Belajar B.Melayu di NIU

Berapa harga/ Harga berapa?

We have studied numbers and asking about quantities.  We can now work on more complicated questions.  These are questions you will hear everyday. People in Malaysia and Brunei always ask about your age, and if you buy something they will want to know the price (so they can tell you that you paid too much, Ha ha). These are questions you ask with berapa.

Berapa umur?   'How old are you?' (How much is your age?)

Umur saya 64 tahun.  'My age is 64 years.'

So we heard in class:

Berapa umur dia? 'How old is he?'

Umur Prof Jim 64. 'Prof. Jim's age is 64.'

Umur Joe berapa?  'How old is Joe?'

Umur dia 25. 'His age is 25.'  'He's 25.'

Berapa umur Cik Jocelyn? 'How old is Cik Jocelyn?'

Dua puluh lima tahun juga. 'Also 25.'

Umur means 'age'. So when they ask:  Berapa umur?, literally people are asking 'How much [is your] age?'  You can answer with the number (24, 64, 40) or you can add the word tahun 'year'.

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Just like in the US, people are always talking about the cost of living, prices, bargains, and shopping.  So one of the usual questions is about the price of things.  In English we might ask 'How much did it cost?' or 'What's the price?'. In Malay, we ask Berapa harga 'How much [is the] price?'  For example, we might ask a salesperson in a department store:

Berapa harga ini?   'How much is this' (How much is the price of this?')

Lima belas ringgit lapan puluh sen.  '15 ringgit 80 cents.'

Ringgit is the currency of Malaysia, so even when people speak English they usually say ringgit, although it is a decimal system like the US dollar.  There are 100 cents (seratus sen) in one ringgit (seringgit)

If we look at an ad here in the US, we can still speak Malay to talk about it, like we did in class. But in the US we speak of dollars (dolar) and cents (sen).

Kentang berapa harga?

Tiga dolar lapan puluh lapan sen

Berapa harga tomato?

Satu dolar sembilan puluh sembilan sen

Berapa harga pen ini?

Percuma! Pen ini  hadiah.

Percuma is the Malay word for 'free'.  Remember the pen, key chains and brooches I gave to you as a gift (hadiah). They were  gifts from Malaysia. (Hadiah dari Malaysia). 

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We also use berapa to talk about distances (kilometer, meter), quantities (liter, kilogram). If we ask about distances, we can say:

Berapa jauh? 'How far [is it]?'

Tak jauh. Satu kilometer saja. 'Not far. Only one kilometer.'

So we can ask questions about NIU and its location:

Berapa jauh dari Wirtz ke McDonald’s? 'How far is it from Wirtz to McDonald's?'

Mungkin satu kilometer. 'Maybe one kilometer.'

Berapa kilometer dari DeKalb ke Chicago? 'How many kilometers is it from Dekalb to Chicago?'

Lapan puluh kilometer dari sini ke Chicago. '[It's] 80 kilometers from here to Chicago.'

Dari kelas ini  ke pejabat saya berapa jauh? 'From this class to my office is how far?'

400 m. '400 meters.'

Here is a discussion that could take place in class:

Derek: Berapa jauh dari DeKalb ke rumah Glynnis?

Glynnis: Empat ratus enam puluh lima kilometer.

Derek: Jauh! Saya nak tulis surat. Berapa poskod itu?

Glynnis: enam dua sembilan kosong dua.

Derek: Di mana itu?

Glynnis: Carbondale.

Derek: Jauh!

Poskod is the Malay word for zipcode. We already know surat (letter) and tulis (write).  The Malay word for zero is kosong.  So when you're giving an address or a zipcode you can use kosong. Of course, saja means 'only'.

We also learned the words: nombor 'number', telefon 'telephone' and brosur 'brochure',laporan 'a report' and some colors: merah 'red' hijau 'green', kuning 'yellow', putih 'white', biru "blue".

There are two useful adjectives: mahal 'expensive' and murah 'cheap'.

Other words we have learned in previous classes: