Mereka menjalankan ujian itu.

Mereka is the usual third-person plural pronoun in Malay, so it means they / them.

A few useful points:

• It is gender-neutral. Malay does not distinguish they (male) vs they (female).
• It is normally used for people, not usually for things.
• It does not show case the way English does, so the same form can correspond to they or them depending on structure.

So in this sentence, mereka is simply the subject: the people who are doing the action.

Yes, sometimes.

Malay often allows the subject to be omitted if it is already clear from context. So if everyone already knows who is being talked about, a speaker might just say:

Menjalankan ujian itu.

However, in a normal standalone sentence, keeping mereka makes it clear and complete. Malay is flexible about dropping subjects, but it depends heavily on context.

Because jalan and menjalankan are not the same form.

• jalan is the base/root form
• menjalankan is a derived verb

In this sentence, menjalankan means something like to carry out, to conduct, or to run.

The verb is built from:

• jalan
• prefix meN-
• suffix -kan

So menjalankan is a full transitive verb that can take an object, here ujian itu.

Using just jalan would not work naturally here.

Yes. Malay roots often have a range of related meanings, and jalan is a good example.

Depending on context, jalan can be associated with ideas like:

• road / way
• to walk
• to run / function / proceed

From that base, menjalankan develops meanings like:

• to run a system
• to carry out a plan
• to conduct an activity

So in menjalankan ujian, the sense is not walk a test, of course. It is the extended meaning: to conduct / carry out a test.

This is a very important distinction.

• menjalankan ujian = to conduct / administer / carry out a test
• menjalani ujian = to undergo / take a test

So the sentence Mereka menjalankan ujian itu usually means they were the ones running or administering the test, not the ones sitting the test.

This is a common learner trap, because in English run a test and take a test are very different roles.

Yes. Ujian is related to the root uji, which has the idea of testing or examining.

The ending -an often forms a noun, so:

• uji = test / examine
• ujian = a test, exam, or trial

In this sentence, ujian is the noun that receives the action of menjalankan.

Because in Malay, demonstratives such as ini and itu usually come after the noun.

So Malay says:

• ujian itu = that test / sometimes the test
• buku itu = that book
• rumah ini = this house

This is normal Malay word order. English puts that before the noun, but Malay typically places itu after it.

It can do both, depending on context.

Most basically, itu is a demonstrative meaning that. But in many real sentences, noun + itu can also feel more like a definite expression, similar to the in English.

So ujian itu can mean:

• that test if the speaker is pointing out a specific one
• the test if the test is already known in context

Malay does not have a direct article exactly like English the, so words like itu often help mark something as definite or already identifiable.

It sounds fairly neutral to formal.

Menjalankan ujian is standard and natural, especially in written language, education, administration, or technical contexts.

In more casual speech, speakers might choose simpler verbs depending on the situation, for example:

• buat ujian in some informal contexts
• other verbs depending on whether they mean conduct, do, or take

But menjalankan ujian itu is a good standard phrase and does not sound strange.

A natural passive version is:

Ujian itu dijalankan oleh mereka.

Here:

• ujian itu becomes the subject/topic of the sentence
• dijalankan is the passive form
• oleh mereka means by them

Malay uses passive forms quite often, so it is useful to recognize both:

• Mereka menjalankan ujian itu.
• Ujian itu dijalankan oleh mereka.

Both are correct, but they place the focus differently.

The sentence follows the common Malay pattern:

• Mereka = subject
• menjalankan = verb
• ujian itu = object

So the structure is:

Subject + Verb + Object

That makes this sentence quite straightforward for an English speaker, even though some details differ, such as:

• the verb formation in menjalankan
• the post-noun placement of itu in ujian itu