Kami berkumur.

Both kami and kita can mean we, but they are used differently:

• kami = we, not including the person being spoken to
• kita = we, including the person being spoken to

So Kami berkumur means we are gargling / we gargle, but the listener is not part of the group.

This distinction is very important in Malay and is often one of the first things English speakers notice, since English we does not make this difference.

Berkumur means to gargle or to rinse the mouth.

Depending on context, it can refer to:

• gargling with water
• rinsing the mouth after brushing teeth
• rinsing the mouth after eating

So it is connected to the mouth and water or liquid. The exact English translation may vary slightly depending on the situation.

The prefix ber- is a very common Malay prefix. It often forms intransitive verbs, especially verbs describing an action done by the subject.

Here:

• kumur relates to rinsing/gargling
• berkumur = to gargle / to rinse one’s mouth

You do not usually say just kami kumur in standard Malay for this meaning. The ber- form is the normal one.

Very roughly, ber- often appears in verbs that mean:

• doing an action
• having or wearing something
• being in a certain state

But in this sentence, the main thing to remember is simply that berkumur is the standard verb form.

It is one word: berkumur.

That is because ber- is a prefix attached directly to the base word. In standard spelling, Malay prefixes are normally written together with the word they belong to.

So:

• correct: berkumur
• not standard: ber kumur

Not by itself. Malay verbs do not change form the way English verbs do for tense.

So Kami berkumur could mean different things depending on context, such as:

• We are gargling
• We gargle
• We were gargling
• We gargled

If you want to make the time clearer, Malay often adds time words, for example:

• Kami sedang berkumur = We are gargling
• Kami sudah berkumur = We have already gargled / We already gargled
• Kami akan berkumur = We will gargle

Yes, in some contexts it can be omitted if the subject is already understood.

For example, someone might simply say:

• Berkumur. = Gargling. / To gargle. / Rinse your mouth.

But when you want to clearly say we, you keep kami:

• Kami berkumur.

Malay often leaves out subjects when they are obvious from context, but including them is perfectly normal and often clearer for learners.

A simple approximation is:

ber-ku-mur

You can think of it roughly like:

• ber → sounds somewhat like bər
• ku → koo
• mur → moor or mur, depending on accent

A few helpful notes:

• The r in Malay is usually pronounced more clearly than in many varieties of English.
• The vowels are generally more consistent than in English.
• Stress in Malay is usually not as strong or dramatic as in English.

So a rough English-friendly pronunciation would be: bər-KOO-moor

Yes, it is grammatical and natural, but in real life it may sound a bit context-dependent because We are gargling is not something people say in isolation very often.

It would sound more natural in a situation like:

• describing what a group is doing
• answering a question
• giving a simple narration

For example:

• Apa yang kamu buat?
• Kami berkumur.

So the sentence is fine; it just feels most natural when there is some situation around it.

Yes. In everyday use, berkumur can refer not only to formal gargling, but also to rinsing the mouth, especially after brushing teeth.

So depending on context, an English speaker might translate it as:

• gargle
• rinse our mouths
• rinse after brushing

This is one of those cases where the Malay word covers a slightly wider range than a single English word sometimes does.

Yes, absolutely.

• Kami berkumur = We gargle / We are gargling / We gargled, depending on context
• Kami sedang berkumur = We are gargling right now

The word sedang makes the action clearly ongoing. This is very useful if you want a meaning closer to the English present continuous.

The word order is straightforward:

• Kami = subject
• berkumur = verb

So the structure is:

Subject + Verb

This is very similar to normal English word order:

• We gargle
• Kami berkumur

That makes this sentence fairly easy for English speakers in terms of basic structure.