Baik fakulti sains mahupun fakulti bahasa ada kursus yang menarik.

The pattern baik ... mahupun ... means both ... and ... or whether ... or ..., depending on context.

In this sentence:

Baik fakulti sains mahupun fakulti bahasa ada kursus yang menarik.

it means:

Both the science faculty and the language faculty have interesting courses.

So baik X mahupun Y links two things and says that the statement applies to both of them.

Dan simply means and. It joins two nouns or phrases in a neutral way.

But baik ... mahupun ... is a more structured and slightly more formal way to emphasize that the statement is true for both items.

Compare:

• Fakulti sains dan fakulti bahasa ada kursus yang menarik.
  = The science faculty and the language faculty have interesting courses.

• Baik fakulti sains mahupun fakulti bahasa ada kursus yang menarik.
  = Both the science faculty and the language faculty have interesting courses.

The second version feels more deliberate and emphatic.

There is one, in a sense: the whole expression baik ... mahupun ... carries that meaning.

English often uses a separate word such as both, but Malay often expresses that idea through a paired structure instead of a single standalone word.

So you should think of:

• baik A mahupun B = both A and B

rather than trying to match each Malay word one-for-one with English.

Here ada means something like have.

In this sentence:

... ada kursus yang menarik

the meaning is have interesting courses.

Malay ada is very flexible. Depending on context, it can mean:

• there is / there are
• exist
• have

Here the subject is fakulti sains and fakulti bahasa, so ada naturally means that those faculties have courses.

Malay verbs do not change form to match the subject the way English verbs do.

So Malay does not do things like:

• I have
• she has
• they have

with different verb forms.

Instead, the same word stays the same:

• saya ada
• dia ada
• mereka ada

That is why ada does not change, even though the sentence talks about two faculties.

Yang menarik describes kursus.

So:

• kursus = courses
• kursus yang menarik = interesting courses

The word yang often introduces a descriptive phrase, similar to that/which/who in English, though in many cases it is more natural to translate it simply as an adjective phrase.

So literally, you can think of:

• kursus yang menarik = courses that are interesting

but in natural English:

• interesting courses

In Malay, modifiers often come after the noun, not before it.

So:

• kursus yang menarik = courses that are interesting
• buku yang tebal = a book that is thick / a thick book
• orang yang baik = a person who is kind / a kind person

This is a very common difference from English word order. English often puts the adjective before the noun, while Malay often places the descriptive element after the noun, frequently using yang.

Malay does not have articles like the or a/an in the same way English does.

So a noun such as fakulti can mean:

• a faculty
• the faculty

depending on context.

In this sentence, English naturally uses the science faculty and the language faculty, but Malay does not need separate words for the.

Context tells you whether the noun is specific or general.

Malay nouns usually do not have to change form for singular vs. plural.

So kursus can mean:

• course
• courses

depending on context.

Here it is understood as plural because the sentence is speaking generally about what the faculties offer.

Malay can show plural explicitly in some cases, for example by reduplication:

• kursus-kursus

But very often this is unnecessary if the meaning is already clear.

Not naturally in this context.

Although baik ... mahupun ... can sometimes feel like whether ... or ..., here the best English translation is both ... and ....

That is because the sentence is not presenting alternatives or uncertainty. It is saying the same fact is true of both faculties.

So the natural meaning is:

Both the science faculty and the language faculty have interesting courses.

not a contrast between one or the other.

Yes, it sounds somewhat formal or at least more polished than a basic everyday sentence with dan.

For example:

• Fakulti sains dan fakulti bahasa ada kursus yang menarik.
  This is simpler and more neutral.

• Baik fakulti sains mahupun fakulti bahasa ada kursus yang menarik.
  This sounds more formal, careful, or written.

So learners should recognize baik ... mahupun ... as a useful pattern, especially in writing or more formal speech.

Yes, you can say:

Baik fakulti sains mahupun fakulti bahasa mempunyai kursus yang menarik.

This also means Both the science faculty and the language faculty have interesting courses.

The difference is mainly style:

• ada is very common and natural
• mempunyai is more formal and more explicitly means to have

So both are correct, but mempunyai sounds a bit more formal or written.

In many cases, mahupun appears as part of a paired structure such as baik ... mahupun .... That is the clearest pattern for learners.

It can also appear in other constructions in more advanced or formal Malay, but for a learner, the safest and most useful thing is to learn:

• baik A mahupun B = both A and B

So in this sentence, it is best understood as part of a fixed pattern rather than as an independent word you can freely use anywhere.