Table of Lessons (for PC)   |   HOME PAGE
A basic course in the Malaysian and Indonesian languages in 64 lessons  ©pgoh
This version is to be used on a desktop. Smartphone users go here.

  Lesson 57 Saya sakit. (I am sick.) 


If you have learnt the names of the various parts of the body in Malay from the previous lesson you will be able to say what exactly you are suffering from. Unlike English where the name of the sick body member is followed by the word "ache" (headache, toothache, ear-ache, stomach-ache, etc) in Malay it is the other way round i.e. the word sakit (equivalent to "ache" in the above examples though the word itself means "sick") comes before the name of the body member that is sick, as you can see from the list below.
Oh, by the way, you do say "eat medicine" in Malay. Thus the question "Have you taken your medicine?" is Sudahkah anda makan ubat? (literally "Have you eaten your medicine?")
But for the English speaker it would be easier perhaps to use ambil which is the Malay word for "take" so the above question becomes:
Sudahkah anda ambil ubat? (= "Have you taken your medicine?")
You know now that ubat is the Malay word for medicine and you have learnt in the previous lesson that gigi means teeth so what can ubat gigi mean? Literally "medicine for the teeth", in other words the toothpaste!

Click to listen  
A second reading (by Muhammad Nor Ismat, a native speaker)

Saya hendak jumpa doktor.
Mengapa?
Kerana saya sakit kepala.
Anda tidak datang bekerja kelmarin.
Mengapa?
Kerana saya sakit.
Sakit apa?
Sakit perut.
I want to see a doctor. (jumpa = to meet)
Why?
Because I have a headache.
You didn't come to work yesterday.
Why?
Because I was sick.
What were you suffering from?
A stomach-ache.

More examples:
sakit gigi
sakit mata
sakit telinga
sakit kaki
doktor gigi
doktor mata
Saya demam.
Saya batuk.
Saya muntah.
Saya sakit cirit-birit.
Saya demam selesema.
Saya tidak berapa sihat.
Dia sudah (jatuh) pengsan.
Saya sihat.
Makan ubat ini tiga kali sehari.
toothache (literally "sick tooth")
eye pain (literally "sick eye")
ear-ache (literally "sick ear")
pain in leg (literally "sick leg")
dentist
ophthalmologist
I have a fever.
I cough.
I vomit.
I have diarrhoea.
I have flu.
I am feeling poorly or out of sorts.
He/She has fainted.
I am in good health.
Take (literally "eat") this medicine 3 times a day

There's another word that you might want to learn. It's gila meaning "mad" or "insane". Thus a madman would be orang gila in Malay. However, apart from its medical sense, gila can also be used in all cases where we would say "crazy" in English. Thus "Are you crazy?" would be Gilakah? or Gilakah anda? and someone who is crazy over women can be described as gila perempuan.
I might point out here that many Malaysians who live in villages (kampung) believe in traditional doctors or faith-healers. So it might be useful to know the following four words when you hear them spoken. They are: tabib, bomoh, dukun and pawang (though tabib is sometimes also used when referring to the conventional or trained doctor). All four terms are also used in Indonesia for the traditional doctor.

The five senses

As we are talking about the parts of the body in this lesson can I bring in the five senses here?
First there is the eye (mata) which you see (melihat) with.
Other words that are used for seeing are: tengok (to watch) which you have learnt in Lesson 32 and nampak.
Just as in English there is a slight nuance between "to look" and "to see" so too in Malay.
Thus "Look at that man" is Lihat orang itu while "I can see that man" is Saya boleh nampak orang itu. Oh by the way, while lihat means to look, lihat-lihat means to look around eg. if a shop assistant asks what you are looking for and you are looking for nothing in particular you can say Saya cuma lihat-lihat (I'm just looking around.)
Then there is the ear (telinga) that you hear (mendengar) with.
Third in line is the nose (hidung) which you smell (or sniff = menghidu) with.
Another word meaning "to smell" is berbau.
Note that the word bau by itself means a smell.
Watch out how you use the word berbau as berbau by itself can also mean smelly.
Thus Orang ini berbau would mean "This man stinks."
So don't get this wrong unless you want to provoke a fight! And don't think you can get away by saying you're a foreigner if you were to tell someone he is smelly!
By the way bau can only be pronounced ba-oo.
It cannot be pronounced ba-hoo as there is a word bahu meaning shoulders.
I know, you have learnt in Lesson 24 that mahu can also be written mau and thus can be pronounced as ma-hoo or ma-oo.
Similarly tahu (to know) can also be written tau and can thus be pronounced as ta-hoo or ta-oo.
But bau and bahu are two entirely different words so don't mix them up.
Here is a sentence you can learn using berbau to mean "smell":
Durian berbau wangi untuk orang Malaysia tetapi berbau busuk untuk orang asing.
(= Durians smell nice to Malaysians but smell bad to foreigners.)
Then comes the finger (jari) which you use to touch with (sentuh or menyentuh with the prefix).
And lastly there is the tongue (lidah) for you to taste (merasa) with.
To sum up, the following sentences in Malay might help you to study the five senses better:
Saya melihat dengan mata. (I see with my eyes.)
Saya mendengar dengan telinga. (I hear with my ears.)
Saya berbau/menghidu dengan hidung. (I smell with my nose.)
Saya menyentuh dengan jari. (I touch with my fingers.)
Saya merasa dengan lidah. (I taste with my tongue.)




ENGLISH INDONESIAN MALAY
toothpaste pasta gigi ubat gigi
I want to see a doctor. Aku hendak jumpa dokter. Saya hendak jumpa doktor.
yesterday kemarin kelmarin
diarrhoea diare/mencret cirit-birit
flu flu/selesma/pilek demam selesema
healthy sehat sihat
to faint (jatuh) pingsan (jatuh) pengsan
medicine obat ubat
to see lihat, nampak lihat, tampak


Table of Lessons (for PC)   |   HOME PAGE