Suffixes -ku, -mu and -nya — Malay Grammar

To indicate possession, pronouns are placed immediately after the noun they modify. There is no equivalent to the English "of" or the apostrophe "s" structure. The pronoun simply follows the object owned.

Standard Post-Nominal Pronouns

For most pronouns, the form remains unchanged, and they are written as separate words following the noun. This applies to standard first and second-person pronouns like (I/my), (you/your), and (they/their).

Ini kereta saya.
This is my car.
Di mana pejabat awak?
Where is your office?
Rumah mereka sangat besar.
Their house is very big.

Shortened Suffixes: -ku and -mu

Two specific pronouns have shortened forms that are attached directly to the end of the noun as a suffix. These are often found in literature, songs, or intimate speech, though they are grammatically correct in all contexts.

-ku: Derived from (an informal "I").
-mu: Derived from (a form of "you").

Sudahkah kau basuh tanganmu?
Have you washed your hands?
Negaraku aman dan damai.
My country is peaceful and harmonious.

The Third Person Suffix: -nya

While you might hear (he/she) used after a noun in very casual speech, the standard grammatical form requires changing to the suffix . This suffix is attached to the preceding word.

Because Malay pronouns do not distinguish gender, can translate to "his" or "her" depending on the context.

Bapanya seorang guru.
His/Her father is a teacher.
Dia mencari kuncinya.
He is looking for his keys.

Possession for Non-Humans

The suffix is highly versatile. Beyond humans, it is used to indicate possession for animals and inanimate objects, functioning like the English "its".

Kucing itu sedang makan makanannya.
The cat is eating its food.
Saya suka baju ini, tetapi harganya mahal.
I like this shirt, but its price is expensive.

-nya in Words of Their Own

On some words no longer means his or its. It turns the word into an adverb or a fixed expression, learned as a word of its own.

usually
unfortunately
all - everything, all of it
everything

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