Utusan Malaysia... |
Utusan Malaysia and Imbuhan
When your search on the net is related to Malaysia, you will definitely find Utusan Malaysia.
When you read in Malay, you will definitely meet words with affixes,called imbuhan.
So why not find out about both?
Utusan itself is a word with imbuhan: utus (messenger) + an (suffix )
As imbuhan is a huge topic in grammar, I keep it simple by discussing only the suffix "-an". Here's a brief outline.
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The Functions of "-an"
1. To denote every
Nora membayar bill internet untuk bulan Ogos. Bayaran bulanannya ialah enam puluh enam ringgit.
Nora pays internet bill for the month of August. Her monthly payment is RM 66.
Do you notice,bulan is month and bulanan is monthly?
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2. to denote place value of a number
Nora mempunyai laman webnya sendiri. Setakat ini ada lima ribu empat ratus tiga puluh dua orang pelawat.
Nora owns a webiste. So far, she has 5432 visitors.
Let's focus on the number values first, the number value of:
| 5 is lima ribu 4 is empat ratus | five thousand four hundred | 3 is tiga puluh 2 is dua | thirty twolah of course! |
The place value of
| 5 is ribuan 4 is ratusan | thousands hundreds | 3 is puluhan 2 is satuan | tens ones |
P.S.The same principle applies to grouping of years, for example, tahun dua ribuan ( second millennium ) and tahun sembilan puluhan ( nineties).
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3. To denote plurality
We can also say that:
Ribuan pelawat melayari laman web Nora.
Thousands of visitors surfed Nora'website.
Ribuan in this case means a few thousand.
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4. To denote a large area
Tanah di depan Nora datar. Dia melalui Dataran Merdeka.
The land in front of Nora is flat. She passes by the Merdeka Square.
While datar is flat, adding "-an" changes it into a four-side open area called dataran or square.
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5.To denote variety
Nora singgah di gerai buah-buahan. Dia membeli buah nanas.
Nora stops by a fruit stall. She buys pineapple.
A stall sells buah-buah ( a few types of fruits) and Nora buys only one buah( fruit )- pineapple.
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6.To denote degree of intensity
Daripada suratkhabar, Nora membaca berita tentang seorang kanak-kanak yang mati lemas.
Dia juga mendapati pengiklan-pengiklan bersaing mati-matian untuk memikat pelanggan.
From newspaper, Nora reads about a child who died from suffocation.
She also notices that advertisers still fight tooth and nail to woo customers.
Mati means to die, mati-matian means to do with all one's energy.
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7.To change words into nouns
Nora gemar menggunakan Utusan Yahoo untuk bersembang.
What does Nora like to use to chat?Try to recall the meaning of Utusan Malaysia... mentioned at the outset and you get...Yahoo Messenger!
and she often sees this on websites:
Soalan lazim-Apakah yang harus saya lakukan jika saya terlupa akan kata laluan?
Frequently asked question-What should I do if I forget my password?
Soal( to ask )becomes noun soalan and lalu( to pass) becomes a noun in kata laluan ( password).
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Phew...we have finished discussing just one imbuhan "-an", let's move on to...
GRAMMATICAL LESSONS DRAWN FROM UTUSAN MALAYSIA
Both utus and utusan mean messenger but there's a difference. Utus is classical literature language mostly referring to a Sultan sending his utus.
Whereas utusan can be a messenger or a group of messengers
You wouldn't use an archaic word to name a newspaper that represents the voice of modern Malaysia, would you? That's why it's Utusan Malaysia.
Now, let's talk about the practical aspect... How can you apply what you have read?
You are obviously surfing online, then ask yourself: " Apakah rangkaian yang saya gunakan? Rangkaian dial atau rangkaian kawasan setempat?"
"What kind of network am I using? Dial-up network or LAN network?"
hint: rangkai (chain)
rangkaian( chains forming the network )
You may notice carian (search), pautan( link), talian ( telephone lines) and etc...Make a point to observe words with "-an" as your homework after this lesson, okay? At least it's a fun alternative to the grammar exercises from text books.
By the way...
Not ALL words ending with "an" are attached to imbuhan "-an". Pleaselah..we know kawan ( friend) is not, and also, halaman web ( web page)...I don't think I have ever seen halam....
May the omnipresent Utusan Malaysia remind you of the small but useful "-an".
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