Saya fikir mesyuarat tadi agak membosankan kerana tiada perbincangan baru.

I think today’s meeting was rather boring because there was no new discussion.

Breakdown of Saya fikir mesyuarat tadi agak membosankan kerana tiada perbincangan baru.

• saya: I
• adalah: to be
• baru: new
• tadi: earlier
• kerana: because
• mesyuarat: the meeting
• fikir: to think
• agak: rather
• tiada: no
• perbincangan: the discussion
• membosankan: boring

Questions & Answers about Saya fikir mesyuarat tadi agak membosankan kerana tiada perbincangan baru.

Why does the sentence use saya fikir to mean I think? Is this the most natural way to give an opinion?

In Malay, both saya fikir and saya rasa can translate as I think, but they are used a bit differently.

• Saya rasa is more common in everyday speech for opinions and feelings.

  • Saya rasa mesyuarat tadi agak membosankan.
    → I think / I feel the meeting earlier was rather boring.

• Saya fikir focuses more on the act of thinking or reasoning, so it can sound slightly more careful, thoughtful, or formal, especially in writing.

  • Saya fikir mesyuarat tadi agak membosankan.
    → I think (after considering it) the meeting earlier was rather boring.

Both are correct here. In casual conversation, many natives would probably say saya rasa instead of saya fikir.

What exactly does tadi mean here? Is it earlier today, just now, or simply past?

Tadi refers to a time earlier on the same day, usually not very long ago. The exact sense depends on context and tone:

• mesyuarat tadi
  → the meeting earlier / the meeting just now / the meeting we had earlier today

Some related expressions:

• sebentar tadi – just a moment ago (very recent)
• baru tadi – just now / a short while ago

You would not use tadi for yesterday or last week. For those, you would say things like:

• mesyuarat semalam – yesterday’s meeting
• mesyuarat minggu lepas – last week’s meeting

What does agak mean in agak membosankan, and what nuance does it add?

Agak is a softener that roughly means rather, quite, fairly, or somewhat. It makes the statement less strong:

• mesyuarat tadi membosankan
  → the meeting earlier was boring (quite direct)

• mesyuarat tadi agak membosankan
  → the meeting earlier was rather / somewhat boring (more polite, less harsh)

Agak usually comes before adjectives or stative verbs:

• agak mahal – rather expensive
• agak lambat – rather slow

You can replace agak with stronger or weaker intensifiers:

• sangat membosankan – very boring
• amat membosankan – extremely boring
• (no intensifier) membosankan – just boring, neutral strength

What is the difference between membosankan and bosan?

Both come from bosan, but they are used differently:

1. bosan – usually describes a feeling (bored):

   • Saya bosan. – I am bored.
   • Dia selalu bosan dalam kelas. – He/She is often bored in class.

   In casual speech, Malays sometimes also say kelas tu bosan (the class is boring), so bosan can informally describe something that causes boredom too.

2. membosankan – describes something that causes boredom (boring):

   • Mesyuarat tadi memang membosankan.
     → The meeting earlier was really boring.
   • Filem itu agak membosankan.
     → That movie is rather boring.

Grammatically, membosankan is formed like this:

• bosan (root)
• meN- + bosan + -kan → membosankan (causative: to cause boredom / that which bores)

In your sentence, membosankan is more precise and a bit more formal than simply bosan. A casual version would be:

• Saya rasa mesyuarat tadi agak bosan.

Why is kerana used here? How is it different from sebab, and can it move to the start of the sentence?

Kerana and sebab both mean because. They are largely interchangeable, but there is a difference in style:

• kerana – a bit more formal or written
• sebab – more common in everyday conversation

Your sentence:

• Saya fikir mesyuarat tadi agak membosankan kerana tiada perbincangan baru.
  → I think the meeting earlier was rather boring because there was no new discussion.

A more colloquial version:

• Saya rasa mesyuarat tadi agak bosan sebab tak ada perbincangan baru.

You can also move kerana/sebab to the front:

• Kerana tiada perbincangan baru, saya fikir mesyuarat tadi agak membosankan.
• Sebab tak ada perbincangan baru, saya rasa mesyuarat tadi agak bosan.

