Learn Hardcore Malay: Saya akan bekerja di syarikat itu tahun depan.

With akan – a bit more explicit, slightly more formal/neutral.
Without akan – very normal in speech, sounds slightly more casual / less “spelled out”.

What exactly is the difference between bekerja and kerja?

Both come from the root kerja (“work / job”).

bekerja = ber- + kerja → “to work” (verb form)
- More formal/standard as a verb.
- Used in writing, careful speech:
  - Saya akan bekerja di sana. – I will work there.
kerja on its own:
- As a noun: “work, job”
  - Saya ada banyak kerja. – I have a lot of work.
- As a verb in colloquial Malay (especially in speech):
  - Saya kerja di syarikat itu. – I work at that company.

In your sentence, bekerja is the standard choice.
In everyday conversation, many people would say:

Saya akan kerja di syarikat itu tahun depan.

Why is it di syarikat itu? Why not pada syarikat itu or untuk syarikat itu?

In Malay, the normal way to say “work at a company” is:

bekerja di [tempat] – work at/in [place]

So:

bekerja di syarikat itu ≈ “work at that company”

Other options:

bekerja untuk syarikat itu – “work for that company”
- Emphasises that the company is the one you work for (your employer / the one you serve).
- Similar to English “for” in the sense of “on behalf of”.
bekerja dengan syarikat itu – “work with that company”
- Often used if your own company collaborates with that company.
pada syarikat itu with bekerja is not natural in standard Malay for this meaning.
- pada is used more for abstract objects, times, or for “to/at” with certain verbs (e.g. percaya pada, marah pada, pada masa itu).

So for “I will work at that company”, di is the default and most idiomatic choice.

Does syarikat itu mean “that company” or “the company”? How does itu work here?

itu is a demonstrative that usually means “that”, but in Malay it also often plays the role of “the” when we’re talking about something specific or already known.

syarikat = company
syarikat itu can be:
- “that company” (the one over there / the one we’re pointing at)
- “the company” (the specific one we both know about from context)

Which one is meant depends on context and intonation, not on grammar.

Compare:

syarikat ini – this company (near the speaker)
syarikat itu – that/the company (already known or not close)
syarikat tersebut – that company (more formal, often in writing, referring back to something already mentioned)

Why is there no word for “in” before tahun depan? Can I say pada tahun depan?

Time expressions in Malay often don’t need a preposition:

esok – tomorrow
minggu depan – next week
tahun depan – next year

So:

Saya akan bekerja … tahun depan.
literally: “I will work … next year” (no “in” required).

You can say pada tahun depan, and it is grammatically correct, but:

It sounds more formal or heavy in many contexts.
In everyday speech, people usually just say tahun depan without pada.

You will commonly see pada with more complex or specific time phrases:

pada tahun 2026 – in the year 2026
pada masa itu – at that time
pada hari Isnin – on Monday (more formal than just Isnin)

Can I move tahun depan to another place in the sentence?

Yes, Malay word order is fairly flexible with time expressions. All of these are acceptable:

Saya akan bekerja di syarikat itu tahun depan.
– Neutral, very natural.
Tahun depan, saya akan bekerja di syarikat itu.
– Emphasises “next year”; common in speech and writing.

Less common but still possible:

Saya akan bekerja tahun depan di syarikat itu.
– Understandable, but most speakers prefer to keep di syarikat itu close to bekerja, so (1) or (2) sound better.

General patterns:

Time can go at the end or at the beginning very freely.
Location (with di) usually stays close to the verb.

How would a native speaker say this in casual spoken Malay?

In everyday conversation (especially in Malaysia), people often:

drop akan when time is clear,
use kerja instead of bekerja,
use kat instead of di,
shorten itu to tu.

Some casual versions:

Saya kerja kat syarikat tu tahun depan.
Saya akan kerja kat syarikat tu tahun depan. (still quite natural)

More informal with aku among friends:

Aku kerja kat syarikat tu tahun depan.

