Learn Hardcore Malay: Laporan jualan itu penting untuk bos di pejabat. - That sales report is important for the boss at the office.

laporan – report (noun), from lapor (to report) + -an (noun suffix)
jualan – sales, selling (noun), from jual (to sell) + -an
itu – that / the (demonstrative; points to something specific, usually already known)
penting – important (adjective)
untuk – for (preposition of purpose/benefit)
bos – boss (loanword from English; very common in Malay)
di – at / in (preposition of location)
pejabat – office

So the structure is roughly: [report sales that] [important] [for boss] [at office].

Why is itu after laporan jualan and not before it like English that report?

In Malay, demonstratives like ini (this) and itu (that) usually come after the noun phrase, not before it.

laporan jualan itu = that sales report / the sales report
laporan itu = that report / the report
bos itu = that boss / the boss

So the pattern is:

Noun (+ modifiers) + ini / itu

This is different from English, where we say that report, not report that.

Does itu here mean that or the?

It can be understood as either, depending on context:

Often it feels like that: that sales report (a specific one we both know about).
In many real situations, it functions much like the in English: the sales report.

Malay does not have articles like a/an/the, so itu frequently plays the role of “making something specific” or “definite.”

Compare:

Laporan jualan penting. – Sales reports are important (general statement).
Laporan jualan itu penting. – That specific / the particular sales report is important.

Could I use ini instead of itu? What would change?

Yes, you can:

Laporan jualan ini penting untuk bos di pejabat.

Rough nuance:

ini – this (near the speaker in space, time, or discourse; or just introduced)
itu – that (further away / already known / something previously mentioned)

So:

laporan jualan ini – this sales report (the one I’m holding / just talking about now)
laporan jualan itu – that sales report (you already know which one I mean)

Why is there no word like is between laporan jualan itu and penting?

Malay often omits the verb “to be” (a copula) before adjectives and some other predicates.

So:

Laporan jualan itu penting.
Literally: That sales report important.

English needs is, but Malay does not. The idea of “is” is understood from the structure.

You might have seen adalah or ialah, but:

adalah is normally used before a noun phrase or prepositional phrase:
- Laporan itu adalah bukti penting. – That report is important evidence.
It is not usually needed (and often sounds stiff or bookish) before simple adjectives like penting.

So Laporan jualan itu penting is the normal, natural way to say That sales report is important.

What kind of word is penting? Is it an adjective or a verb?

penting is an adjective meaning important.

In Malay, adjectives can function as the main predicate without a separate verb to be:

Laporan itu penting. – The report is important.
Bos itu sibuk. – The boss is busy.
Pejabat ini besar. – This office is big.

So penting behaves grammatically like an adjective, but it carries the meaning “to be important” when used as the predicate.

Why is it laporan jualan and not jualan laporan if it means sales report?

In Malay, the usual order is:

Head noun + modifying noun

So you typically have:

laporan jualan – report (about) sales
mesyuarat syarikat – company meeting
kad kredit – credit card

The first noun is the main thing, the second noun explains what kind or about what.
So laporan (report) is the head, jualan (sales) tells you the type of report.

If you said jualan laporan, it would mean something like the selling of reports, which is a completely different idea.

What is the difference between jual, jualan, and penjualan?

All come from the same root jual (to sell), but:

jual – verb: to sell
- Dia jual kereta. – He/she sells a car.
jualan – noun: sales, selling, things for sale
- laporan jualan – sales report
- barang jualan – goods for sale
penjualan – more formal noun: sales (the activity/act of selling)
- laporan penjualan bulanan – monthly sales report

In your sentence, laporan jualan is perfectly natural, everyday Malay.
laporan penjualan sounds a bit more formal/technical, often used in business documents.

Why is untuk used here? Could I use kepada or bagi instead?

untuk mainly means for in the sense of:

for the benefit of
for the purpose of

In penting untuk bos di pejabat, it’s like important for the boss (it matters to the boss).

Alternatives:

bagi bos di pejabat – also used to mean for / in the view of the boss.
In many contexts untuk and bagi can be swapped, with bagi sometimes sounding a bit more formal or “from the perspective of”.
kepada is more like to, marking a recipient or direction:
- Dia memberi laporan itu kepada bos. – He/she gave the report to the boss.

So here, untuk (or bagi) is natural; kepada would not be used with penting this way.

Does bos di pejabat mean the boss at the office or for the boss, at the office? What exactly does di pejabat modify?

As written:

penting untuk bos di pejabat

the most natural reading is that di pejabat modifies bos:

bos di pejabat → the boss at the office / the office boss

So it’s like saying:

The sales report is important for the boss at the office.

If you want di pejabat to modify penting (meaning important in the office context / in the workplace), you would more likely move it:

Laporan jualan itu penting di pejabat untuk bos.
(The sales report is important at the office for the boss.)

Malay often uses word order to show what a phrase attaches to.

[untuk bos di pejabat] → for the boss who is at the office
penting [di pejabat] untuk bos → is important at the office, for the boss

Why is di separate from pejabat? I’ve also seen di- attached to verbs.

Malay has two different di forms:

Preposition di (separate word) = at / in / on
- di pejabat – at the office
- di rumah – at home
- di sekolah – at school
Prefix di- (attached to a verb) = passive voice marker
- dijual – is sold / was sold
- ditulis – is written / was written

In your sentence, di is clearly the preposition (location), so it must be written as a separate word: di pejabat, never dipejabat.

How do I say for the bosses (plural) instead of for the boss?

Malay usually does not mark plural with a special ending, so:

bos can mean boss or bosses, depending on context.

If you really want to make the plural clear, you have options:

untuk para bos di pejabat – for the bosses at the office (polite, formal-ish)
untuk bos-bos di pejabat – for the bosses at the office (colloquial; reduplication shows plural)
untuk semua bos di pejabat – for all the bosses at the office

So you could say:

Laporan jualan itu penting untuk para bos di pejabat.

Is bos a formal word in Malay? Are there other options?

bos is very common and understood everywhere. Its feel is:

neutral in everyday business speech
slightly informal compared to some native Malay terms

More formal or specific alternatives:

majikan – employer
ketua – leader, head
pengurus – manager
ketua jabatan – head of department
pengarah – director

In an office context, bos is perfectly natural; in formal writing, you might prefer something like majikan or pengurus, depending on the role.

If I remove itu and say Laporan jualan penting untuk bos di pejabat, what changes?

Without itu, the sentence sounds more general:

Laporan jualan penting untuk bos di pejabat.
→ Sales reports are important for the boss at the office (a general statement about that type of report).

With itu:

Laporan jualan itu penting untuk bos di pejabat.
→ That particular / the specific sales report is important for the boss at the office.

So itu tends to move the meaning from generic to specific/definite.