Breakdown of Saya mahu belajar di perpustakaan, dia pula mahu menonton filem di rumah.
saya
I
dia
he/she
mahu
to want
di
at
Questions & Answers about Saya mahu belajar di perpustakaan, dia pula mahu menonton filem di rumah.
Why is dia translated as either he or she?
In Malay, dia is a third-person singular pronoun that does not mark gender. So it can mean he, she, or sometimes they in a very general singular sense, depending on context.
In this sentence, dia pula mahu menonton filem di rumah, you only know whether it is he or she from the wider situation, not from the word dia itself.
What does pula mean here?
Pula is one of those very common Malay words that can be tricky because it does not always translate neatly into one English word.
In this sentence, dia pula gives a sense like:
- as for him/her
- he/she, on the other hand
- meanwhile, he/she
- in contrast, he/she
So the sentence contrasts two people’s preferences:
- Saya mahu belajar di perpustakaan
- dia pula mahu menonton filem di rumah
Here, pula helps show that the second clause is being compared or contrasted with the first.
Why is there no word for to before belajar or menonton?