My recent Malay lessons have been a deep-dive into grammar, which has definitely been more of an emphasis this semester compared to last. In particular, I have been learning how the structural components of affixes work in Malay and the purposes that each serve. While these have primarily focused on prefixes, there is also the occasional addition of suffixes -i and -kan as well to form the dreaded circumfix (something English does not at all have). There are also prefixes that are irregular and change the root word, which I've come to realize is likely because of pronunciation (e.g. pandu meaning 'to drive' becomes memandu with the addition of the -me prefix).
There are essentially three types of prefixes in Malay: a Noun Prefix, a Verb Prefix, and an Adjective Prefix. The first of these, the Noun Prefix, features the addition of -pe, -pem, -pen, or -peng, depending on the spelling of the root word that follows. This is primarily added to make a verb or adjective become a noun, e.g. tulis (to write) would become penulis (writer). The Verb Prefix, by contrast, turns words into action verbs through the addition of -me, -mem, -men, or -meng. (e.g. menulis meaning [the subject] is/am/are writing). We are still working through these two categories and have not yet gotten to cover the Adjective Prefix in great detail, but this is the gist of these affixes. Though I'm still trying to get comfortable with using them, it is nice to know that I will be aware of the contexts in which they are used, as they are one of the most fundamental and important features of Malay. Some grammatical rules or changes simply have to be memorized. While this case is no exception, it definitely is something worth memorizing, as it can be very useful in articulating different ideas and tenses as well as deducing meanings of unknown words from their root words and affix structure as well.
To practice using these words, Melisa created worksheets for me where I can attempt to create sentences using the words from scratch or translate listed sentences in English into Malay using these rules. In our one-on-one meetings, Melisa and I review the work and also practice speaking and pronunciation as much as possible. This strategy is helpful for me to practice these rules, though I might want to incorporate a little more listening practice outside of my lessons with Melisa, as writing is just one component. It was interesting to learn that verbs are never conjugated or adorned with affixes during commands; this immediately made me think of Spanish and how the tú (informal 'you') form commands are conjugated using the third-person (rather than second-person) singular form of the verb. In Mandarin, no special conjugation is made (as no conjugations really exist in Mandarin), but certain verbal cues at the end of the sentence (e.g. 吧 bā) could be added. As my knowledge of Malay deepens, so does my appreciation for the other languages I have studied, as they help me make sense of general rules in languages and differences among different language families (in this case Romantic, Sino-Tibetan, and Austronesian).
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