Both orders are grammatical; putting kerana/sebab first emphasises the reason.

What does tiada mean, and how is it different from tidak ada or tak ada?

All three express non-existence or there is no / there are no:

• tiada – formal / standard, written, one word
• tidak ada – neutral, also correct in standard language
• tak ada – very common spoken form (colloquial)

In your sentence:

• kerana tiada perbincangan baru
  → because there was no new discussion

Equivalent versions:

• kerana tidak ada perbincangan baru (still standard, just a bit longer)
• sebab tak ada perbincangan baru (very natural in speech)

Some common patterns:

• Tiada masalah. – There is no problem. (fairly formal)
• Tak ada masalah. – No problem. (everyday speech)
• Tiada masa. / Tak ada masa. – I don’t have time.

What is the relationship between perbincangan and bincang?

Bincang is the verb meaning to discuss:

• Mari kita bincang. – Let’s discuss.
• Mereka sedang bincang hal itu. – They are discussing that matter.

Perbincangan is a noun meaning discussion (the act or session of discussing). It is formed with the per- … -an nominalising pattern:

• bincang (to discuss)
• perbincangan (discussion)

In your sentence:

• tiada perbincangan baru
  → there was no new discussion
  → literally: there was no new discussion session / no new points of discussion

So perbincangan sounds more like a concrete discussion process or segment, not just the verb to discuss.

Why is baru placed after perbincangan in perbincangan baru?

Malay usually uses Noun + Adjective word order. So:

• perbincangan baru
  → new discussion
• buku lama
  → old book
• kereta mahal
  → expensive car

So baru comes after perbincangan because baru is modifying the noun perbincangan.

If you put baru before the noun (for example baru perbincangan), it does not mean new discussion anymore; it could sound like only then discussion / just discussion and would not fit your intended meaning here.

Do I need yang before tadi, like mesyuarat yang tadi, to say the meeting earlier?

No, you do not need yang here. Mesyuarat tadi by itself is the normal way to say the meeting earlier / the earlier meeting in this context.

• mesyuarat tadi – the earlier meeting
• kelas tadi – the earlier class
• panggilan tadi – the call just now

You would use yang when you are forming a relative clause:

• mesyuarat yang tadi kita bincangkan
  → the meeting that we discussed earlier

Here, yang tadi kita bincangkan is a longer phrase that describes mesyuarat. In your original sentence, tadi simply marks the time of the meeting, so mesyuarat tadi is correct and natural.

Can the pronoun saya be dropped in this kind of sentence?

Malay can drop pronouns when context makes them clear, but in this exact structure Saya fikir…, you normally keep saya. Dropping it:

• Fikir mesyuarat tadi agak membosankan…

sounds unnatural, because fikir needs a clear subject here.

Instead, what Malay speakers often do is omit the whole I think part and just state the opinion:

• Mesyuarat tadi agak membosankan kerana tiada perbincangan baru.
  → The meeting earlier was rather boring because there was no new discussion.

If you want a softer, more spoken style, you can also put saya rasa at the end:

• Mesyuarat tadi agak membosankan kerana tiada perbincangan baru, saya rasa.
  → The meeting earlier was rather boring because there was no new discussion, I think.

How do we know this sentence is about the past, since fikir is not conjugated?

Malay verbs, including fikir, do not change form for tense. Instead, time is shown by:

1. Time words (like tadi, sekarang, esok, semalam, etc.)
2. Context

In your sentence:

• mesyuarat tadi
  clearly tells us the meeting is in the past (earlier today).

So the whole sentence corresponds to English:

• I thought / I think the meeting earlier was rather boring because there was no new discussion.

If you change the time word, the tense meaning changes, even though fikir stays the same:

• Saya fikir mesyuarat sekarang agak membosankan…
  → I think the meeting now is rather boring…

• Saya fikir mesyuarat esok akan agak membosankan…
  → I think tomorrow’s meeting will be rather boring…

The verb form fikir itself does not show past / present / future; the time expression does.