Learn Hardcore Malay: Novel sejarah itu susah difahami. - That historical novel is difficult to understand.

Why is there no word for “is” in Novel sejarah itu susah difahami? Shouldn’t it be something like Novel sejarah itu adalah susah difahami?

Malay usually doesn’t use a verb like “is/are” (a copula) before adjectives.

In sentences of the pattern [noun] + [adjective], you normally just put them side by side:

Novel sejarah itu susah difahami.
= That historical novel is hard to understand.

Adding adalah is usually:

more formal, and
more common before nouns or noun phrases, not before simple adjectives.

So:

Novel sejarah itu adalah sebuah karya klasik.
(That historical novel is a classic work.) – noun after adalah.

But with an adjective like susah, the natural, everyday form is simply:

Novel sejarah itu susah difahami. ✅
Novel sejarah itu adalah susah difahami. ❌ (sounds unnatural/over‑formal)

What exactly does novel sejarah mean? Is sejarah an adjective like “historical,” or is it a noun like “history”?

Sejarah is originally a noun meaning “history”, but in Malay it’s very common to use a noun after another noun to narrow down the type, which often corresponds to an adjective in English.

So:

novel sejarah
literally: history novel
functionally: historical novel

Other similar patterns:

buku teks – textbook (text book)
filem perang – war movie
cerita hantu – ghost story

So in Novel sejarah itu susah difahami, the unit novel sejarah means “historical novel”.

Why is itu placed after sejarah in Novel sejarah itu, instead of before like itu novel sejarah?

In standard Malay, demonstratives (ini = this, itu = that) normally come after the noun (or after the whole noun phrase):

novel itu – that novel
novel sejarah itu – that historical novel

Putting itu before the noun (e.g. itu novel sejarah) is:

possible in speech, but
feels more colloquial/emphatic, and
often used when pointing something out: “That historical novel (over there)…”

So:

Novel sejarah itu susah difahami. – neutral, standard. ✅
Itu novel sejarah susah difahami. – possible in casual talk, may feel like: “That historical novel (you mentioned) is hard to understand.”

What is the difference between susah, sukar, and sulit? Could I replace susah with one of the others here?

All three relate to difficulty, and all can fit this sentence with slightly different tone/register:

susah – very common, everyday, slightly more casual/colloquial.
sukar – more formal, often used in writing, news, academic contexts.
sulit – also formal, sometimes sounds a bit more “serious” or “weighty”.

In your sentence:

Novel sejarah itu susah difahami. – neutral, everyday.
Novel sejarah itu sukar difahami. – more formal.
Novel sejarah itu sulit difahami. – formal/literary.

All three are grammatically correct.

What does difahami consist of? How is it formed from faham?

Faham is the root verb meaning “to understand.”

Difahami is built as:

prefix di- (passive marker)
root faham
suffix -i (often “to do [verb] to something/onto something” or “to affect something with [verb]”)

So:

faham – to understand
memahami – to understand (active, with meN-
- -i)
difahami – to be understood (passive, with di-
- -i)

In Novel sejarah itu susah difahami, difahami literally means “to be understood”:

The historical novel is hard *to be understood → is hard to understand.*

Why is the passive form difahami used instead of an active verb like memahami?

In English, we say “hard to understand” (active infinitive), but Malay often uses a passive verb after adjectives of difficulty or ease.

Patterns like:

susah difahami – hard to (be) understood
mudah difahami – easy to (be) understood
sukar dicapai – hard to (be) achieved

An active pattern would look more like:

Susah untuk memahami novel sejarah itu.
(It’s hard to understand that historical novel.)

Your original sentence:

Novel sejarah itu susah difahami.
focuses on the novel as something hard to be understood.

Both structures are correct; the passive form after susah is very natural in Malay.

Can I add untuk and say Novel sejarah itu susah untuk difahami? Is that better or worse?

Yes, you can say:

Novel sejarah itu susah untuk difahami.

