Mereka masih berjuang.

Mereka means they. It is the standard third-person plural pronoun in Malay.

A few useful notes:

• It usually refers to people, not things.
• Malay pronouns do not change for subject and object the way English does, so mereka can correspond to they or them depending on context.
• In this sentence, because it comes before the verb, it is clearly the subject, so it means they.

Malay verbs do not change form for tense the way English verbs do. In English, you might distinguish fight, fought, and are fighting. In Malay, the verb itself usually stays the same, and time is understood from:

• context
• time words such as semalam for yesterday or esok for tomorrow
• aspect words such as masih, sudah, akan, and sedang

So in Mereka masih berjuang, the sense of ongoing action comes from masih, not from a change in the verb berjuang.

Masih means still. It shows that the action is continuing and has not stopped.

So Mereka masih berjuang means that they were already struggling or fighting before, and that situation continues now.

Compare:

• Mereka berjuang = They fight / They are fighting / They struggle
• Mereka masih berjuang = They are still fighting / still struggling

Berjuang means to fight, to struggle, or to strive.

It is built from:

• juang = struggle, fight
• ber- = a common prefix that often forms an intransitive verb

Here, berjuang means something like to engage in struggle or to be fighting/struggling.

The prefix ber- often gives the sense of doing an activity or being involved in something. In this case, it turns juang into a verb.

Malay word order is often similar to English:

Subject + adverb + verb

So:

• Mereka = subject
• masih = adverb
• berjuang = verb

That is why masih comes before the verb, just like still often does in English:

• They are still fighting
• Mereka masih berjuang

No. Berjuang can be used both literally and figuratively.

It can refer to:

• physical fighting
• struggling for a cause
• working hard under difficult conditions
• striving to achieve something

So depending on context, it might mean:

• fighting
• struggling
• striving
• battling on

This makes it a fairly flexible verb.

Yes. Mereka berjuang is a valid sentence.

Without masih, the sentence simply states that they fight, are fighting, or struggle. It does not specifically emphasize continuation.

Adding masih adds the idea of continuing despite time passing:

• Mereka berjuang = They fight / are fighting / struggle
• Mereka masih berjuang = They are still fighting / still struggling

No. Malay does not need a separate word equivalent to English am/is/are in this kind of sentence.

English says:

• They are fighting

Malay simply says:

• Mereka berjuang

And with still:

• Mereka masih berjuang

So there is no extra verb corresponding to are here.

A simple learner-friendly pronunciation is:

muh-REH-kah MAH-seeh ber-JOO-ahng

A few points:

• r is usually lightly rolled or tapped
• a is usually pronounced clearly, not reduced as much as in English
• juang is roughly joo-ahng, with two vowel sounds

Even if your pronunciation is not perfect, saying each syllable clearly will usually make you understandable.

A common way depends on what exactly you want to say.

If you mean They are not fighting / not struggling, you can say:

• Mereka tidak berjuang

If you mean They are no longer fighting, you would usually say:

• Mereka tidak lagi berjuang

Be careful with masih in negatives:

• Mereka masih tidak berjuang means They still are not fighting
• Mereka tidak lagi berjuang means They are no longer fighting

Those are different meanings.

Usually, mereka is used for people. It is most natural for human referents.

For animals or things, Malay often avoids using mereka unless the speaker is personifying them or speaking in a more literary way. In many cases, Malay simply repeats the noun or uses another structure instead of a pronoun.

So in Mereka masih berjuang, a learner would normally assume they means people unless context suggests otherwise.