apakah

Formal Questions with Apakah

Level 1

Apakah is a formal question word. In Standard Malaysian Malay, it primarily means 'what' (e.g., 'What is your name?'). In Indonesian and Classical Malay, it is also used to start yes-no questions (e.g., 'Are you coming?').

How It Works

In formal Malay, apakah serves three main functions depending on the regional standard and context:

1. Asking 'What': In Standard Malaysian Malay, apakah is the prescribed formal version of apa. It is used to ask for specific information about things or concepts and usually appears at the beginning of the sentence.

2. Yes-No Questions: In modern Indonesian (Bahasa Indonesia), apakah is the standard way to turn a statement into a question requiring a 'yes' or 'no' answer. While understood in Malaysia, it is often replaced by adakah in formal Malaysian contexts.

3. Whether... Or: In both formal Malaysian and Indonesian Malay, apakah is used to introduce indirect questions or alternatives, often paired with atau (or) to mean 'whether... or'.

Register Note: You will rarely hear apakah in daily conversation. In casual speech, speakers use rising intonation or the particle ke instead.

Examples (4)

  1. Apakah hobi kegemaran anda?

    What is your favorite hobby?

    Word by Word: What hobby favorite you?

    This is the standard formal way to ask 'what' in Malaysian Malay.

  2. Apakah ibu kota negara Malaysia?

    What is the capital city of Malaysia?

    Word by Word: What mother city country Malaysia?

    Used here to seek specific information in a formal context.

  3. Apakah anda sudah bersedia?

    Are you ready?

    Word by Word: Whether you already ready?

    This demonstrates the yes-no question function, which is the standard form in modern Indonesian.

  4. Saya tidak pasti apakah dia akan datang atau tidak.

    I am not sure whether he will come or not.

    Word by Word: I not sure whether he will come or not.

    This shows the 'whether... or' function used in formal indirect questions.

Common Mistakes

  • Using 'apakah' in casual conversation.

    Apakah awak nak makan?
    Awak nak makan ke?

    Using 'apakah' with friends sounds overly stiff, like a textbook or a news anchor. Use the particle 'ke' or just intonation instead.

  • Double marking the question with '-kah'.

    Apakah dia sudah makankah?
    Apakah dia sudah makan?

    The '-kah' particle is already included in the word 'apakah'. Adding it again to the verb is redundant.

How It Connects

Tap a pattern to see what it builds on and what it leads to.

apakahLevel 1Formal Questions with Apakah

Learn This First

To use 'apakah' correctly, learners first need to understand the basic structure of a Malay sentence and how yes-no questions are formed through intonation in casual speech. 'Apakah' simply adds a formal layer to these existing structures.

Learn Next

Patterns that build on this one.

Words in This Pattern

apakah