Learn Hardcore Malay: Saya simpan fail audio di dalam telefon.

I keep / I am keeping the audio file in the phone. (present)
I kept the audio file in the phone. (past)
I will keep the audio file in the phone. (future – if the context makes this clear)

If you need to be explicit, you add time words or particles:

Tadi saya simpan fail audio di dalam telefon. – I saved/kept the audio file in the phone earlier.
Sekarang saya simpan fail audio di dalam telefon. – I am (now) keeping the audio file in the phone.
Nanti saya akan simpan fail audio di dalam telefon. – I will save/keep the audio file in the phone later.

What is the nuance of saya? Could I drop it or replace it with something else?

Saya means “I” and is:

Neutral and polite in most situations.
Commonly used in both spoken and written Malay.

Alternatives:

aku – more informal/intimate, used with close friends, family, or in casual speech.
kita – “we” (inclusive) but sometimes used in some dialects/contexts instead of “I”.

You can sometimes omit the subject pronoun if it is obvious:

Simpan fail audio di dalam telefon.
In the right context, this can be understood as “(I) keep the audio file in the phone,” “(you) keep…” etc., but with no subject it sounds like an instruction: “Keep the audio file in the phone.”

What exactly does simpan mean, and is it the right verb for “save (a file)”?

simpan literally means:

to keep, to store, to put away, to save

In everyday modern usage:

For physical objects:
Saya simpan buku itu di dalam laci. – I keep/put that book in the drawer.
For digital context, simpan is also used for “save (a file)”, especially in casual speech:
- Simpan fail ini dalam telefon. – Save this file in the phone.

More specific computer-style verbs exist:

menyimpan fail – to save/store a file (formal/neutral)
memuat naik – to upload
memuat turun – to download

But in typical speech, simpan is fine for “save/keep/store” something.

Why is it fail audio, not audio fail like in English?

In Malay, the main noun comes first, and the describing word or classifier comes after:

fail audio – literally “file [of] audio” → audio file
fail video – video file
fail teks – text file
baju merah – red shirt
kereta besar – big car

So the pattern is NOUN + DESCRIPTOR, not DESCRIPTOR + NOUN as in English.

Where does the word fail come from, and is it the same as English “file”?

Yes. fail is a loanword from English “file”, adapted to Malay spelling and pronunciation:

Spelled fail
Pronounced roughly like “file” in English (with a slightly clearer “a” sound)

This is standard Malay for “file” in computer or document contexts. It takes normal Malay grammar:

fail audio, fail penting, fail itu, beberapa fail, menyimpan fail, etc.

How do we show plural for fail audio? Do we need to say something like fail-fail audio?

Malay does not require plural marking the way English does. fail audio can mean:

one audio file
several audio files

If you want to clearly show plurality, you can add:

beberapa fail audio – several audio files
banyak fail audio – many audio files
semua fail audio – all the audio files

Reduplication (repeating the noun) exists, but with loanwords like fail, you usually don’t see fail-fail in normal usage. Using beberapa / banyak / semua is more natural.

What is the difference between di, dalam, and di dalam?

di = at / in / on (basic location preposition)
dalam = inside / in (focuses more on “inside-ness”)
di dalam = “in(side)” – di
- dalam together

Functionally in many cases:

di dalam telefon and dalam telefon often both mean “in the phone”.
di telefon can also mean “in the phone” (in many digital contexts), but can also feel more like “at the phone / on the phone”.

Nuance (very roughly):

di dalam – slightly more explicit/emphatic about being inside something.
For this sentence, you could also hear:
- Saya simpan fail audio dalam telefon.
- Saya simpan fail audio di telefon.

All are understandable; di dalam just sounds a bit more explicit or careful.

Could I just say di telefon instead of di dalam telefon? Does it change the meaning?

Yes, you can say:

Saya simpan fail audio di telefon.

In digital/tech contexts, di telefon is commonly understood as “in the phone” (stored on the device). The difference is subtle:

di dalam telefon – literally “inside the phone,” slightly more descriptive.
di telefon – simpler, very common in speech; normally interpreted the same way in this context.

Both are natural; choice depends on style and emphasis rather than a big meaning change.

Why doesn’t the sentence say “my phone”? How would I say that?

telefon by itself is just “phone”. Malay often relies on context to show whose item it is.

To say “my phone”, you add a possessive:

telefon saya – my phone
Full sentence: Saya simpan fail audio di dalam telefon saya.

Other examples:

buku saya – my book
kereta saya – my car

So if you specifically need “my phone”, use telefon saya.

Is telefon the usual word, or do people say something like “handphone” in Malaysia?

In standard Malay, telefon is correct and general. For a mobile phone, you may also see:

telefon bimbit – mobile phone (more formal/standard)
telefon pintar – smartphone

In everyday Malaysian speech, people very often say:

handphone or henset (colloquial, from English “handphone/headset”)

But in neutral / written Malay, telefon or telefon bimbit is preferred. Your sentence is fine as standard Malay.

Could this sentence be understood as a command, like “Keep the audio file in the phone”?

Yes, if you remove the pronoun saya, the sentence becomes an instruction:

Simpan fail audio di dalam telefon. – Keep/Save the audio file in the phone. (imperative)

With saya present:

Saya simpan fail audio di dalam telefon. – It is understood as a statement (“I keep/save…”), not a command.

Malay relies a lot on the presence or absence of the subject pronoun and on intonation/context to distinguish statements from commands.