Grammar Matters: antara / di antara

Malay speakers (and writers) these days, have become more and more complacent. At least that was what the facilitator in our class opined the other day. Interestingly, as she stressed out later, when speaking or writing in English we take a more careful approach, so as to not make a mistake. Why didn’t we do the same in Malay?

Arguably, complacency? We take being born Malay, or born into a Malay speaking environment for granted.

The fact that the English equivalent is pretty vague doesn’t help either. My suggestion is use your common sense and rule of thumb when translating. In English, there are ‘between’, ‘among’ and ‘amid’ (sometimes ‘amongst’ and ‘amid’ but they don’t carry any different meaning, just a variation of spelling). The following is what dictionary.com describes ‘between’ and ‘among’ (I left 'amid' because it is very similar to among):

Among expresses a relationship when more than two persons or things are involved. Example: Three children were among the passengers killed in that accident.

Between is used when only two persons or things are involved. Example: I sat between Anok and Uchop.

Using this and a reference from Blog Cikgu Azemi, I gathered that there are similarities. He says:

Antara menunjukkan perbandingan. (shows comparison)

Di antara menunjukkan kedudukan/tempat. (shows position/place)

Based on that, it can be safely said that ‘antara’ is the Malay equivalent of ‘among’, and ‘di antara’ is that of ‘between’. But Cikgu Azemi’s explanation has some variation. Here is how the examples given above should be translated, and a few more examples from me too:

E: Three children were among the passengers killed in that accident.

BM: Tiga kanak-kanak antara yang terbunuh dalam kemalangan itu.

E: Shih Li, Qamar and Alaudin are among the students selected from class 5 Beta.

BM: Shih Li, Qamar dan Alaudin adalah antara pelajar yang dipilih daripada kelas 5 Beta.

E: I sat between Anok and Uchop.

BM: Saya duduk di antara Anok dan Uchop.

E: Shah Alam lies between Klang and Petaling Jaya.

BM: Shah Alam terletak di antara Klang dan Petaling Jaya.

But Cikgu Azemi says, when comparing two persons or things, use 'antara', because there is no subject between the two objects. Example: Antara Adnan dan Zamzuri, Adnan nampak lebih pendiam. Although in English we still say, Between Adnan and Zamzuri, Adnan seems the quieter. Now in this sentence: Perbualan di antara Shakinah dan Mashitoh berlarutan sehingga tiga jam. (The conversation between Shakinah and Mashitoh extends to three hours). 'Perbualan' (Conversation) is the subject and it sits between the two objects, that is why we use ‘di antara’. Whereas in the former example, Adnan and Zamzuri are the objects, and Adnan (the subject) does the verb 'nampak' (seems).

Also when using 'antara', do not pluralise the object because 'antara' has already indicated a plural subject e.g. antara pelajar ---not- antara pelajar-pelajar, antara negara Eropah -not- antara negara-negara Eropah. Also 'di antara' are two words, always.

Hmmm… among all of you who can understand what you’ve just read? How about a chat between you and your spouse, that can help, I suppose. 

Provided that it didn't extend to three hours and later create an invisible wall between you and your spouse.


That will be very bad, and do not point those fingers on me.