Lesson 14 Hendak (Wish to)

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A second reading (by Michelle Nor Ismat, a native speaker)

Saya hendak tidur.
Anda hendak pergi ke mana?
Saya hendak keluar sekejap.
Dia hendak beli kereta saya.
Anda hendak minum apa?
Saya hendak beli payung.

I want to sleep.
Where do you want to go?
I want to go out for a while.
He wants to buy my car.
What do you want to drink?
I want to buy an umbrella.

Possible answers to the question Anda hendak pergi ke mana? are:
Saya hendak pergi ke lapangan terbang. (I want to go to the airport.)
Saya hendak pergi ke stesen kereta api. (I want to go to the railway station.)
Saya hendak pergi ke pasar. (I want to go to the market.)
Saya hendak pergi ke pejabat pos. (I want to go to the post office.)
As to the other question Anda hendak minum apa? see Lesson 24 for possible answers.

Although pedants will say that hendak should be translated as "wish to" and mahu (contracted to mau) as "want to", to all intents and purposes both are often used interchangeably and you can feel free to use one or the other so long as the sense of intention of wanting or wishing to do something is there (thus in the translated sentences above you can replace "want" with "wish").
To express the opposite meaning i.e. when there is unwillingness to do something, simply put the word tidak before either hendak or mau. (Although in Indonesia only mau is used, in Malaysia the full form mahu is also used.)
You might be interested to know that there is a single Malay word to express an unwillingness to do something and that is the word enggan. Thus, if she does not wish to go, you can either say:
Dia enggan pergi. (She is reluctant to go) or
Dia tidak mahu pergi. or
Dia tidak hendak pergi.
Similarly if he is unwilling to lend you money you can either say:
Dia enggan meminjamkan wang kepada saya. or
Dia tidak mahu meminjamkan wang kepada saya. or
Dia tidak hendak meminjamkan wang kepada saya.

Note that in all the above examples hendak is always followed by a verb as it is used in the sense of wishing or wanting to DO something.
However when the word is used all alone by itself and with a rising intonation you can be sure that the speaker is asking you if you want to have something. Thus if you should come along while we are eating biscuits we would certainly ask you Hendak? You should know by now that if you accept the invitation you would say Ya, terima kasih else you would say Tidak, terima kasih.
Note: In Indonesia terima kasih is often shortened to makasi or makasih. The first two syllables are simply left out!

ENGLISH	INDONESIAN	MALAY
He wants to buy my car.	Dia hendak beli mobil aku.	Dia hendak beli kereta saya.
I want to go to the airport.	Saya hendak pergi ke bandara (= bandar udara).	Saya hendak pergi ke lapangan terbang.
station	stasiun	stesen
I want to go to the railway station.	Saya hendak pergi ke stasiun kereta api.	Saya hendak pergi ke stesen kereta api.
office	kantor	pejabat
I want to go to the post office.	Saya hendak pergi ke kantor pos.	Saya hendak pergi ke pejabat pos.
money	uang	wang
He is unwilling to lend me some money.	Dia enggan meminjamkan uang kepada aku.	Dia enggan meminjamkan wang kepada saya.