Are there tenses in Malay?

✅ There are tenses in Malay, but in most cases, they are implied based on the context of conversations

 ✅ Malay verbs are not conjugated based on what tense is used in a sentence

✅ There are helping words to clarify the tense of a verb, but may be unnecessary

With time phrases, the tense of a sentence is clearly understood. For example:

• 1. Semalam, dia datang ke sini. He came here yesterday.

  2. Kita ada banyak benda nak beli. We have many things to buy.

  3. Pagi tadi, saya tak makan. I did not eat earlier in the morning.

With some phrases related to the present with wider range of time, it is more unclear. For example:

• 4. Buat apa hari ni? What are you doing/will do today?

  5. Hari ni, saya kerja kat rumah je. I just worked/am working at home today.

To understand the above example sentences, what we can do is to think of the context. For example, if the sentences are said in the morning, the actions talked about are future actions.

• 6. Buat apa hari ni? What are you doing/will do today?

  7. Hari ni, saya kerja kat rumah je. I just worked/am working at home today.

For future actions, if the context is unclear, helping words like akan and nak/mahu can be used.

 ⚠️ Nak & mahu can be translated to "to want", but are also used like "going to do" in spoken Malay

• 8. Saya akan pergi bandar dengan abang. I will go to the city with my brother.

  9. Saya nak keluar pergi taman. I am going out to the park.

Many students think that by using dah or sudah make a sentence in its past form. This is incorrect. Dah, shortened from sudah is used to talk about a completion of an action (as oposed to belum which means not yet)

1. Saya makan nasi. I eat/ate fried rice.

2. Saya dah makan nasi goreng tu. I have already eaten the fried rice.