Breakdown of Anak saudara saya menulis nama semua pemain di atas kad besar.
Questions & Answers about Anak saudara saya menulis nama semua pemain di atas kad besar.
Anak saudara literally means child of a sibling (or more loosely, child of a relative of similar generation).
Usage:
- It usually covers both niece and nephew.
- Malay often doesn’t mark gender unless needed.
If you want to be specific:
- anak saudara lelaki = nephew (male)
- anak saudara perempuan = niece (female)
So in this sentence, anak saudara saya can mean either my niece or my nephew, depending on context.
Malay normally puts the possessor after the thing possessed.
Pattern:
- [Thing] + [Possessor]
So:
- anak saudara saya = my niece/nephew
- rumah saya = my house
- kereta dia = his/her car
Saya anak saudara would be understood as “I (am) a niece/nephew” and sounds incomplete or wrong in this sentence.
You could also say anak saudara aku (more informal, aku instead of saya) but the position still stays after the noun: anak saudara + pronoun.
Malay verbs like menulis are not marked for tense the way English verbs are.
- menulis can mean write / writes / is writing / was writing / wrote, depending on context.
To make the past clearer, Malay often adds time words or aspect markers:
- tadi = earlier, just now
- semalam = yesterday
- sudah / telah = already / has done
- tadi anak saudara saya menulis… = Earlier, my niece/nephew was writing…
- anak saudara saya telah menulis… = My niece/nephew has written / wrote…
In your sentence, the English translation “wrote” is chosen by context, not by a specific past-tense form in Malay.
Yes. Menulis comes from the root tulis (write).
- tulis = write (root form)
- menulis = to write / writing / writes / wrote (active verb form)
The prefix meN- (here: me- + tulis → menulis) is a common verb-forming prefix. Very simply:
- meN- + root verb → active verb, often used for subjects doing an action.
Examples:
- baca (read) → membaca (to read, reading)
- lihat (see) → melihat (to see)
So menulis is just the normal active form of tulis.
Both are possible, and both can be translated “the names of all the players”, but there is a slight nuance in emphasis and commonness:
nama semua pemain
- Literal: “names of all the players”
- Emphasis is a bit more on all the players as a complete group.
- Very natural in this context.
semua nama pemain
- Literal: “all the player names”
- Emphasis leans slightly more toward all the names, as separate items in a list.
- Also correct and understandable.
In everyday speech, you will hear both. Here, nama semua pemain sounds very natural and maybe a little smoother.
Malay does not need a plural marker every time the noun is plural.
- nama can mean name or names, depending on context.
- Reduplication (nama-nama) is used when you want to strongly emphasise plurality or make the plurality clearer, but it’s often optional.
In your sentence:
- nama semua pemain already has semua (all), which clearly shows plural, so nama-nama is not necessary.
You could say:
- nama-nama semua pemain = all the names of the players
It’s still correct, just slightly more explicit about “many names”.
Pemain means player.
It comes from the root main (play).
- main = to play
- pemain = a player (someone who plays)
The prefix pe- often makes a noun that means “person who does X”:
- ajar (teach) → pengajar (teacher)
- tulis (write) → penulis (writer)
- main (play) → pemain (player)
So pemain = “the person who plays”, i.e. player.
Yes, but the nuance is slightly different.
- semua pemain = all the players
- Very common, neutral.
- para pemain = the players (as a group)
- para is used mainly before people nouns to refer to a group.
- It often feels a bit more formal or written.
If you said:
- nama para pemain = the names of the players
To keep the “all” idea very clear, using semua pemain is more direct. Para pemain implies plural, but doesn’t itself mean “all”; it just means “the group of players”.
Di atas literally means on top of / above.
In practice:
- When talking about something resting on a surface (like writing on a card, putting a book on a table), di atas is used very commonly and corresponds to English on.
Examples:
- buku di atas meja = the book on the table
- nama… di atas kad besar = the names … on the big card
In many cases you could also use pada for “on / at”, but di atas is more concrete and physical: something physically on top of something. Here di atas is the most natural.
In standard Malay, you normally keep the preposition di before atas to show location:
- di atas kad besar = on the big card
Saying just atas kad besar would usually sound incomplete or non-standard in this kind of sentence.
You may hear people in very casual speech say things like atas meja without di, but for clear, correct Malay—especially in writing—use di atas here.
Kad besar literally means big card.
Malay structure is:
- noun + adjective
So:
- kad besar = big card
- rumah besar = big house
- bola kecil = small ball
This is the opposite of English word order, where adjectives usually come before nouns. In Malay, you almost always put the describing word (besar, kecil, cantik, etc.) after the noun it describes.
Malay does not have articles like English a/an/the.
- kad besar can mean a big card or the big card, depending on context.
To be more specific, speakers rely on:
- context
- additional words like itu (that) or ini (this)
Examples:
- kad besar itu = that big card / the big card
- kad besar ini = this big card
In your sentence, kad besar is translated as a big card because English chooses an article, but Malay itself is neutral.
The sentence follows the usual Malay order:
- Subject: Anak saudara saya (my niece/nephew)
- Verb: menulis (wrote)
- Object: nama semua pemain (the names of all the players)
- Location phrase: di atas kad besar (on a big card)
So it is a straightforward S–V–O + adverbial structure.
You can reorder it using a passive or more formal style, for example:
- Nama semua pemain ditulis oleh anak saudara saya di atas kad besar.
- Literally: “The names of all the players were written by my niece/nephew on a big card.”
But in everyday speech, the original active form (Anak saudara saya menulis…) is very natural and clear.
In strict usage, anak saudara is your sibling’s child (your brother’s or sister’s child).
However, in practice:
- Some speakers use anak saudara a bit more loosely for niece/nephew-type relations, including children of cousins or other close relatives, especially in casual conversation.
If you need to be very precise about the family relation, you would usually explain it in more detail:
- anak sepupu saya = my cousin’s child
- anak abang saya = my older brother’s child
But most of the time, anak saudara is understood as niece/nephew (sibling’s child).