Learn Hardcore Malay: Di gurun kering itu, pelancong mesti minum banyak air supaya tidak sakit. - In that dry desert, tourists must drink a lot of water so that they do not get sick.

Di gurun kering itu, pelancong mesti minum banyak air supaya tidak sakit.

In that dry desert, tourists must drink a lot of water so that they do not get sick.

Breakdown of Di gurun kering itu, pelancong mesti minum banyak air supaya tidak sakit.

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Questions & Answers about Di gurun kering itu, pelancong mesti minum banyak air supaya tidak sakit.

In the phrase Di gurun kering itu, why is di used and not something like pada or dalam?

Di is the basic preposition for location in Malay, similar to “at / in / on” in English, depending on context.

Di
- place = “at / in that place”
  - Di gurun kering itu = In that dry desert / At that dry desert

How it compares to others:

di – neutral location marker
- di sekolah (at school), di rumah (at home), di bandar (in the city)
dalam – “inside, within” something enclosed or with a sense of “inside-ness”
- dalam kotak (inside the box), dalam bilik (inside the room)
- You can say dalam gurun but it sounds more like “inside the desert area”; di gurun is more natural and general.
pada – “on / at / per” but used with:
- time: pada hari Isnin (on Monday)
- abstract things: pada pendapat saya (in my opinion)
- pronouns: pada saya (to me / for me)

So di gurun kering itu is the normal, idiomatic choice for “in that dry desert.”

Why is the order gurun kering itu (desert dry that) instead of putting itu at the beginning, like itu gurun kering?

Malay noun phrases usually follow this pattern:

noun + adjective + determiner (like “that/this”)

So:

gurun = desert
kering = dry
itu = that

Combine them:

gurun kering itu = that dry desert (literally “desert dry that”)

Putting itu in front, like itu gurun kering, is not the normal way to say “that dry desert.” It can sound:

more like a separate phrase: Itu gurun kering. = “That (is) a dry desert.”
(Here itu is functioning like “that (one)”, a pronoun, not a determiner inside the noun phrase.)

So for “that dry desert” as one noun phrase, Malay prefers gurun kering itu.

Why isn’t there a plural ending on pelancong? How do we know it’s “tourists” and not just “tourist”?

Malay nouns usually do not change form for plural. Pelancong can mean “tourist” or “tourists” depending on context.

Ways Malay shows plurality (if needed):

Using context:
- Di gurun kering itu, pelancong mesti minum banyak air...
  The idea of “people in the desert” naturally suggests more than one person.
Using para (a plural marker often for people):
- Para pelancong = (all the) tourists
Repeating the noun (more informal / emphatic):
- pelancong-pelancong = tourists (many tourists)

So the sentence as given is naturally understood as “tourists must drink a lot of water”, even though pelancong itself doesn’t look plural.

What is the nuance of mesti here? Is it like “must”, “have to”, or just “should”?

Mesti expresses strong obligation or necessity, very close to English “must / have to”.

In this sentence:

pelancong mesti minum banyak air
= tourists must / have to drink a lot of water

Strength compared to similar words:

mesti – strong necessity/obligation
- You really must do it; it’s important.
perlu – “need to” (more about necessity than obligation)
- pelancong perlu minum banyak air = tourists need to drink a lot of water.
harus – “should / ought to / should really” (Malay usage varies, but often slightly softer than mesti in everyday speech)
wajib – obligation in a very strong / formal / religious or legal sense
- wajib feels like “compulsory by rule or religion”.

So mesti here is best translated as “must / have to”, not just a mild “should”.

Why is it minum banyak air and not minum air banyak?

The normal word order in Malay quantity phrases is:

verb + quantity word + noun

Here:

minum = drink
banyak = many / a lot of
air = water

So:

minum banyak air = drink a lot of water

If you say minum air banyak, it can sound:

less natural in standard Malay, or
like you’re emphasizing air first and then adding banyak after it, which can feel a bit off in careful speech.

Compare:

makan banyak nasi – eat a lot of rice
beli banyak buku – buy many books
ada banyak kerja – have a lot of work

So [verb] + banyak + [noun] is the standard, natural pattern.

What exactly does supaya mean here, and how is it different from agar or untuk?

