Learn Hardcore Malay: Mari kita duduk senyap di perpustakaan.

Functionally, mari kita is a polite, slightly neutral–formal way to make a suggestion, very close to let’s in English. It sounds like you’re inviting the listener to do the action together with you, not ordering them.

What is the difference between kita and kami here? Why not mari kami duduk…?

Both kita and kami mean we, but:

kita = we including you (the listener)
kami = we excluding you (the listener)

Since the speaker is inviting the listener to join in, kita is correct:
Mari kita duduk senyap… = Let’s (you and I) sit quietly…

Mari kami duduk senyap di perpustakaan would mean something like:
Let us (but not you) sit quietly in the library.

That sounds odd in most contexts, because the listener is being excluded from the action, so it’s rarely used in this kind of invitation.

Why is it duduk senyap and not something like duduk dengan senyap? Can senyap be used like an adverb?

In Malay, adjectives often function both as adjectives and as adverb-like words without adding anything like -ly or a separate word like dengan (with).

duduk = to sit
senyap = silent / quiet

When you say duduk senyap, it can mean sit quietly / sit in a quiet way. You don’t need a separate “adverb marker.”

duduk dengan senyap is grammatically possible, but it sounds more unusual and less natural in everyday speech. In most cases, Malay just uses verb + adjective:

berjalan perlahan – walk slowly
baca kuat – read out loud / read loudly
bekerja keras – work hard

So duduk senyap is perfectly normal and idiomatic.

What is the difference between senyap, diam, and sunyi? Could I say duduk diam instead?

All three relate to quietness, but they have different flavours:

senyap – quiet / silent (no noise)
- Focus is on silence, lack of sound.
diam – silent / still / not speaking or moving
- Often implies not talking or not moving / staying put.
sunyi – quiet / deserted / lonely
- Often used for places that are quiet, empty, or lonely.

In your sentence:

Mari kita duduk senyap di perpustakaan.
= Let’s sit quietly (i.e. not make noise) in the library.

You could say:

Mari kita duduk diam di perpustakaan.

That sounds like: Let’s sit still and not talk in the library.
It emphasizes being still and not speaking, rather than just not making noise. Both are acceptable, but senyap focuses more on sound; diam adds a nuance of being still / not speaking.

Can I change the word order, like Mari kita senyap duduk di perpustakaan or Mari kita duduk di perpustakaan senyap?

Natural Malay keeps the pattern here as verb + description + place:

Mari kita duduk senyap di perpustakaan.
(Let’s sit quietly in the library.)

These alternatives are not natural:

Mari kita senyap duduk di perpustakaan. – sounds wrong/unnatural.
Mari kita duduk di perpustakaan senyap. – sounds like a quiet library rather than sit quietly.

If you really want to emphasize the library is quiet, you would normally restructure:

Mari kita duduk di perpustakaan yang senyap itu.
= Let’s sit in that quiet library.

But to say sit quietly in the library, keep duduk senyap together.

What does di do here, and why not pada perpustakaan?

di is the basic preposition for at / in / on (a place).

di perpustakaan = at the library / in the library

pada can also mean at / on, but is used more with:

time expressions: pada pukul tiga (at 3 o’clock)
abstract things: pada pendapat saya (in my opinion)
some pronouns: pada saya (to/for me)

For physical locations, di is the default:

di rumah – at home
di sekolah – at school
di restoran – at the restaurant

So di perpustakaan is the expected and natural choice.

There is no word like will or let’s in Malay. How do we know this is a suggestion for the future and not about right now?

Malay usually does not mark tense (past, present, future) with verb changes. Instead, it relies on:

context
time words, if needed: nanti (later), sekarang (now), tadi (earlier), etc.
special “mood” words for imperatives / suggestions.

Here, mari functions as that “mood word”:

Mari kita… → Let’s (do something)…
Jangan… → Don’t (do something)…
Tolong… → Please (do something)…

Because mari is used, native speakers immediately understand it as a suggestion / invitation to do something from now or in the near future, not a neutral statement about a general truth.

How formal or informal is Mari kita duduk senyap di perpustakaan? Could I use jom instead of mari?

Mari is:

polite
neutral to slightly formal
suitable for adults, teachers, public announcements, written instructions, etc.

Jom is:

very common in everyday, informal speech
friendly, casual, used with friends, family, peers

So:

Mari kita duduk senyap di perpustakaan. – suitable for a teacher talking to students, a librarian, or a more polite situation.
Jom duduk senyap di perpustakaan. – casual, like a friend saying “Let’s sit quietly in the library.”

Notice that with jom, speakers often drop kita:

Jom makan. – Let’s eat.
Jom pergi. – Let’s go.

What does perpustakaan literally mean, and is there a shorter or more casual word for “library”?

Perpustakaan is the standard word for library in Malay.

It comes from:

pustaka – book / literary work (now not very common alone)
per- … -an – a common noun-forming pattern meaning “place related to X”

So per-pustaka-an is roughly “place of books” → library.

There isn’t really a standard shorter everyday word like English “lib” for library. People still just say perpustakaan, though they might add details:

perpustakaan sekolah – school library
perpustakaan awam – public library
perpustakaan universiti – university library

How do you pronounce perpustakaan? Where does the stress go?

Syllable breakdown: per-pus-ta-ka-an

Approximate pronunciation:

per – like per in person, but shorter
pus – like poos (short u as in put; not poos in loose)
ta – tah
ka – kah
an – ahn (nasalized n)

In Malay, stress is usually on the second-last (penultimate) syllable, so here:

per-pus-TA-ka-an

The TA is slightly more prominent, but Malay stress is generally lighter than in English, so all syllables are fairly even: per-pus-TA-ka-an.