Learn Hardcore Malay: Anak-anak itu guru mereka selalu puji di dalam kelas. - Those children are always praised by their teacher in class.

Guru mereka selalu memuji anak-anak itu di dalam kelas.
= neutral, standard SVO word order (Subject–Verb–Object).
Anak-anak itu guru mereka selalu puji di dalam kelas.
= the object is moved to the front for emphasis or focus.

By putting Anak-anak itu at the beginning, the speaker is emphasizing those children as the topic:

“Those children, their teacher always praises (them) in class.”

This structure (Object–Subject–Verb) is grammatical and used in Malay, especially to focus on the object, but the neutral version with Guru mereka… is more basic for learners.

Is this sentence active or passive? It kind of feels like “Those children are always praised…”.

Grammatically, it is still an active sentence, even though the English translation often comes out as passive.

Clues that it is active:

The agent (doer) is explicitly there: guru mereka (their teacher).
The verb puji does not have the passive prefix di-.
There is no oleh (“by”) in front of the agent.

A clearly passive version would be:

Anak-anak itu selalu dipuji oleh guru mereka di dalam kelas.
(“Those children are always praised by their teacher in class.”)

Your original sentence is closer in structure to:

“Those children, their teacher always praises (them) in class.”

—active in Malay, but often translated as passive in English for naturalness.

Why is the verb puji used here instead of memuji?

Malay verbs often have a base form and a meN- form:

Base: puji (“praise”)
With prefix: memuji (“to praise” – active transitive form)

In standard, neutral active sentences, you’ll usually see:

Guru mereka selalu memuji anak-anak itu.

However, when:

the object is fronted (moved to the start), or
the verb follows certain patterns (especially after focus/topic movement),

Malay frequently uses the bare/base verb:

Anak-anak itu guru mereka selalu puji.
(fronted object + bare verb)

So both are possible, but:

memuji → more neutral, standard active verb in SVO order.
puji → very common in structures like this, where the object is fronted.

You could also hear:

Anak-anak itu selalu guru mereka puji di dalam kelas.
(also with base puji).

Can I also say Guru mereka selalu memuji anak-anak itu di dalam kelas? Is there any difference in meaning?

Yes, that sentence is perfectly correct and is actually the most neutral and learner-friendly version:

Guru mereka selalu memuji anak-anak itu di dalam kelas.
= “Their teacher always praises those children in class.”

The main difference is focus:

Guru mereka selalu memuji anak-anak itu…
→ neutral statement; basic SVO order.
Anak-anak itu guru mereka selalu puji…
→ focuses on anak-anak itu (“those children”) as the topic, as if saying:
“As for those children, their teacher always praises them in class.”

The meaning is essentially the same; the nuance of what is highlighted is different.

How does anak-anak show plural? Could I just say anak itu for “those children”?

In Malay, one common way to mark plural is reduplication:

anak = child
anak-anak = children

So anak-anak clearly shows plural.

However, Malay often relies on context for number, so anak itu can sometimes mean:

“that child” or
“those children”

depending on context, or with a number word:

tiga orang anak itu = those three children

In your sentence:

Anak-anak itu
→ “those children” (with explicit plural via reduplication).

Using anak itu instead wouldn’t be wrong, but it would be less explicitly plural and might be interpreted as a single child, depending on context.

What is the function of itu in anak-anak itu? Could I omit it?

Itu is a demonstrative (“that/those”), but in Malay it also works like a definite marker (“the”).

anak-anak = (some) children
anak-anak itu = those children / the children (that we’re talking about)

If you omit itu:

Anak-anak guru mereka selalu puji di dalam kelas.

This now means more like:

“Children (in general), their teacher always praises (them) in class.”

So:

With itu → referring to specific children, already known in the context.
Without itu → more general or nonspecific.

In your sentence, itu helps show we’re talking about particular children, not children in general.

In guru mereka, is guru singular or plural? Does it mean “their teacher” or “their teachers”?

