Lesson 52 Masih (Still)

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

Dia masih sibuk.
Dia tidak dapat jumpa tuan. Dia masih sakit.
Tunggulah sekejap. Dia masih makan.
Dia belum siap lagi. Dia masih tidur.

He is still busy.
He is not able to meet you. He is still sick.
Please wait a while. He is still eating.
He is not ready yet. He is still sleeping.

Note the pronunciation of masih. It hasn't got the ee sound at all. In fact its earlier spelling ("maseh") is a better representation of its pronunciation.

The best way to learn to use the word masih correctly is through studying illustrative sentences. Thus:
Saya sudah minta dia makan tetapi dia masih bermain.
= I have already asked him to eat but he is still playing.
Dia sudah berumur 40 tahun tetapi masih bujang.
= He is already 40 but is still a bachelor.
Abang saya sudah berumur 50 tahun tetapi belum berkahwin lagi.
= My elder brother is already 50 but is still unmarried (literally "has not married yet").
I might as well introduce the other words that describe one's marital status.
The Malay word for a young spinster is anak dara (the word dara alone means "virgin").
Since the word tua means "old" the Malay equivalent for a not-so-young unmarried woman (or "old maid" to put it bluntly) is anak dara tua (shortened to andartu from the first syllables of each of the three words).
If you wish to say that a person is married you say Dia sudah berkahwin. Similarly to say that a person is divorced you say Dia sudah bercerai.
Next we have the word janda which usually means a divorcée though it can also mean widow (the more common word for widow being balu)
In the case of a man the same word duda is used for a widower as well as a divorcé.
Yes, I do admit it is confusing as there is a world of difference between someone who has lost his other half through an accident or disease or after a bitterly fought-out battle in court!
To summarize: duda can mean a man who has been divorced from his wife as well as a man whose wife has died while janda can mean a woman who has been divorced from her husband as well as a woman whose husband has died. If you really want to know which of the two situations they are in you will just have to ask them directly or find out from a third party!

At this stage of the course you should be able to tackle even longer sentences. So here goes:
Walaupun sudah 20 tahun kami tidak berjumpa, dia masih kenal saya juga.
= Although we have not met for 20 years, he could still recognise me.
Note that kami is used here and not kita because I am talking to you and not to my friend of 20 years' standing so I am using the "we exclusive" (that is, you are not included when I say "we").
Here juga is used to "reinforce" the sentence but it could very well be left out. The usual sense of juga is "also". Example:
Dia senyum. (He is smiling)
Monyet senyum juga. (The monkey is also smiling)

Saya ingat dia sudah keluar tetapi dia masih ada di rumah.
I thought he had left but he is still in the house.
Please note that the usual meaning of ingat is "to remember" as in Ingat tak? (Do you remember?) to which the answer could be Ya, saya ingat (Yes, I do remember) or Tidak, saya sudah lupa (No, I've forgotten).
However, as in my illustrative sentence above ingat is often used to mean "I think that" or "I believe that" eg. Saya ingat akan hujan sekejap lagi (I think it will rain soon). The usual word for "think" though (meaning "to ponder") is fikir.
At times you might want to start a sentence with "I feel that..." In Malay you would say Saya rasa... or, equally, Saya ingat...
In this case it would be the equivalent of saying Saya fikir...
Note: Ada means to have, as in ( Saya ada 2 orang anak. = I have two children) but it is often used to indicate that someone is at a certain place eg. Dia ada di sana (He is there.) instead of saying Dia di sana.
To say that someone is at the office at this moment we would say Dia ada di pejabat pada masa ini.
Although Saya hendak pergi juga is translated as "I wish to go too" don't think for a moment that you can use juga in a sentence such as "He is too shy". In such a sentence "too" has to be translated as terlalu. Thus Dia terlalu malu is how you would say "He's too shy" in Malay.

ENGLISH	INDONESIAN	MALAY
a bachelor	bujangan	bujang
He is already 40 but is still a bachelor.	Dia sudah berumur 40 tahun tetapi masih bujangan.	Dia sudah berumur 40 tahun tetapi masih bujang.
My elder brother is already 50 but is still unmarried.	Kakak lelaki saya sudah berumur 50 tahun tetapi belum menikah lagi.	Abang saya sudah berumur 50 tahun tetapi belum berkahwin lagi.
(elderly) spinster	perawan tua	anak dara tua (andartu)
He is married.	Dia sudah menikah.	Dia sudah berkahwin.
I thought he had left but he is still in the house.	Saya pikir dia sudah keluar tetapi dia masih ada di rumah.	Saya ingat dia sudah keluar tetapi dia masih ada di rumah.