Learn Hardcore Malay: Daripada mengeluh tentang jarak yang jauh, kami lebih baik berjalan perlahan di taman. - Rather than complaining about the long distance, we had better walk slowly in the park.

Daripada mengeluh tentang jarak yang jauh, kami lebih baik berjalan perlahan di taman.

Rather than complaining about the long distance, we had better walk slowly in the park.

Breakdown of Daripada mengeluh tentang jarak yang jauh, kami lebih baik berjalan perlahan di taman.

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Questions & Answers about Daripada mengeluh tentang jarak yang jauh, kami lebih baik berjalan perlahan di taman.

What is the function of daripada at the beginning of the sentence? Why not just dari?

In this sentence, daripada means “instead of / rather than” and introduces a comparison of choices:

Daripada mengeluh... kami lebih baik berjalan...
= Instead of complaining..., we’d better walk...

Dari usually means “from” in a physical or time sense (from a place, from a time, etc.), while daripada is often used for:

Comparisons:
- Dia lebih tinggi daripada saya. = He is taller than me.
Choices / preferences (like here):
- Daripada duduk sahaja, baik kita tolong. = Rather than just sitting, we should help.

So daripada here signals: choosing walking over complaining.

What does mengeluh mean exactly, and what is its base form?

Mengeluh means “to complain / to grumble / to sigh (in complaint)”.

The root/base word is keluh.
With the prefix meN-, it becomes mengeluh (active verb).

It’s an intransitive verb here (no direct object). You complain about something, which is why tentang (“about”) is used:

mengeluh tentang jarak = complain about the distance.

Why do we need tentang after mengeluh? Could we leave it out?

Tentang means “about / regarding / concerning”.

In mengeluh tentang jarak, it shows what the complaining is about:

mengeluh = to complain
mengeluh tentang jarak = complain about the distance

You could drop tentang in very casual speech and just say:

mengeluh jarak yang jauh

but it sounds a little incomplete or colloquial. The standard, clear way is to use tentang.

You can often replace tentang with mengenai or pasal (more informal):

mengeluh mengenai jarak yang jauh
mengeluh pasal jarak yang jauh (informal)

What does jarak yang jauh literally mean, and why is yang there?

Literally:

jarak = distance
jauh = far
jarak yang jauh = distance that is far

Yang is a relative-marker / linker that connects a noun to a description, especially when you want to emphasise or clearly separate noun + adjective:

jarak jauh – “far distance” (can sound more technical, like “long-distance” in some contexts)
jarak yang jauh – “the distance, which is far” (more like a comment on the distance)

Here, jarak yang jauh feels more natural and descriptive, as if you’re focusing on “that distance, which is so far.”

Could we just say jarak jauh instead of jarak yang jauh? Would it change the meaning?

You can say jarak jauh, and people will understand you. The basic meaning (a far distance) remains.

Differences in feel:

jarak jauh
- Shorter, can sound slightly more technical or label-like (like “long distance”).
- Often used in fixed phrases, e.g. panggilan jarak jauh (long-distance call).
jarak yang jauh
- More explicitly descriptive and natural in everyday speech.
- Feels like you’re pointing out “the distance, which is far.”

In your sentence, jarak yang jauh sounds more natural and expressive.

What does lebih baik mean here? Is it literally “more good” or is it like “had better”?

Literally, lebih baik = “more good / better” (a comparative).

But in this structure:

kami lebih baik berjalan perlahan...

it functions idiomatically as “we’d better / it’s better if we”, making a suggestion or recommendation:

Kami lebih baik berjalan perlahan di taman.
≈ We’d be better off walking slowly in the park / We had better walk slowly in the park.

So yes, it behaves very much like English “had better / would be better to”.

Could we say lebih baik kami berjalan perlahan di taman instead of kami lebih baik berjalan...?

Yes. Both are grammatical and natural:

Kami lebih baik berjalan perlahan di taman.
Lebih baik kami berjalan perlahan di taman.

Kami lebih baik... sounds slightly more like a statement about “we”:

We’d better walk…

Lebih baik kami... puts a bit more emphasis on “it’s better if…”:

It’s better if we walk…

In everyday speech, both word orders are common and acceptable.

Is lebih baik the same as sebaiknya?

They are close in meaning but not identical:

lebih baik
- Literally “better / more good”.
- Used in comparisons or choices.
- Can be followed directly by a subject + verb:
  - Lebih baik kami berjalan perlahan.
sebaiknya
- Means “it would be best / the best is to…”
- Often used to give advice or recommendation more generally:
  - Sebaiknya kita berjalan perlahan di taman. = It would be best if we walked slowly in the park.

In many contexts of advice, you can switch:

Daripada mengeluh..., lebih baik kami berjalan perlahan.
Daripada mengeluh..., sebaiknya kami berjalan perlahan.

Both are acceptable, though lebih baik ties more directly to the comparison started by daripada.

Why is it berjalan perlahan and not something like jalan perlahan?

Both jalan and berjalan can be used as verbs meaning “to walk,” but:

berjalan is the standard verb form (“to walk / to go on foot”).
jalan is also a noun meaning “road / street,” and as a verb it’s more informal or context-dependent.

So:

berjalan perlahan = walk slowly (standard, clear)
jalan perlahan = can be understood in casual speech, but berjalan is more clearly verbal and standard.

Perlahan functions like an adverb “slowly” placed after the verb. You might also hear perlahan-lahan (reduplicated form), which adds a sense of very gradually / gently:

berjalan perlahan-lahan = walk very slowly / very gently

What is the role of di in di taman, and why not ke taman?

di = “in / at / on” (location)
ke = “to / towards” (direction, movement to a place)

In berjalan perlahan di taman, the focus is on walking within the park (location), not going to the park:

berjalan perlahan di taman = walk slowly in the park
berjalan ke taman = walk to the park (destination is the park)

So di taman correctly describes where the walking happens.

Why is there no article like “a” or “the” before taman? How do I know if it’s “the park” or “a park”?

Malay has no articles like “a / an / the”. The noun taman by itself can be:

“a park”
“the park”

The exact interpretation (a or the) depends on context, not on any word in the sentence.

If you want to be more specific, you can add extra words:

taman itu = that park / the park
sebuah taman = a park (using a classifier, though not always necessary in speech)

What exactly does kami mean, and how is it different from kita?

Both kami and kita mean “we / us”, but they differ in inclusiveness:

kami = we (excluding the listener)
- “we but not you”
kita = we (including the listener)
- “you and I / all of us here”

So in your sentence:

kami lebih baik berjalan perlahan di taman
implies we (someone else and I, not including you) had better walk in the park.

If you wanted to include the person you’re speaking to, you’d say:

kita lebih baik berjalan perlahan di taman.
= It’s better if we (you and I) walk slowly in the park.

How does Malay show tense in this sentence? How do I know if it’s present, past, or future?

Malay generally does not mark tense on the verb. Berjalan, mengeluh, etc. do not change form for past/present/future.

The time is understood from:

Context, or
Extra time words like semalam (yesterday), nanti (later), tadi (just now), akan (will), etc.

Your sentence, by itself, can be interpreted as:

present/future suggestion:
Instead of complaining..., we’d better walk slowly in the park (now / later).

If you want to make it clearly future, you can add akan or a time word:

Daripada mengeluh tentang jarak yang jauh, kami akan berjalan perlahan di taman nanti.
= Instead of complaining about the long distance, we will walk slowly in the park later.