This is the smartphone version. The earlier and fuller version, which discusses the Indonesian language as well, can be found here.
Lesson 41 Dengan (With)
Click to listen to the Malay sentences.
A second reading (by Michelle Nor Ismat, a native speaker)
| She came with her husband. | Dia datang dengan suaminya. |
| He has gone out with his father. | Dia telah keluar dengan bapanya. |
| I wish to talk with Mr. Ahmad. | Saya hendak cakap dengan Encik Ahmad. |
| Vocabulary
datang = to come suami = husband keluar = to go out cakap dengan = talk with |
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You will learn in later lessons that most verbs in Malay have prefixes and suffixes affixed to them. In the last sentence above, for example, you might hear: Saya hendak bercakap dengan Encik Ahmad.
In such a case you might be asked Berkenaan dengan apa? or Tentang apa? both of which mean "About what?" (On what subject or matter?)
On your side you might need to say "I have to speak to Encik Ahmad about tomorrow's meeting" which in Malay would be Saya harus bercakap dengan Encik Ahmad berkenaan dengan mesyuarat esok or Saya harus bercakap dengan Encik Ahmad tentang mesyuarat esok. So each time you need to talk about a certain matter or concerning something you can either say berkenaan dengan or tentang. In the first case (berkenaan dengan) you need always to use it with the preposition dengan (think of it as "having to do WITH something").
For the very ambitious (or should I say "model") student: There is yet a third word, also in common usage, to denote the same thing. The word is mengenai pronounced in four syllables (me-nge-na-ee) so don't use it unless you are able to pronounce it correctly! Eg. Saya hendak berbincang dengan anda mengenai hutang anda. (I wish to discuss with you about your debt.)
Another sentence with dengan:
Dia masih tinggal dengan ibu bapanya ("He is still living with his parents" OR "She is still living with her parents".)
You have learnt in Lesson 3 that ibu and emak both mean "mother" and that bapa and ayah both mean "father". However in this expression for "parents" you cannot use any word you like. It has got to be ibu bapa and nothing else. And get the order right, the mother comes first before the father.