Malay Translator
Translate English to Malay, free and instantly.
Malay, or bahasa Melayu, is the national language of Malaysia and Brunei and one of the four official languages of Singapore. Indonesian is a standardised form of the same language, so speakers of the two can usually understand each other, but everyday words and spellings differ: a car is kereta in Malaysia and mobil in Indonesia. If your text comes from Indonesia, choose Indonesian in the translator instead.
Malay is written in the Latin alphabet, called Rumi. An older Arabic-based script, Jawi, is still used in religious writing and on some signs.
Verbs do not change for tense. Time is shown with separate words, such as sudah (already), sedang (in the middle of) and akan (will), or left to context. A translation into English therefore has to guess the tense, and that guess is a common source of mistakes: check it against what you know about the message.
Formality shows in the pronouns. Saya is the polite “I” and aku the informal one; anda is a formal, written “you”, while people speaking to friends say awak or kamu. Machine translation tends to choose anda, which can sound stiff in a chat message. In Malaysia, everyday speech also mixes in English freely.
Frequently asked questions
How do I translate English to Malay?
Type or paste up to 500 characters into the box at the top of this page and press Translate: Malay is already selected. To translate Malay to English, press the swap button between the two language boxes.
Is Malay the same as Indonesian?
They are two standard forms of the same language, and speakers of each usually understand the other. Vocabulary, spelling and some grammar differ, so for text from Indonesia choose Indonesian in the translator.
How do you say thank you in Malay?
“Thank you” in Malay is terima kasih. The usual reply is sama-sama, “you’re welcome”.
What does apa khabar mean?
Apa khabar? means “how are you?” Literally it is “what news?”, and the usual answer is khabar baik, “I’m fine”.
Does Malay have tenses?
No: Malay verbs do not change for past, present or future. Time is shown with words such as sudah (already) and akan (will), or left to context, so check the tense when you translate Malay into English.
Is the Malay translator free?
Yes. It is free, needs no account, and translates up to 500 characters at a time in either direction. Translations are machine-generated, so have anything important checked by a fluent speaker.
Essential Malay phrases
20 everyday phrases to get you started.
| English | Malay |
|---|---|
| Hello | Helo |
| Good morning | Selamat pagi |
| Good evening | Selamat petang |
| Goodbye | Selamat tinggal |
| Please | Tolong |
| Thank you | Terima kasih |
| You're welcome | Sama-sama |
| Excuse me | Maaf |
| Yes | Ya |
| No | Tidak |
| I'm sorry | Saya minta maaf |
| How are you? | Apa khabar? |
| My name is... | Nama saya... |
| Do you speak English? | Boleh cakap bahasa Inggeris? |
| I don't understand | Saya tidak faham |
| How much does this cost? | Berapa harga ini? |
| Where is the toilet? | Di mana tandas? |
| Can you help me? | Boleh tolong saya? |
| I love you | Saya cintakan awak |
| Happy birthday | Selamat hari jadi |