Adik saya hiris kubis terlalu tebal, jadi ibu suruh dia hiris lagi dengan lebih nipis.

Adik means younger sibling. It does not tell you whether the person is male or female.

So:

• adik saya = my younger sibling
• It could mean my younger brother or my younger sister, depending on context.

Malay often leaves gender unspecified unless it is important.

In Malay, possession usually works as:

• noun + possessor

So:

• adik saya = my younger sibling
• ibu saya = my mother
• buku saya = my book

This is different from English, where the possessor often comes first.

Hiris means to slice or to cut into slices.

So in this sentence:

• hiris kubis = slice the cabbage

By contrast:

• potong is a more general cut
• hiris is more specific and suggests thin slices

So hiris is the natural choice here because the sentence talks about slices being too thick and then slicing them more thinly.

It is repeated because the sentence has two separate actions:

1. Adik saya hiris kubis terlalu tebal

   • My younger sibling sliced the cabbage too thickly.

2. ibu suruh dia hiris lagi dengan lebih nipis

   • Mother told him/her to slice it again more thinly.

Malay often repeats the verb instead of replacing it with something like English do so.

So the repetition is normal and clear.

Suruh means tell, ask, or order someone to do something, depending on context.

The pattern is:

• suruh + person + verb

So here:

• ibu suruh dia hiris lagi
• literally: Mother told him/her slice again
• natural English: Mother told him/her to slice it again

Important point: Malay does not need a word like English to before the second verb.

So:

• suruh dia hiris
• not suruh dia untuk hiris

Malay often drops objects when they are already understood from context.

Earlier in the sentence, we already have:

• kubis = cabbage

So in the second part, Malay does not have to repeat it:

• ibu suruh dia hiris lagi
• literally: mother told him/her slice again

Even though kubis is not repeated, the meaning is still clearly slice the cabbage again.

If needed for emphasis or clarity, a speaker could repeat the object, but it is often omitted naturally.

Terlalu means too and tebal means thick.

So:

• terlalu tebal = too thick

In this sentence, it describes the way the cabbage was sliced:

• hiris kubis terlalu tebal
• slice the cabbage too thickly

Even though tebal is an adjective (thick), Malay often uses adjectives in ways that English would express with an adverb like thickly.

Malay does not always separate adjectives and adverbs the way English does.

Words like:

• tebal = thick
• nipis = thin

can be used to describe the result or manner of an action.

So:

• hiris terlalu tebal = slice too thick / too thickly
• hiris lebih nipis = slice thinner / more thinly

This is very normal in Malay.

Jadi here means so, therefore, or as a result.

It connects the first clause and the second clause:

• Adik saya hiris kubis terlalu tebal, jadi ibu suruh dia...
• My younger sibling sliced the cabbage too thickly, so mother told him/her...

It shows cause and result.

Lagi often means again, more, or further, depending on context.

Here it means again:

• hiris lagi = slice again

The idea is that the first slicing was not right, so the mother tells the sibling to do it another time, but more thinly.

Dengan usually means with, but it can also introduce the manner of an action.

So:

• dengan lebih nipis = more thinly / in a thinner way

In natural English, we would not translate dengan literally here. We just say:

• slice it again more thinly
• or slice it again thinner

Malay often uses dengan in this kind of expression to show how something is done.

Lebih means more, and it is used to form the comparative:

• nipis = thin
• lebih nipis = thinner / more thin

Here the mother is comparing the second attempt with the first one:

• the first slices were too thick
• the next slices should be thinner

So lebih nipis is the natural comparative choice.

In standard Malay, nipis is the usual word for thin in this context.

• nipis = thin, not thick

Tipis exists in Indonesian and may also be understood by some Malay speakers, but in standard Malay, nipis is the better choice here.

So for learners of Malay, lebih nipis is the safer and more natural form.

In this sentence, ibu naturally means mother, and from context it is understood as the speaker’s mother.

Malay often leaves this kind of relationship understood from context. Since the sentence already says adik saya (my younger sibling), it is natural to understand ibu as our mother / my mother.

If someone wanted to be more explicit, they could say:

• ibu saya

But it is not necessary here.

Dia can mean:

• he
• she
• sometimes him or her in object position

Malay third-person pronouns do not usually mark gender.

So:

• ibu suruh dia hiris lagi
• could mean Mother told him to slice again
• or Mother told her to slice again

You know the gender only from context, not from the pronoun itself.

Malay usually does not mark tense the way English does.

The verbs here:

• hiris
• suruh

do not change form for past, present, or future.

Time is usually understood from:

• context
• time words such as semalam (yesterday), sekarang (now), esok (tomorrow)

In this sentence, English naturally translates it in the past because it describes a sequence of events:

• the sibling sliced the cabbage too thickly
• then the mother told them to slice it again

But the Malay verb forms themselves do not show past tense.

Not exactly. It means the cabbage was sliced in slices that were too thick.

Malay often allows this kind of compressed expression:

• hiris kubis terlalu tebal

The adjective tebal refers to the thickness of the slices/result, not the cabbage as a whole.

In English, we usually make this more explicit by saying:

• slice the cabbage too thickly
• or cut the cabbage into slices that are too thick

So the Malay wording is normal, even though the English structure is different.

Yes, depending on tone and context.

Suruh can range from:

• ask
• tell
• order

In a family situation like this, tell is often a good translation:

• Mother told him/her to slice it again more thinly

But if the tone is gentle, asked could also work in English. The exact force is decided by context, not by the word alone.

It has two main parts:

1. Adik saya hiris kubis terlalu tebal

   • subject: adik saya
   • verb: hiris
   • object: kubis
   • complement/manner: terlalu tebal

2. jadi ibu suruh dia hiris lagi dengan lebih nipis

   • linker: jadi
   • subject: ibu
   • verb: suruh
   • object: dia
   • second verb: hiris
   • extra information: lagi and dengan lebih nipis

A simple breakdown is:

• [Someone did X wrongly], so [mother told them to do X again in a better way].

That is a very common Malay sentence pattern.