Learn Hardcore Malay: Hari ini tugas utama saya ialah menulis laporan jualan. - Today my main task is to write the sales report.

Hari = day
ini = this
→ Hari ini = today (literally: this day)
tugas = task / duty / assignment
utama = main / primary / chief
→ tugas utama = main task
saya = I / me, but after a noun it means my
→ tugas utama saya = my main task
ialah = (copula, roughly) is / are in equational sentences
menulis = to write / writing (active verb from the root tulis, “write”)
laporan = report
jualan = sales (noun from jual, “to sell”)
→ laporan jualan = sales report / report of sales

So the whole sentence: “Today my main task is to write the sales report.”

Why does the sentence start with Hari ini? Can it go somewhere else?

Time expressions like Hari ini (“today”) are very often placed at the beginning of a Malay sentence:

Hari ini tugas utama saya ialah menulis laporan jualan.
= Today, my main task is to write the sales report.

You can also move hari ini after the subject:

Tugas utama saya hari ini ialah menulis laporan jualan.

Both are natural. The version with Hari ini at the front sounds a bit more like you’re setting the time frame first (“As for today…”), while:

Tugas utama saya hari ini…
slightly emphasizes my main task, then restricts it to “today”.

Grammatically they’re both fine.

Could I say Pada hari ini instead of Hari ini?

Yes, but it changes the feel:

Hari ini = today (normal, everyday, completely natural)
Pada hari ini = on this day / on this very day (more formal, more emphatic, or ceremonial)

You’ll often see pada hari ini in speeches or formal writing, e.g.:

Pada hari ini, genap sepuluh tahun kami berkongsi kejayaan.
“On this day, it has been exactly ten years we have shared success.”

In your sentence, Hari ini tugas utama saya… is the most natural in everyday usage. Pada hari ini is not wrong, just more formal or solemn than needed.

Why is it tugas utama saya and not saya tugas utama like “my main task”?

In Malay, the word order inside a noun phrase is usually:

Noun (head)
Adjectives / descriptive words
Possessive pronoun

So:

tugas (task) → head noun
utama (main) → adjective after the noun
saya (my) → possessive pronoun at the end

→ tugas utama saya = task main my → my main task

Compare:

kereta baru saya = my new car
rumah besar mereka = their big house

Putting saya before the noun (saya tugas utama) is not how standard Malay forms “my X”. Colloquial speech can have tugas utama saya or structures like tugas utama saya adalah…, but the possessive itself normally follows the noun phrase: [noun + modifiers] + saya.

Why is utama after tugas? In English we say “main task”, not “task main”.

Malay typically puts adjectives after the noun they describe.

Pattern:
Noun + adjective

Examples:

buku baharu = new book
rumah besar = big house
kawan baik = good friend
tugas utama = main task

So tugas utama literally is “task main” but is understood as “main task”.
Putting utama tugas would be wrong in normal prose (it might appear only in poetry or unusual stylistic contexts).

What exactly does ialah mean here, and how is it different from adalah or just leaving it out?

Ialah is a kind of linking verb / copula, roughly like “is/are” in English, used to connect the subject to what it is being equated with.

In your sentence:

tugas utama saya = my main task
menulis laporan jualan = to write the sales report

tugas utama saya ialah menulis laporan jualan
= my main task is to write the sales report.

About ialah vs adalah:

A common rule of thumb (especially in textbooks) is:

ialah tends to be used before nouns or noun-like phrases
- Dia ialah doktor. = He/She is a doctor.
- Masalah utama kita ialah kekurangan masa. = Our main problem is lack of time.
adalah tends to be used before adjectives or descriptive phrases
- Masalah ini adalah serius. = This problem is serious.

In real usage, the distinction isn’t always strictly followed, and both can sometimes appear in similar places. Many speakers might say:

Tugas utama saya adalah menulis laporan jualan.

or even drop the copula entirely in speech:

Hari ini tugas utama saya menulis laporan jualan.

So:

ialah here is perfectly correct and somewhat formal/clear.
You may also see adalah or nothing at all in everyday conversation.

Why is it menulis and not untuk menulis (“to write”)?

Malay menulis can cover both “write” and “to write / writing” depending on context. After ialah/adalah, an activity verb often works like an English “to + verb”:

Tugas saya ialah menulis.
= My task is to write.

Adding untuk is usually not necessary here. Untuk is “for / in order to”, and is more common when you want to express purpose:

Saya datang untuk menulis laporan.
= I came to write the report / in order to write the report.

If you said:

Tugas utama saya ialah untuk menulis laporan jualan.

it would still be understood, but it feels a bit wordy or redundant in standard Malay.
The most natural version is exactly your sentence: … ialah menulis laporan jualan.

What does laporan jualan literally mean? Why isn’t there a word like “of” in between?

Laporan jualan is a noun–noun compound:

laporan = report
jualan = sales

Malay often expresses “X of Y” simply as Y X or X Y, without a word for “of”. Here it’s:

laporan (report) + jualan (sales)
→ “report [of] sales” → sales report

Other examples of this pattern:

laporan kewangan = financial report
laporan tahunan = annual report
mesyuarat pelanggan = customers’ meeting (meeting of customers)

You could, in a more explicit but less common way, say:

laporan tentang jualan = report about sales

But for something like a “sales report” as a standard document, laporan jualan is the usual term.

What’s the difference between jual, jualan, and penjualan?

They are related but not identical:

jual
- Root verb: to sell
- Example: Dia mahu jual kereta. = He/She wants to sell the car.
jualan
- Noun from jual; usually means sales (as an event or the thing sold)
- In laporan jualan, it refers to sales figures / sales activity.
- Example: jualan bulanan = monthly sales
penjualan
- Another noun form; often more formal, “the act/process of selling” or “sales” in a more technical/official sense
- Example: data penjualan suku tahun pertama = first-quarter sales data

In many business contexts, jualan and penjualan can overlap, but laporan jualan is the more common everyday term for “sales report”.

How formal or informal is this sentence? Would it be used in everyday speech?

The sentence:

Hari ini tugas utama saya ialah menulis laporan jualan.

is standard and slightly formal/neutral. It’s perfectly fine in:

Office conversation
Email or chat with colleagues
Written reports

In very casual spoken Malay, many people might simplify it to:

Hari ini kerja utama saya tulis laporan jualan.
- kerja instead of tugas (more casual “work/job”)
- dropping ialah
- maybe even dropping men- and saying tulis in some dialects

But if you speak the original sentence in normal conversation, it will still sound natural—just a bit more standard/polite, which is usually a good default.

Why is saya used here, and could I use aku instead?

Saya and aku both mean “I / me”, but they differ in politeness and context:

saya
- Polite, neutral, standard
- Safe in almost all situations: work, speaking to strangers, elders, formal writing
- In your sentence, tugas utama saya = my main task (polite/neutral)
aku
- Informal, intimate, or casual
- Used with close friends, family, or peers; can sound rude or overly familiar in formal contexts
- If you switched to aku, you would also usually change other things in the sentence to sound colloquial, for example:
  - Hari ini tugas utama aku ialah tulis laporan jualan. (with other casual tweaks)

For learning and general use, saya is the safest and most appropriate choice in this sentence.