Semalam, kami berbual mendalam tentang sejarah keluarga.

Yesterday, we had a deep conversation about family history.

Breakdown of Semalam, kami berbual mendalam tentang sejarah keluarga.

• berbual: to chat
• tentang: about
• sejarah: the history
• keluarga: the family
• semalam: yesterday
• kami: we
• mendalam: deep

Questions & Answers about Semalam, kami berbual mendalam tentang sejarah keluarga.

Why is Semalam followed by a comma? Is it mandatory?

In written Malay, placing a comma after an initial time adverb like Semalam (‘yesterday’) is common to:

• Mark a natural pause
• Improve readability
  It isn’t mandatory, though. You can write:
  Semalam kami berbual mendalam tentang sejarah keluarga.
  In speech, you’d simply pause. You can also put semalam at the end:
  Kami berbual mendalam tentang sejarah keluarga semalam.

What’s the difference between kami and kita?

Both mean ‘we,’ but:

• kami is first-person plural exclusive – ‘we’ excluding the person you’re talking to.
• kita is first-person plural inclusive – ‘we’ including the listener.
  Use kami if the listener wasn’t part of the conversation; use kita if you want to include them.

Why is berbual used here instead of bercakap, berbicara, or bincang?

Each verb carries a different nuance:

• berbual = to have an informal, friendly chat
• bercakap = to speak/talk (neutral, generic)
• berbicara = to speak or converse (more formal/literary)
• bincang/membincangkan = to discuss (implies examining details, making decisions)
  Here, berbual mendalam stresses an in-depth, relaxed conversation rather than a formal discussion.

How is the verb berbual formed? What does the prefix ber- indicate?

Malay often adds prefixes to roots to form verbs. In berbual:

• Root: bual (conversation/chat)
• Prefix: ber- (an intransitive verbal prefix meaning ‘to have/do something’)
  So berbual literally means ‘to have a chat’ or simply ‘to chat.’

What part of speech is mendalam here? How is it derived from dalam, and why isn’t secara needed?

• mendalam comes from root dalam (‘inside/deep’) + active prefix meN- → mendalam ‘to deepen/immerse deeply.’
• In berbual mendalam, it functions as an adverb: ‘to chat deeply’ or ‘in-depth.’
• You can say berbual secara mendalam (more formal), but Malay often drops secara and uses mendalam directly as the modifier.

Why do we need tentang before sejarah keluarga? Could we omit it or use another preposition?

tentang means ‘about/concerning’ and is required after verbs of communication or thought (e.g. berbual, bercakap, menulis, memikirkan). Without tentang, the sentence feels incomplete. There’s no alternative preposition here—you can’t omit it.

Is the word order flexible in this sentence? For example, could the time adverb or topic move elsewhere?

The basic pattern is Time–Subject–Verb–Object/Topic. Variations possible:

• Move the time adverb to the end: Kami berbual mendalam tentang sejarah keluarga semalam.
• You generally keep kami before the verb and tentang sejarah keluarga as one chunk. Shuffling these can change focus or sound awkward.

Can I use Indonesian kemarin or Malay kelmarin instead of semalam?

• kemarin is Indonesian for ‘yesterday’ and isn’t standard in Malaysian/Bruneian Malay.
• kelmarin in some old Malay dictionaries means ‘day before yesterday,’ but it’s rarely used today.
  Stick with semalam as the word for ‘yesterday’ in contemporary Malay.