Learn Hardcore Malay: Jururawat mengajar saya tarik nafas dalam-dalam apabila berasa tertekan. - The nurse teaches me to take a deep breath when I feel stressed.

It can refer to a male or female nurse.
If you really need to show gender, people might say jururawat lelaki (male nurse) or jururawat perempuan (female nurse), but normally jururawat alone is enough.
In everyday speech, in some areas people also use nurse (English loan word), but jururawat is the standard Malay term.

Why isn’t there any a / the before jururawat? Shouldn’t it be “The nurse taught me…”?

Malay usually doesn’t use articles like a / an / the.

Jururawat by itself can mean a nurse or the nurse, depending on context.
If the context is a story you’re telling, jururawat is naturally understood as the nurse (who was treating me).
You only add something if you really need to be specific, e.g. seorang jururawat (one nurse / a nurse), jururawat itu (that/that specific nurse).

So Jururawat mengajar saya… can be translated as “The nurse taught me…” in natural English.

In mengajar saya tarik nafas, why is there no untuk or supaya, and why is tarik not menarik?

The pattern here is a common Malay structure:

mengajar + [person] + [bare verb]

So: mengajar saya tarik nafas literally = “to teach me (to) take a breath”.

Saya is the person being taught (the “student”).
Tarik is the base verb (root form), used directly after mengajar [someone].
You can say mengajar saya untuk menarik nafas, and it’s grammatically correct, but it sounds more formal/long-winded.
In everyday Malay, mengajar saya tarik nafas is shorter and more natural.

So the structure is normal: mengajar [object/person] [bare verb phrase].

What does the phrase tarik nafas mean? Is it literally “pull breath”?

Literally, tarik = pull, nafas = breath.

But tarik nafas is a fixed expression meaning:

to inhale / to take a breath
and, with dalam-dalam, to take a deep breath

So tarik nafas dalam-dalam is best understood as “take a deep breath”, not as a strange literal image of pulling breath.

Why is it dalam-dalam with a hyphen and repetition? What does that change?

Dalam means deep. When you reduplicate it as dalam-dalam, it usually means:

very deep / deeply / in a deep way

In this sentence:

tarik nafas dalam-dalam = take a deep breath / breathe in deeply

So:

dalam (just once) = deep (basic meaning)
dalam-dalam = emphasizes the depth → functions like an adverb here: deeply

The hyphen shows full reduplication of the word.

Can I just say dalam instead of dalam-dalam?

You can, but it sounds a bit off in this set phrase.

tarik nafas dalam-dalam is the common, natural collocation meaning “take a deep breath” / “breathe deeply”.
tarik nafas dalam is understandable, but it sounds less idiomatic and less strong.

So when talking about breathing exercises or calming down, people almost always say dalam-dalam.

What’s the difference between apabila and bila here? Could I say bila berasa tertekan?

Yes, you could say:

… tarik nafas dalam-dalam bila berasa tertekan.

The difference is mainly formality:

apabila = more formal/standard, often used in writing, explanations, instructions.
bila = more informal/colloquial, very common in speech.

Both mean roughly “when / whenever”.
In a textbook-style sentence, apabila is a good choice.

Why is it apabila berasa tertekan and not apabila saya berasa tertekan?

Malay often drops the subject pronoun when it is clear from context.

We already have saya earlier: mengajar saya tarik nafas…
It’s understood that the same “I” continues in apabila berasa tertekan.

So both are possible:

apabila berasa tertekan (subject implied)
apabila saya berasa tertekan (subject stated explicitly)

The meaning is the same: “when I feel stressed.”
The version without saya is slightly shorter and more natural in many contexts.

What’s the difference between berasa, rasa, and merasa? Why use berasa in berasa tertekan?

All three come from the root rasa (feeling/taste), but their usage differs:

rasa (bare form)
- As a verb: to feel / to taste
- Very common in informal speech:
  - Saya rasa sedih. – I feel sad.
berasa
- More formal / careful style for “to feel (emotionally/physically)”.
- Berasa tertekan = to feel stressed / to feel under pressure.
merasa
- Often used for physically feeling/tasting or to experience something, and in some dialects.
- e.g. merasa makanan – to taste food.

In this sentence, berasa tertekan sounds standard and slightly formal, which fits a “health advice” style sentence.

What does tertekan mean, and how is it different from tekan or tekanan?

Root: tekan = to press / push down.

From that root:

tekanan = pressure / stress (noun)
- tekanan darah – blood pressure
- tekanan kerja – work pressure
tertekan (with prefix ter-)
- Literally: pressed / under pressure
- In feelings: stressed, feeling under pressure, emotionally burdened

So berasa tertekan = to feel stressed / to feel under pressure.

Compare:

Saya ada banyak tekanan. – I have a lot of pressure.
Saya berasa tertekan. – I feel stressed / overwhelmed.

How do we know the tense? Could this sentence mean “The nurse is teaching me…” or “The nurse taught me…”?

Malay doesn’t mark tense with verb endings like English does. Mengajar has no built‑in past/present/future.

So Jururawat mengajar saya… can mean:

The nurse teaches me… (habit / general)
The nurse is teaching me… (now)
The nurse taught me… (past)

The actual tense depends on context or added time words, e.g.:

tadi (earlier), semalam (yesterday) → past
sekarang (now) → present
nanti (later), esok (tomorrow) → future

Without any time marker, English usually translates it as past or present simple, whichever fits the situation best.

Could the word order be changed, for example Jururawat mengajar saya apabila berasa tertekan tarik nafas dalam-dalam?

That alternative word order sounds unnatural in Malay.

The normal and clear order is:

Jururawat mengajar saya [tarik nafas dalam-dalam] [apabila berasa tertekan].

Tarik nafas dalam-dalam = what I am taught to do (the action).
Apabila berasa tertekan = the condition / when I should do it.

If you want to move the conditional clause, you could say:

Apabila saya berasa tertekan, jururawat mengajar saya tarik nafas dalam-dalam.

But separating apabila berasa tertekan between mengajar saya and tarik nafas makes the sentence confusing.

Is there a difference between ajar and mengajar here?

Both come from the same root ajar (to teach), but:

mengajar is the standard verb form in sentences:
- Jururawat mengajar saya… – The nurse teaches/taught me…
ajar without meN- is often used in imperatives or very informal speech:
- Ajar saya tarik nafas dalam-dalam. – Teach me to take deep breaths.

In a full declarative sentence like yours, mengajar is the normal, grammatically complete form.