Lesson 32 Suka (To like)

When it comes to love between a man and a woman, however, the word to use is cinta (pronounced chin-ta). Sorry, I forgot to give the equivalent of the famous "I love you" in Bahasa earlier. It's Saya cinta padamu (mu being the short form for kamu). You can use anda, of course, though in this context the word somehow sounds less romantic!  Shh, just between you and me, in how many languages can you say this now?

Nuances in synonyms: In English "to like" and "to love" are quite often used interchangeably eg. "He loves to eat cheese" is the same as "He likes to eat cheese" (Dia suka makan keju). Though it is also possible to use "love" in the sense of "like" in Malay I will, from here on, talk about love with regard to sentiments only and not with regard to one's tastes.
There are 3 words for "to love" in Malay. These are: sayang, kasih and cinta. These three words in fact are used to express one's sentiments or love for another person, normally for family members or one's beloved. While cinta    is used for lovers and lovers only sayang and kasih are used for love among family members.
Thus you will say Saya cinta teman lelaki saya (I love my boyfriend) or Saya cinta teman perempuan saya (I love my girlfriend) but you will say Saya sayang adik lelaki saya (I love my little brother).
But sayang is also the word to use when you regret something. Thus each time you want to say "What a pity!" you can say Sayang! or if you want to give it even greater emphasis Sayang sekali! (What a real pity!)
If you like someone outside of the family circle but not in a romantic way then you can say Saya suka dia. (I like him.) But to avoid any ambiguity you could add Dia macam abang saya. (He is like my big brother.)
Let's see if I can help you with some mnemonics. If you court someone or if you have a crush on someone, that is romantic love, not family love. You will notice that both words start with the letter c just as cinta the Malay word to use in such a case, does. I hope this helps and that you will not use it wrongly.
Paradoxically, although kasih itself is affection among family members (normally in the expression kasih sayang) the word kekasih DOES mean one's lover. Thus: Dia jumpa kekasihnya tiap-tiap hari. (She sees her sweetheart every day/He sees his sweetheart every day).
or Dia akan berkahwin dengan kekasihnya tahun hadapan. (He is going to marry his beloved next year).
But in Malaysia it's still the practice to get engaged before you get married. Once you become engaged your kekasih becomes your tunang (= betrothed or fiancé/fiancée).
If you wish to convey the idea of missing someone or even pining for him or her the word to use is rindu.
Thus Dia rindu akan anak perempuannya yang berada di luar negeri means "He misses his daughter who is abroad". I hope I don't have to repeat that dia can also stand for "she" so it could just as well be the mother who's saying this.
However please note that the word rindu is not restricted to people only.
Thus to say that one is homesick one can say:
Saya rindu akan kampung halaman saya.
(kampung halaman means one's hometown or native village so it is equivalent to saying "I miss my hometown").
You will notice that in both the above examples rindu is always followed immediately by the preposition akan.
If you don't want to use the preposition akan then you will have to add a prefix and a suffix to rindu making it merindui.
In such a case the above examples become:
Dia merindui anak perempuannya yang berada di luar negeri.
and
Saya merindui kampung halaman saya.
Choose the syntax that is the easiest for you.

More vocabulary:
teman lelaki = boyfriend
teman perempuan = girlfriend
kekasih saya = my love (beloved)
merindui = to miss, to long for (someone or something)
To kiss someone is mencium

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