at home. (present, habitual)
- I liked watching… (if the time is clearly in the past from context)
- I will like watching… (rare in practice; you’d normally phrase this differently)
How do speakers know the time? From:
- Context (what the conversation is about)
- Time words, e.g.
- semalam (yesterday)
- sekarang (now)
- nanti (later)
- setiap hari (every day)
Example:
- Semasa kecil, saya suka menonton blog video tentang sejarah di rumah.
= When I was a child, I liked watching video blogs about history at home.
This is a common mistake for English speakers.
In Malay, you normally do not use untuk after suka in this structure.
- Natural: Saya suka menonton blog video tentang sejarah di rumah.
- Unnatural / too English: Saya suka untuk menonton blog video tentang sejarah di rumah.
untuk + verb is used more for purposes or intentions, like “in order to”:
- Saya belajar bahasa Melayu untuk bekerja di Malaysia.
= I study Malay in order to work in Malaysia.
But with suka, just put the verb directly after it:
- Saya suka makan. = I like eating.
- Saya suka membaca. = I like reading.
- Saya suka menonton… = I like watching…
Malay basic word order is usually Subject – Verb – Object (SVO), similar to English.
In your sentence:
- Saya = subject (“I”)
- suka menonton = verb phrase (“like to watch”)
- blog video tentang sejarah = object (“video blogs about history”)
- di rumah = location phrase (“at home”)
So the structure is:
Saya (S) suka menonton (V) blog video tentang sejarah (O) di rumah (place)
Putting suka or menonton at the end, like Saya menonton blog video suka, would be ungrammatical and confusing.
di rumah is flexible; Malay word order allows some movement for emphasis.
Most natural and neutral:
- Saya suka menonton blog video tentang sejarah di rumah.
Other possible orders:
Di rumah, saya suka menonton blog video tentang sejarah.
– Emphasizes at home (contrast with other places).Saya suka menonton di rumah blog video tentang sejarah.
– Grammatically possible, but sounds odd and is rarely used like this.
In everyday speech and writing, keeping di rumah at the end (as in your sentence) is the most natural.
Both mean I, but they differ in politeness and context:
- Saya
- Polite, neutral, more formal.
- Used in most situations: with strangers, at work, in writing, with older people.
- Aku
- Informal, intimate.
- Used with close friends, siblings, sometimes in song lyrics, casual speech.
So:
- Your sentence with Saya is appropriate in almost any context.
- With Aku: Aku suka menonton blog video tentang sejarah di rumah.
– This sounds like you are talking to a close friend or writing casually.
As a learner, using Saya is the safest default.
In Malay, nouns are often left unmarked for plural if the meaning is clear from context.
So:
- blog video can mean video blog or video blogs depending on context.
- You do not need a special ending for plural.
If you really want to emphasize the plural, you have options:
- banyak blog video = many video blogs
- pelbagai blog video = various video blogs
- Reduplication is possible (blog-blog video), but sounds a bit awkward here; it’s more common with simple nouns like buku-buku (books), kawan-kawan (friends).
Your sentence is fine as it is; listeners will naturally understand it as plural.
Yes. menonton comes from the root tonton (to watch).
The prefix meN- is a very common verb-forming prefix in Malay.
- tonton → menonton (to watch)
- baca → membaca (to read)
- dengar → mendengar (to listen/hear)
- tulis → menulis (to write)
Roughly, meN- + root = to do [root] as a verb.
You’ll see meN- in many verbs, and the exact form (me-, men-, mem-, meng-, menye-) changes depending on the first letter of the root for pronunciation reasons.