Mereka belajar tentang peperangan itu.

Mereka means they/them, and here it is the subject, so it means they.

Malay usually follows a basic Subject–Verb–Object/Complement order, much like English:

• Mereka = they
• belajar = study / learn
• tentang peperangan itu = about that war / about the war

So mereka comes first because it tells us who is doing the action.

No. Belajar itself does not show tense.

Malay verbs usually do not change form for tense the way English verbs do. The sentence can mean something like:

• they study about it
• they are studying about it
• they studied about it

The exact time normally comes from context or from extra time words such as:

• semalam = yesterday
• sekarang = now
• esok = tomorrow
• sedang = in the middle of / currently
• sudah / telah = already
• akan = will

So without extra markers, belajar is tense-neutral.

Because belajar often means to study or to learn, and if you want to say what the topic is, Malay commonly uses tentang = about.

So:

• belajar = study / learn
• belajar tentang sejarah = study about history
• belajar tentang peperangan itu = study about that war

If you say only Mereka belajar, it just means They are studying / learning, without saying the subject matter.

Tentang means about / concerning / regarding. It is very common when talking about a topic or subject.

In this sentence, tentang peperangan itu means about that war or about the war.

It is a very natural choice here. In some contexts, Malay may also use other words for about, but tentang is one of the safest and most standard choices when referring to a topic.

This is a very common learner question.

• perang = war
• peperangan = warfare / war / the state or event of war, often a bit more formal or abstract

Peperangan is built from the root perang with a circumfix/pattern that makes it into a noun referring to warfare, conflict, or war as a topic.

Very roughly:

• perang can refer to a war
• peperangan often sounds more like warfare or the war/conflict as a subject of discussion

In many contexts, both can be translated as war, but peperangan may sound slightly more formal or more like a historical/political topic.

Yes, itu often means that, but in Malay it usually comes after the noun it describes.

So:

• peperangan itu = that war
• literally: war that

This is normal Malay word order. Demonstratives like ini and itu usually follow the noun:

• buku ini = this book
• rumah itu = that house
• peperangan itu = that war

In many contexts, itu can also make the noun feel more definite, so it may be translated as the war depending on context.

It can be understood as either, depending on context.

Malay does not have articles exactly like English a/an/the. The word itu mainly means that, but it is also often used when the speaker refers to something specific and identifiable.

So peperangan itu could be:

• that war if you are contrasting it with another one
• the war if both speaker and listener already know which war is meant

This is why translating Malay into English often depends on context.

Because Malay does not use articles the way English does.

English requires words like:

• a
• an
• the

Malay normally does not.

Instead, definiteness is often understood from:

• context
• word order
• demonstratives like ini and itu

So Malay can simply say peperangan for war, and peperangan itu for that war / the war, depending on what is meant in context.

Yes, that is possible, but it changes the structure slightly.

Compare:

• Mereka belajar tentang peperangan itu.
• Mereka mempelajari peperangan itu.

Both can mean something like They study the war / They are learning about the war.

A useful difference is:

• belajar tentang = learn/study about a topic
• mempelajari = study/learn something more directly as an object

So:

• belajar tentang peperangan itu sounds like focusing on the topic about that war
• mempelajari peperangan itu sounds a bit more direct, like studying that war

Both are good Malay, but the original sentence is perfectly natural.

Some parts are flexible, but not all.

What should stay the same:

• itu normally comes after the noun: peperangan itu
• tentang comes before the topic: tentang peperangan itu

So these are correct:

• Mereka belajar tentang peperangan itu.
• Tentang peperangan itu, mereka belajar.
  This is possible for emphasis, though less neutral.

But these would be unnatural or wrong:

• Mereka belajar itu peperangan.
• Mereka belajar tentang itu peperangan.

For a normal neutral sentence, the original order is best.

Usually yes. Mereka is a third-person plural pronoun, so it normally refers to they.

Unlike English, Malay verbs do not change depending on whether the subject is singular or plural, so the pronoun itself is important for showing number.

However, Malay often drops pronouns if the meaning is already clear from context. So in conversation, people might sometimes omit mereka if everyone knows who is being talked about.

A simple pronunciation guide is:

Mereka belajar tentang peperangan itu
muh-REH-kah buh-LAH-jar ten-TANG puh-puh-RAH-ngan EE-too

A few helpful notes:

• r in Malay is usually tapped or lightly rolled
• ng in tentang and peperangan is like the ng in sing
• c is not in this sentence, but remember that Malay spelling is usually quite regular
• stress is not as strong or contrastive as in English, but the guide above gives a natural rhythm

It is neutral to standard Malay.

Nothing in it is slangy. It would be fine in:

• writing
• school contexts
• news or educational discussion
• normal conversation

The word peperangan is a bit more formal than just perang, so the sentence can sound slightly academic or historical, especially if it appears in a textbook or lesson.