masalah

Masalah is a noun in Indonesian and Malay that denotes a problem, issue, or matter requiring consideration or action. It can refer to practical difficulties, social concerns, or questions of policy, and is used in both formal and informal language. In everyday speech, phrases such as masalah keuangan (financial problem), masalah lingkungan (environmental issue), or masalah pribadi (personal problem) are common. The word is flexible and widely used across domains.

Etymology: The term is borrowed from Arabic masʼalah (مَسْأَلَة), meaning question, matter, or issue, and entered Malay and Indonesian through historical contact with Islamic scholarship and commerce. In Indonesian and Malay, masalah retained the sense of a substantive matter or difficulty and is now a standard word in everyday lexicon.

Usage and nuance: In formal writing, the related noun permasalahan is often used to refer to a set of interconnected issues or a problem at issue, as in permasalahan lingkungan hidup. Verbs commonly collocating with masalah include mengatasi masalah (to overcome the problem), menghadapi masalah (to face the problem), and menimbulkan masalah (to cause trouble). In contrast, soal is more likely to denote a question, exercise, or task, especially in educational contexts; for mathematics or exam contexts, soal is preferred, whereas masalah can denote real-world problems.

See also: permasalahan, soal, masalah sosial.