Learn Hardcore Malay: Saya suka belajar tentang haiwan di muzium. - I like to learn about animals at the museum.

You can drop saya if the subject is already very clear from context, especially in casual speech or in a longer conversation, e.g. after someone asks:
Siapa suka belajar tentang haiwan di muzium? (Who likes learning about animals at the museum?)
You could reply simply:
Suka belajar tentang haiwan di muzium.

But as a learner, it’s safest and most natural to keep saya in neutral, standalone sentences:
Saya suka belajar tentang haiwan di muzium.

Does suka mean “like” as a verb (“to like”), or is it more like an adjective (“fond of”)?

Suka works like a verb in English: it means “to like” / “to enjoy”. It is followed by another verb or a noun:

Saya suka belajar. – I like to study / I like studying.
Saya suka haiwan. – I like animals.

Grammatically, Malay doesn’t strictly separate verbs and adjectives the way English does, but in this pattern suka behaves like “to like”:

Saya suka [verb / noun].

What’s the difference between suka and gemar?

Both suka and gemar can mean “like”, but:

suka is the most common, neutral, everyday word.
gemar is a bit more formal or bookish and often suggests a strong liking or hobby.

Examples:

Saya suka belajar tentang haiwan. – I like learning about animals.
Saya gemar membaca buku sejarah. – I am fond of / I really enjoy reading history books.

In your sentence, saya suka belajar tentang haiwan di muzium is the natural, everyday way to say it.

Can I say Saya belajar haiwan di muzium instead of Saya suka belajar tentang haiwan di muzium?

That changes the meaning and also feels a bit off.

Saya belajar haiwan di muzium literally sounds like “I study animals at the museum,” but belajar haiwan is not a natural collocation.
For specific school‑type subjects, you usually drop tentang, e.g. belajar matematik, belajar bahasa Melayu.
For more general topics, you normally use belajar tentang + [topic], e.g. belajar tentang sejarah, belajar tentang haiwan.

So to say “I like learning about animals at the museum,” stick with:

Saya suka belajar tentang haiwan di muzium.

What exactly does tentang mean, and where does it go in the sentence?

Tentang roughly means “about / regarding / on (the topic of)”.

The basic pattern is:

[subject] + [verb] + tentang + [topic]

In your sentence:

Saya – I
suka belajar – like to study / like studying
tentang haiwan – about animals
di muzium – at the museum

Tentang must come before the thing that is the topic:

belajar tentang haiwan – learn about animals
Not: belajar haiwan tentang (incorrect).

Could I replace tentang with mengenai here?

Yes. Mengenai also means “about / regarding”, and in this sentence it is acceptable:

Saya suka belajar mengenai haiwan di muzium.

Differences in feel:

tentang is shorter and very common in speech and writing.
mengenai can sound slightly more formal or bookish, but the difference is small.

For everyday use, tentang is perfectly natural and very frequent.

Why is there no word for “to” or “at” before belajar? In English we say “I like to learn” or “I like learning”.

Malay doesn’t add a linking word like “to” or an -ing form.

The pattern is simply:

[subject] + suka + [verb]

So:

Saya suka belajar. – I like to study / I like studying.
Saya suka membaca. – I like to read / I like reading.
Saya suka berenang. – I like to swim / I like swimming.

You don’t need a separate word like “to”, and you don’t change the form of belajar.

How do I know the tense? Could Saya suka belajar tentang haiwan di muzium mean past, present, or future?

Malay verbs are not marked for tense. Context gives the time.

Saya suka belajar tentang haiwan di muzium by itself is usually interpreted as a general present habit:
“I like learning about animals at the museum.”

To make time clearer, you can add time words:

Dulu saya suka belajar tentang haiwan di muzium. – I used to like…
Sekarang saya suka belajar tentang haiwan di muzium. – Now I like…
Esok saya akan suka belajar tentang haiwan di muzium. (sounds odd, but grammatically) – Tomorrow I will like…

So the core sentence is tenseless and default‑present/habitual unless context says otherwise.

Does haiwan mean animals in general, or specific animals? Why is there no plural ending?

Haiwan can mean both “animal” and “animals”, depending on context. Malay usually doesn’t mark plural with an ‑s or equivalent.

In this sentence:

haiwan = animals (in general)

If you really want to emphasize plurality, you can say:

haiwan‑haiwan – animals (plural, emphasized)
banyak haiwan – many animals

But most of the time, just haiwan is enough, and listeners understand from context.

What is the difference between haiwan and binatang?

Both refer to animals, but they have different typical uses:

haiwan – more neutral / scientific; common in textbooks, zoos, museums, biology contexts.
binatang – everyday word, but can sometimes carry a negative or insult meaning when used about people.

In your sentence, haiwan fits very well because you are talking about learning at a museum, which feels more educational or scientific:

Saya suka belajar tentang haiwan di muzium.

What does di mean, and how is it different from ke and dari?

Di = “at / in / on” (location – where something is)

di muzium – at the museum

The related prepositions are:

ke – to (direction/towards a place)
- Saya pergi ke muzium. – I go to the museum.
dari – from (origin/source)
- Saya datang dari muzium. – I come from the museum.

So:

di muzium – at the museum (location)
ke muzium – to the museum (movement)
dari muzium – from the museum (movement away)

Why is it di muzium and not di museum like in English? Is muzium a Malay word?

Muzium is the standard Malay spelling of “museum”.

Malay often adapts foreign words to its spelling system. In this case:

English: museum
Malay: muzium (pronounced roughly “moo-zee-um”)

So di muzium simply means “at the museum” using the Malay‑spelled loanword.

Can I change the word order to Saya suka belajar di muzium tentang haiwan, and would it still be correct?

Yes, that word order is grammatically possible:

Saya suka belajar di muzium tentang haiwan.

However, the more common and natural order is the original:

Saya suka belajar tentang haiwan di muzium.

Malay is fairly flexible with the order of adverbial phrases (tentang…, di…), but putting tentang haiwan right after belajar keeps the verb and its topic tightly linked, which usually sounds smoother:

[suka belajar] [tentang haiwan] [di muzium].