Supaya introduces a clause that expresses purpose or the desired result, like:

“so that”
“in order that”

In the sentence:

supaya tidak sakit = so that (they) don’t get sick

Comparison:

supaya – purpose/result, common in spoken and written Malay
- Belajar rajin-rajin supaya lulus peperiksaan.
  Study hard so that you pass the exam.
agar – very similar to supaya, slightly more formal or literary in some contexts
- Belajar rajin-rajin agar lulus peperiksaan.
untuk – “for / to (do something)”, usually followed by a verb in basic form or a noun, not a full clause with its own subject most of the time:
- untuk lulus peperiksaan (to pass the exam)
- untuk kesihatan (for health)

In your sentence, you could say:

...minum banyak air supaya tidak sakit.
...minum banyak air agar tidak sakit.

Both are fine. Supaya is very natural and common.

Why is tidak used before sakit instead of bukan?

Malay has two main words for “not”:

tidak – used with:
- verbs: tidak pergi (did not go)
- adjectives: tidak sakit (not sick)
bukan – used with:
- nouns / noun phrases: bukan doktor (not a doctor)
- to contrast or correct something: bukan itu, yang ini (not that one, this one)

In tidak sakit:

sakit is an adjective (“sick / ill / in pain”), so you use tidak:
- tidak sakit = not sick / not ill

If you used bukan sakit, it would sound wrong in this context, because you are negating an adjective, not a noun phrase.

Does sakit mean “sick”, “in pain”, or “hurt”? How broad is its meaning?

Sakit is quite broad. It can mean:

sick / ill
- Dia sakit. = He/She is sick / ill.
in pain / painful / hurting
- Kepala saya sakit. = My head hurts. / I have a headache.
As a verb-like meaning “to be in pain / to hurt” in informal usage.

In your sentence:

supaya tidak sakit
= so that (they) don’t get sick

Given the context of a desert and drinking water, the main idea is “so they don’t become ill / unwell” (possibly from dehydration, heat, etc.).

There is no tense marker in pelancong mesti minum banyak air. How do we know if it’s present, past, or future?

Malay usually does not mark tense on the verb. Time is understood from:

context, and
optional time words (like semalam = yesterday, esok = tomorrow, sedang = currently, etc.).

In your sentence:

pelancong mesti minum banyak air
could, in theory, be:
- tourists must drink a lot of water (general rule)
- tourists had to drink a lot of water (if context is past)
- tourists will have to drink a lot of water (if context is future)

But as a general rule or advice, we normally interpret it like:

“(In that dry desert,) tourists must drink a lot of water (there in general).”

If you need to be explicit:

Past: Pelancong mesti minum banyak air semalam. (yesterday)
Future: Esok, pelancong mesti minum banyak air. (tomorrow)

Where is the subject “they” in supaya tidak sakit? Why is it missing?

Malay often omits pronouns when the subject is clear from context.

The main clause subject is pelancong (tourists).
The following clause supaya tidak sakit is understood as:
- supaya (mereka) tidak sakit = so that they don’t get sick.

Because “they” clearly refers back to pelancong, Malay doesn’t need to repeat mereka (they). This omission feels very natural.

You can say:

...supaya mereka tidak sakit.

But in everyday Malay, it’s common and perfectly natural to leave out mereka here.

Is pelancong the only word for “tourist”? How is it different from pelawat?

Both pelancong and pelawat involve people who go somewhere, but there is a nuance:

pelancong – tourist
- Someone traveling for leisure / tourism.
- E.g. pelancong asing = foreign tourists.
pelawat – visitor
- More general; can be guests, official visitors, people visiting someone in hospital, etc.
- E.g. pelawat hospital, pelawat rasmi (official visitor).

In the context of a desert trip:

pelancong is more accurate, because they are tourists engaging in travel for leisure or exploration.

Is this sentence formal, informal, or neutral in Malay?

The sentence:

Di gurun kering itu, pelancong mesti minum banyak air supaya tidak sakit.

is neutral and standard. It is suitable for:

books or articles (non-technical)
spoken advice (e.g. a guide talking to tourists)
general explanations

To make it sound a bit more formal (e.g. in a brochure), you might see:

Di gurun yang kering itu, para pelancong mesti minum banyak air agar tidak jatuh sakit.

But your original sentence is already good standard Malay.

Could we say Di gurun yang kering itu instead of Di gurun kering itu? What’s the difference?

Yes, you can say:

Di gurun yang kering itu...

The difference is subtle:

gurun kering itu
- Simple noun + adjective + “that”
- Very natural and common.
gurun yang kering itu
- Adds yang, which can:
  - slightly emphasize or clarify the adjective
  - sometimes make it feel a bit more descriptive or slightly more formal.

In this case, both are grammatical and acceptable. Gurun kering itu is shorter and perfectly fine. Gurun yang kering itu can sound a bit more like “that desert which is dry,” with a tiny extra emphasis on the dryness.