Your original sentence is perfectly correct; it just sounds a bit more neutral/formal than very casual speech.

What’s the difference between tahun depan and tahun hadapan?

Both can mean “next year”:

tahun depan
- Very common in everyday speech and writing.
- Feels more casual/neutral.
tahun hadapan
- Slightly more formal or bookish.
- Often used in official documents, speeches, news, etc.

In most contexts, you can simply treat them as synonyms.

There are also related expressions:

pada tahun akan datang / pada tahun-tahun akan datang – “in the coming year(s)”
- More general / future-looking, not necessarily “next year only”.

How would I say “I will be working at that company” or “I am going to work at that company”? Is there a different form in Malay?

Malay does not mark the difference between:

“I will work”
“I will be working”
“I am going to work”

as clearly as English. All of these are usually just:

Saya akan bekerja di syarikat itu tahun depan.
Or (slightly more casual) Saya kerja di syarikat itu tahun depan.

If you really need to emphasise an ongoing action at a particular future time, you usually add more context instead of changing verb form:

Pada masa itu, saya sudah bekerja di syarikat itu.
– “By that time, I will already be working at that company.”

The important point: the same sentence can cover all three English nuances, and context does the rest.

When should I use saya and when can I use aku in this kind of sentence?

Both mean “I”, but they differ in formality and relationship:

saya
- Polite, neutral, standard.
- Safe with strangers, older people, formal situations, work, etc.
- Fits your sentence perfectly in almost any context.
aku
- More informal / intimate.
- Used with close friends, siblings, boyfriend/girlfriend, sometimes in songs or fiction.
- Should not be used with someone you must show respect to (boss, teacher, etc.), unless they explicitly encourage it.

So:

Formal/neutral: Saya akan bekerja di syarikat itu tahun depan.
Informal with close friends: Aku akan kerja kat syarikat tu tahun depan.

Does the sentence mean “I will work there next year” as a decision, or “I have a job there next year” (a fixed plan)? How is that nuance shown?

The Malay sentence Saya akan bekerja di syarikat itu tahun depan is neutral about that nuance. It just states a future fact:

“I will work / I’m going to be working at that company next year.”

Whether it’s:

a decision you just made,
a plan you arranged,
a firm contract that’s already signed,

is usually clear from context, not from grammar.

If you want to be more specific, you add extra phrases:

Saya sudah terima tawaran kerja, dan tahun depan saya akan bekerja di syarikat itu.
– I’ve already accepted the job offer, and next year I will be working at that company.
Saya bercadang untuk bekerja di syarikat itu tahun depan.
– I plan to work at that company next year. (shows it’s more of a plan/intention.)

Is bekerja transitive or intransitive here? Why doesn’t it take an object?

In this sentence, bekerja is used as an intransitive verb:

bekerja = “to work” (do work / be employed)
It does not need a direct object.

The structure is:

Saya (subject)
akan (future marker)
bekerja (intransitive verb)
di syarikat itu (location phrase)
tahun depan (time phrase)

You could use kerja transitively in other contexts, e.g.:

Dia kerja saya sampai penat. (very colloquial / non-standard)
– “He worked me until I was exhausted.”

But in standard Malay, bekerja in the sense of “be employed / work (somewhere)” is typically intransitive, followed by a location phrase with di.

How do you pronounce syarikat, and what’s the function of sy-?

syarikat is pronounced roughly:

[sha-ri-kat]

Breakdown:

sy in Malay is pronounced like English “sh” (as in shoe).
a is like the “a” in father.
Stress is usually on the second syllable: sha-RI-kat.

Spelling note:

sy is the Malay way of writing the /ʃ/ sound (like English sh).
Many words with sy come from Arabic or Persian, e.g. syarat, syahid, syarikat.

So:

syarikat ≈ “shah-REE-kat”.