Use ‘dari’ just like its English equivalent ‘from’. However, be careful that this preposition is only used with places, direction and time. See Sentence #1 to #3.
When saying ‘from a person’, ‘daripada’ is correct. See Sentence #4.
When making comparison, ‘daripada’ is also used for the equivalent preposition ‘than’. See Sentence #5.
In colloquial Malay, people use ‘dari’ more often than ‘daripada’ regardless of what the rules are. You will only sometimes hear ‘daripada’.
Click to see more of the preposition ‘daripada’ and how to make comparison in Malay.
Examples:
Kami datang dari Ipoh, Perak.
Mereka memandu dari utara ke selatan.
Pelajar itu belajar dari pukul 5 pagi pagi ini.
Hadiah ini bukan daripada saya, tetapi daripada Susanti.
Kampung ini lebih besar daripada hutan di kampung saya.
We come from Ipoh, Perak.
They drove from north to south.
The student has studied from/since 5 am this morning.
This gift is not from me, but from Susanti.
This village is bigger than my village.
Colloquial Malay
Since both ‘dari’ and ‘daripada’ convey the same meaning, native speakers prefer ‘dari’ because it is shorter. However, you will still hear ‘daripada’ sometimes.
Note that in all the following sample sentences, the correct preposition should be ‘daripada’.
Examples:
Komputer ni saya beli dari Ah Cheong.
Restoran ni lebih mahal dari restoran dekat dengan rumah kita.
This computer, I bought from Ah Cheong.
This restaurant is more expensive than the restaurant near our house.
