Learn Hardcore Malay: Esok pagi saya ada temu duga di kampus untuk kerja tambahan. - Tomorrow morning I have an interview at the campus for extra work.

In everyday speech, esok pagi is more common and feels a bit more natural.
pagi esok can sound slightly more formal or emphatic, but in many contexts they’re interchangeable:

Esok pagi saya ada temu duga.
Pagi esok saya ada temu duga.

Both are acceptable and understood the same way.

There’s no word like “will” in the sentence. How do we know it’s in the future?

Malay normally doesn’t use a separate word for future tense like English will. Time is usually shown by:

Time expressions: esok (tomorrow), nanti (later), minggu depan (next week), etc.
Context.

In Esok pagi saya ada temu duga..., the word esok (tomorrow) already makes it clear that the action is in the future.

You can add akan (a future marker) for extra clarity or formality, but it’s not required:

Esok pagi saya akan ada temu duga...
(Also correct, feels a bit more formal or emphatic about the future.)

So: Malay often relies on time words like esok instead of a separate verb like will.

What exactly does saya ada mean here? Is ada like “have” or “there is”?

Ada is very flexible in Malay. It can mean:

to have
- Saya ada buku. = I have a book.
there is / there are
- Ada buku di meja. = There is a book on the table.

In this sentence:

Saya ada temu duga
literally: I have an interview (I possess/experience an event).

So here ada works like have in English.

You could also say:

Esok pagi ada temu duga di kampus.
(literally: Tomorrow morning there is an interview on campus.)

This is also correct; saya is understood from the context, but the original sentence is clearer because it specifies saya.

What’s the difference between temu duga, temuduga, and other words like temu bual or interviu?

All of these relate to the idea of an “interview”, but they’re used a bit differently:

temu duga / temuduga
- Standard word for a job interview or formal selection interview.
- temu duga (two words) is the more standard/official spacing; temuduga (one word) is very common in everyday writing.
- In your sentence, temu duga clearly means a job interview.
temu bual / temubual
- Usually used for a media interview, like with a journalist, on TV, radio, etc.
- Example: temu bual bersama seorang artis (an interview with an artist).
interviu
- Borrowed from English interview.
- Used, but sounds more casual or influenced by English; less common in formal writing compared to temu duga/temu bual.

So for a job interview, temu duga / temuduga is the most natural and standard choice.

Why is it di kampus and not pada kampus? What’s the rule?

In Malay, di and pada are both prepositions, but they’re used differently.

di is mainly for physical locations (where something is, or where something happens):
- di rumah (at home)
- di sekolah (at school)
- di kampus (on/at campus)
pada is more abstract, often for:
- time: pada hari Isnin (on Monday)
- people or things being affected: pada saya (in my opinion), marah pada dia (angry at him/her)

In your sentence, di kampus is correct because kampus is a physical place:

Esok pagi saya ada temu duga di kampus...
= The interview takes place at/on campus.

Using pada kampus here would be ungrammatical.

What nuance does kerja tambahan have? Does it mean “part-time job”, “extra work”, or something else?

Kerja tambahan literally means extra work.

The nuance depends on context:

It can mean an additional job besides your main job (like a side job).
It can also just mean extra duties / extra workload, not necessarily a separate job.

If you specifically mean a part-time job, Malay often uses:

kerja sambilan = part-time job (common term)
kerja separuh masa = part-time job (more literal: half-time)

So:

temu duga ... untuk kerja tambahan
→ an interview for extra work / an extra job (general, could be side work, extra hours, etc.)

If the intention is clearly a part-time side job, you could say:

Esok pagi saya ada temu duga di kampus untuk kerja sambilan.

Is the word order temu duga di kampus untuk kerja tambahan fixed, or can the phrases move around?

Malay word order is fairly flexible for these adverbial phrases, as long as it stays clear.

Your original:

temu duga di kampus untuk kerja tambahan
= interview at campus for extra work

You can rearrange the location and purpose a bit:

Esok pagi saya ada temu duga di kampus untuk kerja tambahan.
Esok pagi saya ada temu duga untuk kerja tambahan di kampus.

Both are acceptable. The emphasis shifts slightly:

Version 1: a bit more focus on where first, then for what.
Version 2: a bit more focus on what kind of job/purpose first, then the location.

However, you normally keep temu duga (the main noun) together and place descriptive/prepositional phrases like di kampus and untuk kerja tambahan after it. You wouldn’t split temu and duga, and you wouldn’t normally put di kampus before temu duga inside this clause.

Do I have to say pagi? Can I just say Esok saya ada temu duga...?

You don’t have to say pagi. Both are correct:

Esok pagi saya ada temu duga...
= I have an interview tomorrow morning.
Esok saya ada temu duga...
= I have an interview tomorrow (time of day not specified).

Use pagi if you want to be specific about the time:

pagi = morning
petang = afternoon/evening (roughly)
malam = night

So you can adjust:

Esok petang saya ada temu duga... (tomorrow afternoon)
Esok malam saya ada temu duga... (tomorrow night)

How formal is this sentence? Could I replace saya with aku?

The sentence with saya is neutral to polite and is suitable for most situations, especially anything related to work or study:

Esok pagi saya ada temu duga di kampus untuk kerja tambahan.

Using aku makes it more casual/intimate and is usually used:

With close friends, siblings, or people of the same age group.
In informal settings.

So you could say to a close friend:

Esok pagi aku ada temu duga di kampus untuk kerja tambahan.

But in writing, in a job-related context, or when talking to someone you’re not very close to, saya is safer and more appropriate.

Why is temu duga written as two words here? I’ve also seen temuduga as one word.

Both spellings appear in real life:

temu duga (two words)
- Closer to the original structure: temu (meet) + duga (test/assess).
- Favoured in more formal or official style guides.
temuduga (one word)
- Very common in everyday usage, job ads, websites, etc.
- Treated as a single noun: “interview”.

For your purposes as a learner:

Treat temu duga / temuduga as the same word in meaning.
Use whichever your teacher or textbook prefers; in official exams or government contexts, temu duga (two words) may be considered more “correctly” spelled, but temuduga will usually still be understood without any problem.