This is also correct and quite common. The nuance:

susah difahami – more compact and direct, very natural.
susah untuk difahami – slightly more explicit/complete, sometimes a bit more formal or careful in tone.

Neither is wrong; both are widely used. For everyday speech or simple writing, susah difahami is perfectly fine.

If difahami is passive, where is the person doing the understanding? Could I say “by me” or “by people”?

In Malay, passive forms like difahami often omit the agent (the doer) when it’s not important or obvious.

So:

Novel sejarah itu susah difahami.
implies “hard for people to understand” without naming “people”.

If you want to specify the agent:

Use “oleh”:
- Novel sejarah itu susah difahami oleh pelajar.
  (That historical novel is hard to understand *by students.*)
Use an active structure mentioning the subject:
- Saya susah memahami novel sejarah itu.
- Pelajar susah memahami novel sejarah itu.

In informal speech, you might hear:

Novel sejarah itu susah saya faham.
(That historical novel is hard for me to understand.)
– This is colloquial but widely used in conversation.

Could the sentence start with Susah difahami? Like Susah difahami novel sejarah itu?

You can front the adjective phrase for emphasis or style, especially in speech or in more literary writing:

Susah difahami novel sejarah itu.

This sounds like:

“Hard to understand, that historical novel.”

Nuance:

Novel sejarah itu susah difahami. – neutral statement.
Susah difahami novel sejarah itu. – puts extra focus/emphasis on the difficulty.

Grammar-wise, both are acceptable, but the original word order is more neutral and common in teaching materials.

How would I make the noun plural, like “Those historical novels are hard to understand”?

Malay doesn’t always mark plural explicitly, so context often tells you whether something is singular or plural.

Your sentence:

Novel sejarah itu susah difahami.
can mean:
- That historical novel is hard to understand., or
- Those historical novels are hard to understand.
  depending on context.

If you really want to show plural clearly, you have options:

Reduplication (standard plural marking):
- Novel-novel sejarah itu susah difahami.
  (Those historical novels are hard to understand.)
Use a number or quantifier:
- Beberapa novel sejarah itu susah difahami. – several
- Semua novel sejarah itu susah difahami. – all
- Dua novel sejarah itu susah difahami. – two

But the base sentence without extra marking is already grammatically fine.

What’s the difference between itu and ini, and could I say Novel sejarah ini susah difahami?

ini = this (near the speaker)
itu = that (farther away, or already mentioned)

So:

Novel sejarah itu susah difahami.
– That historical novel is hard to understand.
Novel sejarah ini susah difahami.
– This historical novel is hard to understand.

Both are correct. You choose ini or itu based on:

physical distance, or
discourse distance (whether it’s something just introduced vs already known/mentioned).

How could I say “This historical novel is quite hard to understand” more politely or softly?

You can soften the statement with words like agak (rather/quite), agaknya, or by using a slightly gentler adjective:

Novel sejarah ini agak susah difahami.
– This historical novel is quite hard to understand.
Novel sejarah ini agak sukar difahami.
– a bit more formal.

Even softer, more indirect:

Novel sejarah ini kurang mudah difahami.
– literally: This historical novel is less easy to understand. (polite, indirect)

How would I say “I find this historical novel hard to understand” in Malay? Is there a special structure?

A natural way is to keep the adjective structure and add bagi/sukar untuk saya or use saya susah nak/faham:

More neutral/formal:

Saya dapati novel sejarah ini susah difahami.
– I find that this historical novel is hard to understand.

Simpler/everyday:

Saya rasa novel sejarah ini susah difahami.
– I feel/think this historical novel is hard to understand.

More colloquial:

Saya susah nak faham novel sejarah ini.
– I find it hard to understand this historical novel.
Susah saya nak faham novel sejarah ini. (emphatic, spoken)

All of these keep the same basic idea as Novel sejarah itu susah difahami, but make “I” explicit.