Malay does not usually mark singular/plural on nouns, so guru can be:

“teacher” (singular)
“teachers” (plural)

The phrase guru mereka literally means:

guru = teacher/teachers
mereka = they / their

So guru mereka can mean:

“their teacher”
“their teachers”

Which one is intended depends on context. In many situations, “their teacher” (one teacher shared by those children) will be the most natural reading unless the context clearly indicates multiple teachers.

Why is there no word for “them” after puji? In English we must say “praise them”.

Malay does not need to repeat an object pronoun when the object is already clearly stated, especially when it’s been fronted to the beginning.

Anak-anak itu guru mereka selalu puji di dalam kelas.
→ literally: “Those children, their teacher always praises (—) in class.”

The (—) is understood to refer back to anak-anak itu. Malay avoids unnecessary repetition:

English: “Those children, their teacher always praises them in class.”
Malay: Anak-anak itu guru mereka selalu puji di dalam kelas.
(no extra mereka or mereka itu after puji)

If you try to add a pronoun:

✗ Anak-anak itu guru mereka selalu puji mereka di dalam kelas.

it sounds odd and redundant, as if you’re saying “those children, their teacher always praises them (themselves)”—not natural here.

What’s the difference between di dalam kelas and di kelas? Which is more natural?

Both are correct:

di kelas = “in class / in the classroom”
→ very common, natural in everyday speech.
di dalam kelas = literally “inside the class”
→ slightly more explicit and can sound a bit more formal or emphatic.

In most everyday contexts, people would say:

…di kelas.

Your sentence with di kelas:

Anak-anak itu guru mereka selalu puji di kelas.

is completely natural. Di dalam kelas is not wrong; it just puts a little extra focus on the inside of the class.

Is the word order Anak-anak itu guru mereka selalu puji… common in everyday spoken Malay, or is it more formal/literary?

The pattern [Object] + [Subject] + [Verb] like this does exist in spoken Malay, but:

The strictly neutral, everyday form is more often:
Guru mereka selalu memuji anak-anak itu di kelas.

The fronted-object structure:

Anak-anak itu guru mereka selalu puji…

tends to sound:

a bit more emphatic,
somewhat stylistic, and
more likely in storytelling, explanations, or written narrative, where you want to spotlight the children first.

It is not wrong or unnatural, but for everyday, straightforward speech, speakers often stick to normal SVO order.

Where can selalu (“always”) go in this sentence? Can I move it around?

Selalu is quite flexible in Malay. Common and natural positions include:

Before the verb (most common in SVO):
- Guru mereka selalu memuji anak-anak itu di dalam kelas.
After the object when the object is fronted:
- Anak-anak itu guru mereka selalu puji di dalam kelas.
  (here selalu is between the subject and the verb)
Before the subject, to emphasize frequency (more marked):
- Selalu guru mereka memuji anak-anak itu di dalam kelas.
  (sounds like: “It’s always that their teacher praises those children in class.”)

What you normally wouldn’t do is split selalu away from the verb in a very unnatural way, like:

✗ Anak-anak itu selalu guru mereka puji di dalam kelas.
(This can be heard, but the prosody and emphasis become more complex; for learners, stick with the earlier patterns.)

For clarity and naturalness, use:

Guru mereka selalu memuji… (neutral)
Anak-anak itu guru mereka selalu puji… (with fronted object, as given).

How would I turn this sentence into a clearly passive sentence in Malay?

To make it clearly passive, use the di- passive form of the verb and often oleh before the agent:

Anak-anak itu selalu dipuji oleh guru mereka di dalam kelas.
= “Those children are always praised by their teacher in class.”

Structure:

Anak-anak itu (patient / thing acted on)
selalu (always)
dipuji (is/are praised – passive verb with di-)
oleh guru mereka (by their teacher)
di dalam kelas (in class)

This is unambiguously passive, unlike the original sentence, which is active with a fronted object.