The use of 'Yang' in Bahasa Melayu
questions so far, of which have been extremely helpful in my aim to become fluent in Malay.

My next query however is the use of the word 'yang' in everyday use. It looks to be that this word has multiple meanings or at least can be used in different scenario's when talking.

The main uses I've found are to detail the English equivalent of 'which' (e.g. Yang Mana?) or 'that'. However over my learning process I have and are noticing that it is used frequently in circumstances which I'm not sure why it's being used.

For example: Apakah yang sedang awak pakai? = What are you wearing?

Question

The use of 'Yang' in Bahasa Melayu
questions so far, of which have been extremely helpful in my aim to become fluent in Malay.

My next query however is the use of the word 'yang' in everyday use. It looks to be that this word has multiple meanings or at least can be used in different scenario's when talking.

The main uses I've found are to detail the English equivalent of 'which' (e.g. Yang Mana?) or 'that'. However over my learning process I have and are noticing that it is used frequently in circumstances which I'm not sure why it's being used.

For example: Apakah yang sedang awak pakai? = What are you wearing?

Answer

The word 'yang' is just like the relative pronouns in English; that, which, who.
Unlike English, we can't omit the word yang. Eg. Buku yang saya beli kelmarin sangat berguna. (The book (which) I bought yesterday is very useful.)

We use 'yang' for this situation. Buku yang mana? (Which book?). Buku yang berwarna merah (The red book.).This is to show clearly the relation between the noun and the modifier.

For the sentence., apakah yang sedang awak pakai? = What are you wearing?, we can call  'yang sedang awak pakai' a predicative phrase which is translated as 'that you are wearing'. Just think of it as a relative pronoun. So in English we can literally translate it as  'What is it that you are wearing'.

Answer

The following links are about the word 'yang' in the Indonesian language.

http://www.italki.com/question/21880

http://www.italki.com/question/91575

Answer

For further reading:

http://pkukmweb.ukm.my/ppbl/3L/Full%20text%20pdf/3LVol14/6-Wong%20Bee%20Eng%206.pdf

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