Dehidrasi itu teruk.

Malay often leaves out the verb to be in simple sentences like this.

So instead of saying something like Dehidrasi itu adalah teruk, Malay normally just says:

Dehidrasi itu teruk.

This is very common with nouns, adjectives, and descriptions.

Compare:

• Rumah itu besar. = The house is big.
• Dia guru. = He/She is a teacher.
• Cuaca panas. = The weather is hot.

You may sometimes see adalah or ialah, but not in ordinary sentences like this one.

Itu literally means that, but in sentences like this it often helps mark something as specific or already known in the conversation.

So Dehidrasi itu teruk can feel like:

• That dehydration is severe
• The dehydration is severe

In natural Malay, itu is often used in a way that overlaps with English the, even though Malay does not have a direct article system like English.

It can suggest either one, depending on context.

• If you are contrasting one case with another, it may feel more like that.
• If you are simply referring to a known case, it may feel more like the.

So the sentence could be understood as either:

• That dehydration is severe
• The dehydration is severe

Malay relies heavily on context for this kind of distinction.

Yes, but the result is a bit different.

Dehidrasi itu teruk is a full sentence with a clear topic:

• The/that dehydration is severe

Dehidrasi teruk can sound more general, less anchored, or even like a noun phrase:

• severe dehydration

In some contexts, Dehidrasi teruk could work as a short sentence, especially in notes, headlines, or casual speech. But Dehidrasi itu teruk sounds more complete and more clearly refers to a specific case.

Teruk means something like:

• severe
• serious
• bad
• very bad

In a medical context, teruk usually means serious/severe, not just mildly unpleasant.

So in this sentence, teruk is a very natural choice because dehydration is something that can vary in severity.

Both can relate to something being bad, but they are not used in exactly the same way.

Teruk often suggests:

• severe
• serious
• badly affected

Buruk often means:

• bad
• poor
• ugly
• in bad condition

For illness, injury, damage, or dangerous conditions, teruk is often the more natural choice when you want to say the situation is severe.

So Dehidrasi itu teruk sounds more natural than Dehidrasi itu buruk.

Dehidrasi is a loanword, ultimately from the same international medical vocabulary as English dehydration.

This is very common in Malay, especially for medical, scientific, and technical terms. A learner should not be surprised to see words that look familiar.

Even though it is a loanword, dehidrasi is a normal Malay word in use.

Yes.

The normal order here is:

noun + itu + adjective

So:

• Dehidrasi itu teruk.

This is the natural order for saying that something is something, or that something has a quality.

You would not normally say:

• Teruk dehidrasi itu

That sounds unnatural in standard Malay.

Also notice that adjectives often come after the noun in Malay. For example:

• rumah besar = big house
• masalah teruk = severe problem

You can add intensifiers or softeners before teruk.

Stronger:

• Dehidrasi itu sangat teruk. = The dehydration is very severe.
• Dehidrasi itu terlalu teruk. = The dehydration is too severe.

Softer:

• Dehidrasi itu agak teruk. = The dehydration is rather severe.
• Dehidrasi itu sedikit teruk. is less natural; agak is usually better.

For a very natural stronger version, sangat teruk is a good choice.

No. Malay adjectives do not agree the way adjectives sometimes do in other languages.

So teruk stays teruk regardless of:

• singular or plural
• masculine or feminine
• present or past time

Examples:

• Keadaan itu teruk. = That condition is severe.
• Masalah itu teruk. = That problem is severe.
• Gejala-gejala itu teruk. = Those symptoms are severe.

Time is usually understood from context or shown with time words, not by changing the adjective.

A simple approximation is:

de-hi-dra-si i-tu te-ruk

A few helpful points:

• dehidrasi has clear syllables: de-hi-dra-si
• itu is ee-too
• teruk is roughly teh-rook, with a rolled or tapped r in careful speech

Malay spelling is fairly regular, so once you know the sound system, pronunciation is much more predictable than in English.