Learn Hardcore Malay: Di pejabat baru, suasana lebih tenang berbanding pejabat lama saya. - In the new office, the atmosphere is more relaxed than in my old office.

Di pejabat baru, suasana lebih tenang berbanding pejabat lama saya.

In the new office, the atmosphere is more relaxed than in my old office.

Breakdown of Di pejabat baru, suasana lebih tenang berbanding pejabat lama saya.

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Questions & Answers about Di pejabat baru, suasana lebih tenang berbanding pejabat lama saya.

Why is there no word for is in this Malay sentence?

Malay usually leaves out the verb to be (is/are/am) when linking a subject to an adjective or noun.

So instead of saying something like Suasana adalah lebih tenang, Malay normally just says Suasana lebih tenang.

In this sentence:

Suasana = atmosphere
lebih tenang = calmer

The idea “the atmosphere is calmer” is understood from context and word order, so no separate word for is is needed.

What does di mean here, and is it like at or in in English?

Di is a preposition that usually corresponds to English at or in, depending on context.

di pejabat can be translated as at the office or in the office.

Malay does not sharply distinguish at vs in the way English does. Di just signals location; the exact English preposition is chosen based on natural English usage:

di pejabat baru → at my new office or in my new office (both can be correct in English, depending on context).

Why is the sentence starting with Di pejabat baru? Could I say Suasana di pejabat baru… instead?

Yes, you can change the word order:

Di pejabat baru, suasana lebih tenang berbanding pejabat lama saya.
Suasana di pejabat baru lebih tenang berbanding pejabat lama saya.

Both are grammatical and natural.

The difference is emphasis:

Starting with Di pejabat baru focuses first on the location (at the new office) as the setting.
Starting with Suasana di pejabat baru focuses first on the atmosphere itself.

English does the same kind of thing with sentences like:

In the new office, the atmosphere is calmer…
vs
The atmosphere in the new office is calmer…

What exactly does suasana mean? Is it like atmosphere or environment?

Suasana usually refers to the atmosphere, ambience, or general feel of a place or situation.

In this context, suasana can be translated as:

the atmosphere at the office
the overall environment or vibe

It often refers to:

how noisy/quiet it is
how tense/relaxed people feel
how pleasant/unpleasant the setting seems

So suasana lebih tenang = the atmosphere is calmer / more relaxed.

How does the comparative lebih … berbanding … work in this sentence?

The pattern here is:

lebih + adjective + berbanding + noun phrase

In the sentence:

lebih tenang = calmer / more calm
berbanding pejabat lama saya = compared to my old office

So:

suasana lebih tenang berbanding pejabat lama saya
literally: the atmosphere is more calm compared to my old office.

This is a very common way to form comparatives:

lebih besar berbanding rumah lama saya = bigger compared to my old house
lebih senyap berbanding kelas lain = quieter compared to the other class

Can I use daripada instead of berbanding here? What’s the difference?

Yes, you can say:

Suasana lebih tenang daripada di pejabat lama saya.
Suasana lebih tenang berbanding pejabat lama saya.

Both are acceptable and understood.

General tendencies:

daripada is the more basic, very common comparative marker (like than):
- lebih besar daripada = bigger than
- lebih tenang daripada = calmer than
berbanding literally relates to being compared with, and often sounds a bit more explicitly comparative or slightly more formal/neutral in some contexts.

In everyday speech, many people use both quite freely. In this particular sentence, daripada might be a tiny bit more colloquial; berbanding sounds neat and standard.

Why are baru and lama placed after pejabat? Could I say baru pejabat or lama pejabat?

In Malay, descriptive words (adjectives) usually come after the noun:

pejabat baru = new office
pejabat lama = old office
baju merah = red shirt
rumah besar = big house

So baru pejabat or lama pejabat is incorrect in standard Malay. Keep the pattern:

noun + adjective
not
adjective + noun

That’s the opposite of English word order.

What’s the difference between pejabat lama saya and pejabat saya yang lama?

Both can be understood as my old office, but there is a nuance:

pejabat lama saya
- Very common, natural.
- Roughly my old office (one unit).
- The whole phrase feels like a single chunk: [office-old-my].
pejabat saya yang lama
- Also grammatical.
- Slightly more contrastive or clarifying, like “the office of mine that is old”.
- Can imply a distinction, e.g. you have more than one office:
  - Ini pejabat saya yang baru, itu pejabat saya yang lama.
    This is my new office, that is my old office.

In many everyday contexts, you’ll simply hear pejabat lama saya for my old office.

Where should I put saya if I want to make it clear that the new office belongs to me?

To clearly say my new office, you have a few options:

Di pejabat baru saya, suasana lebih tenang berbanding pejabat lama saya.
= At my new office, the atmosphere is calmer than at my old office.

Here, saya comes after the noun phrase:

pejabat baru saya = my new office
pejabat lama saya = my old office

The general pattern is:

noun + adjective + possessor
e.g. rumah besar saya = my big house, kereta baru dia = his/her new car.

In the original sentence, di pejabat baru does not explicitly say it’s your new office; it could be any new office (though context might make it clear).

Can I omit saya after pejabat lama if it’s obvious from context?

Yes, in conversation you can often drop saya (or other possessive words) if it’s already clear whose office you’re talking about.

For example:

Di pejabat baru, suasana lebih tenang berbanding pejabat lama.

If context clearly shows you’re comparing your new and old offices, this will usually be understood as:

…compared to my old office.

However, adding saya:

berbanding pejabat lama saya
makes the ownership explicit and is often preferred in neutral/standard writing.

Is this sentence formal, or can I use it in casual conversation?

This sentence is neutral and works in both:

Everyday conversation:
- Di pejabat baru, suasana lebih tenang berbanding pejabat lama saya.
More formal or written contexts (e.g. emails, reports).

To make it more casual, speakers might:

shorten or rearrange slightly:
- Suasana dekat pejabat baru lagi tenang daripada pejabat lama aku.
  (more colloquial: dekat, lagi tenang, aku)

But as given, the sentence is very natural in standard spoken and written Malay.