Learn Hardcore Malay: Nenek saya kata hari terbaik adalah hari apabila semua adik-beradik makan bersama di rumah. - My grandmother says the best day is the day when all the siblings eat together at home.

In Nenek saya kata hari terbaik adalah hari apabila semua adik-beradik makan bersama di rumah, why is kata used? What is the difference between kata, berkata, and cakap?

All three relate to “say” but differ in formality and style:

kata – neutral, very common in both spoken and written Malay.
- Nenek saya kata… = My grandmother says / said…
berkata – more formal/literary. You’ll see it often in news reports and books.
- Nenek saya berkata… sounds a bit more “written” or “bookish”.
cakap – informal, everyday spoken Malay.
- Nenek saya cakap… is what many people say in casual conversation.

All of these are grammatically correct. The original sentence is in a neutral, fairly standard style, so kata fits well.

In English we say “My grandmother says that the best day is…”. Why is there no that after Nenek saya kata? Should it be bahawa?

Malay often omits the word that corresponds to English “that”.

Fully explicit: Nenek saya kata bahawa hari terbaik adalah…
More natural, especially in speech: Nenek saya kata hari terbaik adalah…

bahawa is a conjunction meaning roughly “that” in formal written Malay. In everyday speech and in much writing, it is usually dropped unless you want to be especially clear or formal.

So the sentence without bahawa is completely normal and correct.

What does adalah do in hari terbaik adalah hari…? Is it like “is”? Can it be left out?

Yes, adalah here plays the role of the English verb “is”, linking the subject and its complement:

hari terbaik adalah hari…
≈ “the best day is the day…”

In many sentences of this type, adalah can be omitted, especially in spoken Malay:

Nenek saya kata hari terbaik adalah hari apabila… (more formal/complete)
Nenek saya kata hari terbaik hari apabila… (possible, a bit more colloquial/elliptical)

In careful Standard Malay, people often prefer ialah when the complement is a noun phrase:

Hari terbaik ialah hari apabila…

But in real usage, adalah and ialah often overlap, and you will also hear and read sentences that simply leave both out in casual contexts.

Why is hari repeated: hari terbaik adalah hari apabila…? Could we just say hari terbaik adalah apabila…?

Both are possible, with a small stylistic difference.

hari terbaik adalah hari apabila semua adik-beradik makan bersama di rumah
- Literally: “the best day is the day when all the siblings eat together at home.”
- The repetition makes it very explicit that “the best day” = “the day when…”.
hari terbaik adalah apabila semua adik-beradik makan bersama di rumah
- Literally: “the best day is when all the siblings eat together at home.”
- Slightly smoother and less repetitive; many speakers would prefer this in everyday speech.

So yes, you can say hari terbaik adalah apabila… and it sounds quite natural.

What is the role of apabila in this sentence? Can I use bila or ketika instead?

apabila is a conjunction meaning “when” (for time):

hari … apabila semua adik-beradik makan bersama
= “the day when all the siblings eat together”

Other options:

bila – also “when”, but more informal/colloquial.
- hari bila semua adik-beradik makan bersama… (very common in speech)
ketika – “when / at the time when”, often used in narratives or more formal writing, especially for past situations.
- hari ketika semua adik-beradik makan bersama… (sounds more like storytelling or written style)

In your sentence, apabila is a good neutral/standard choice. bila is also fine in casual speech.

What exactly does adik-beradik mean, and why is there a hyphen?

adik-beradik is a compound word that means “siblings” (all brothers and sisters in a family).

adik alone usually means “younger sibling” (younger brother/sister).
beradik (as a verb-like form) can mean “to be siblings / to have siblings”.

Combined as adik-beradik (with a hyphen), it becomes a fixed compound meaning “siblings as a group”, not just younger ones.

The hyphen marks it as a compound / partial reduplication, a common pattern in Malay:

anak-beranak – a whole family (parent–child group)
kawan-kawan – friends (reduplication showing plural)
adik-beradik – siblings

So semua adik-beradik = “all (the) siblings”.

In semua adik-beradik, whose siblings are we talking about? Should it be semua adik-beradik saya?

On its own, semua adik-beradik just means “all the siblings” and doesn’t specify whose siblings.

In real conversation, context usually makes it clear: if you’re already talking about your own family, semua adik-beradik will be understood as “all (our/my) siblings”.

If you want to be explicit, you can say:

semua adik-beradik saya – all my siblings
semua adik-beradik kami – all our siblings (from the speaker’s group)
semua adik-beradik nenek saya – all my grandmother’s siblings

So yes, semua adik-beradik saya makan bersama di rumah would be a bit clearer if you specifically mean my siblings.

Why is there no plural marker on adik-beradik? How do we know it is plural?

Malay normally doesn’t add an -s or similar ending to mark plurals the way English does.

Plurality is shown by:

context
words like semua (“all”), banyak (“many”)
numbers: tiga orang adik-beradik
or reduplication: kawan-kawan (friends)

In adik-beradik, the very form of the word and the presence of semua already suggest a group, so we understand it as plural:

adik-beradik = siblings (group)
semua adik-beradik = all the siblings

You do not say adik-beradik-adik-beradik to make it plural; the phrase is already inherently group-like.

What is the nuance of makan bersama? Would makan bersama-sama or makan dengan bersama be better?

makan bersama = “eat together”.
- bersama functions like an adverb here: “together”.
makan bersama-sama also means “eat together”, with a bit more emphasis, like “all together”.
- The reduplication -sama-sama can make it sound more emphatic or friendly.
makan dengan bersama is not natural Malay in this meaning.

You can also see bersama as a preposition meaning “with (someone)”:

makan bersama nenek saya – eat together with my grandmother

In your sentence, makan bersama is perfectly natural and correct.

Why is it di rumah and not ke rumah? What exactly does di express here?

di is the preposition for location: “in / at / on”.

di rumah = “at home / in the house”

ke is for movement towards a place: “to”.

ke rumah = “to the house / to (someone’s) home”

In makan bersama di rumah, the idea is “eat together at home”, so di is correct. If you said ke rumah, it would mean “go to the house/home”, which is a different action.

You can specify whose house, if needed:

di rumah nenek saya – at my grandmother’s house
di rumah kami – at our house

But plain di rumah often just means “at home” in a general or context-dependent sense.