Mereka bercakap tentang politik.

Bercakap is the more standard verb form meaning to speak or to talk.

• cakap can also mean speak/talk, but it often feels more casual or dictionary-like on its own.
• The prefix ber- commonly forms intransitive verbs in Malay, and bercakap is the normal full verb form in careful or standard Malay.

So:

• bercakap = to talk / to be talking
• cakap = talk / speak, often more colloquial depending on context

In everyday speech, you may hear cakap a lot, but bercakap is a very natural standard choice in this sentence.

It can match several English forms depending on context.

Malay does not usually mark tense the way English does. So bercakap can correspond to:

• talk
• talks
• are talking
• were talking

In this sentence, the context or translation tells you it means are talking. If you want to make right now extra clear, you can say:

Mereka sedang bercakap tentang politik.

Here sedang makes the ongoing action more explicit.

Malay usually does not need a verb like am / is / are before another verb.

In English, you say:

• They are talking

In Malay, you can simply say:

• Mereka bercakap

So there is no separate word corresponding to English are here. This is very normal in Malay grammar.

Mereka means they or them.

In this sentence, it is the subject, so it means they.

A useful note: mereka is standard Malay and is especially common in writing and careful speech. In very casual spoken Malay, people may sometimes use other forms depending on region or style, but mereka is the safe standard word to learn.

Tentang means about or concerning.

So:

• bercakap tentang politik = talk about politics

It links the verb bercakap with the topic being discussed.

Other words can sometimes also mean about, such as:

• mengenai — more formal
• pasal — more colloquial in many contexts

But tentang is a very common and neutral choice.

The basic word order here is:

• Mereka = subject
• bercakap = verb
• tentang politik = prepositional phrase

So the pattern is basically:

Subject + Verb + Prepositional phrase

This is very similar to English:

They + are talking + about politics

Malay word order is often quite straightforward like this.

Yes. That is perfectly correct.

Adding sedang makes it clearer that the action is in progress right now:

• Mereka bercakap tentang politik. = They talk / they are talking about politics.
• Mereka sedang bercakap tentang politik. = They are talking about politics right now.

Without sedang, the sentence is still very natural and often enough by itself.

Malay nouns usually do not need articles like a, an, or the.

So politik simply means politics here, without any extra article.

Also, Malay does not mark plural the same way English does in many cases. But here politik is really a general concept, so English also just says politics, not politicses or anything similar.

Sometimes, yes, if the subject is already understood from the context.

For example, in conversation, someone might simply say:

Bercakap tentang politik.

But on its own, that can sound incomplete in careful standard Malay unless the context is clear. For learners, it is best to keep mereka unless you are sure the subject is understood.

No, there are other natural ways to express a similar idea.

For example:

• Mereka berbual tentang politik. = They are chatting about politics.
• Mereka membincangkan politik. = They are discussing politics.
• Mereka bercakap mengenai politik. = They are talking about politics.

The differences are small but useful:

• bercakap = talk/speak
• berbual = chat
• membincangkan = discuss, usually a bit more deliberate or formal
• mengenai = about, slightly more formal than tentang

A simple approximate pronunciation is:

bər-cha-kap

A few tips:

• ber- often sounds like bər
• c in Malay is pronounced like English ch
• kap is pronounced clearly, with the final p lightly sounded

So bercakap sounds roughly like bər-CHA-kap.

Also:

• mereka ≈ mə-RE-ka
• tentang ≈ tən-TANG
• politik ≈ po-li-tik

Malay spelling is generally quite phonetic, so once you know the sound system, pronunciation becomes much easier.