This is the smartphone version. The earlier and fuller version, which discusses the Indonesian language as well, can be found here.
Lesson 36 Tadi (Just now)
Click to listen to the Malay sentences.
A second reading (by Michelle Nor Ismat, a native speaker)
| He came just now. | Dia datang tadi. |
| Your wife phoned a while ago. | Isteri anda telefon tadi. |
| What did she say? | Apa kata dia? |
| She said she was sick. | Dia kata dia sakit. |
| I went to my friend's house just now. | Saya pergi ke rumah kawan saya tadi. |
| Vocabulary
tadi = just now, a while ago kata = to say sakit = sick kawan saya = my friend |
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MORE EXAMPLES:
Dia marah dengan saya tadi kerana saya tidak tolong dia = He was angry with me just now because I didn't help him.
Please note that the colloquial form uses the word sama instead of dengan.
So don't be surprised at all if you hear the above sentence as:
Dia marah sama saya tadi kerana saya tidak tolong dia.
In short if you want to ask someone if he (or she) is angry with you (or at you), you can either say:
Anda marah dengan sayakah? or Anda marah sama sayakah? but I think it's easier for English speakers to use dengan as it translates literally into "with".
Instead of tadi (just now), you might sometimes hear sekejap tadi which means "a short while ago".
Please don't mix this up with sekejap lagi which means "in a short while".
Thus while tadi or sekejap tadi is used for the immediate past, sekejap lagi is used for the immediate future.
So if you should ask Bila hendak keluar? (When are you leaving?) and you get the answer Sekejap lagi you will know that the person you are talking to is leaving in a short while.
When you visit a person at his house or at his office you might sometimes be told Tunggu sekejap. It means "Wait for a while" eg.
Dia akan datang sekejap lagi. Tunggu sekejap. (He will be coming in a short while. Wait a while.) or
Dia akan balik sekejap lagi. Tunggulah sekejap. (He will be back soon. Please wait a while). You might also hear Dia akan pulang sekejap lagi as pulang and balik are synonyms.
The suffix lah is often added to a word to "soften" what might appear to be a "command" word (in this case not "You wait here" but "Please wait here".) The Malays are an easy-going and courteous race so you will hear the suffix lah sprinkled all over the place (linguistically speaking of course!)
Similarly Berhenti sekejap means "Stop a while" eg. Saya penat. Berhentilah sekejap (I'm tired. Please stop for a while.) Again you can see how the suffix lah is used here to soften what could otherwise be interpreted as a command.
In the above sentence I have introduced another useful word to add to your Malay vocabulary. The word is penat and as you have seen, it means "tired".
There's another word meaning the same as penat and that is letih.
Thus you can also say:
Saya letih. Boleh berehat sekejap? (I'm tired. Can we rest a while?)
For practice try to get someone to ask you the following questions and answer them with tadi or sekejap tadi. By the way tadi rhymes with "barely" and "hardly", both of which can mean "only just" (if this can help you to remember the Malay word).
Bila dia datang? (When did he come?)
Bila dia telefon? (When did he phone?)
Bila dia keluar? (When did he leave?)
Or perhaps if your friend doesn't know Malay it's easier if it is you who ask the questions and your friend only has to reply tadi! Have fun!