Learn Hardcore Malay: Pengurus saya berkata bahawa selagi ada kerjasama, tekanan di tempat kerja akan jadi lebih rendah. - My manager says that as long as there is cooperation, the pressure at work will become lower.

With bahawa:
- Pengurus saya berkata bahawa selagi ada kerjasama, …
- “My manager said that as long as there is cooperation, …”
Without bahawa:
- Pengurus saya berkata selagi ada kerjasama, …

In everyday spoken Malay, bahawa is often dropped and the sentence is still perfectly natural. In written or more formal Malay, including bahawa makes the sentence slightly more formal and explicit, but it is not grammatically required here.

Why is selagi used here instead of words like kalau, jika, or apabila?

Selagi means “as long as” and emphasizes a condition that must continue over time.

Selagi ada kerjasama
= “As long as there is cooperation (continuously / kept up)”

Compare with:

kalau / jika = “if” (conditional, not necessarily continuous)
- Kalau ada kerjasama, tekanan di tempat kerja akan jadi lebih rendah.
  “If there is cooperation, pressure at work will be lower.”
  This is more about a condition being true, not about duration.
apabila / bila = “when / whenever”
- Apabila ada kerjasama, tekanan di tempat kerja akan jadi lebih rendah.
  “When there is cooperation, work pressure will be lower.”
  This sounds more like a general rule each time cooperation happens.

Selagi specifically suggests that as long as cooperation is maintained, the lower pressure will also continue. That nuance matches the English “as long as” very closely.

Why do we say selagi ada kerjasama and not just selagi kerjasama?

In Malay, to say “as long as there is cooperation”, you usually need a verb like ada (“there is/are, exists”) or a full clause.

Selagi ada kerjasama
= literally “As long as there is cooperation.”

If you remove ada, selagi kerjasama is incomplete and sounds wrong, because kerjasama is just a noun with no verb or predicate.

You have two natural options:

Using ada + noun (what you have now)
- Selagi ada kerjasama, …
  “As long as there is cooperation, …”
Using a subject + verbal form
- Selagi kita bekerjasama, …
  “As long as we cooperate, …”
- Selagi semua orang bekerjasama, …
  “As long as everyone cooperates, …”

So you can’t just drop ada; you would need to restructure the clause.

What is the difference between kerjasama and bekerjasama?

Kerjasama is a noun: “cooperation”, “collaboration”.
- Ada kerjasama = “there is cooperation”
Bekerjasama is a verb: “to cooperate”, “to work together”.
- Kita bekerjasama = “we cooperate / we work together”

In your sentence:

Selagi ada kerjasama
= “As long as there is cooperation.”

A very natural alternative using the verb is:

Selagi kita bekerjasama, tekanan di tempat kerja akan jadi lebih rendah.
= “As long as we cooperate, the pressure at work will be lower.”

Both are correct; one focuses on the existence of cooperation (ada kerjasama), the other on the action of cooperating (bekerjasama).

What exactly does tekanan di tempat kerja mean? How is it different from tekanan kerja or stres?

Tekanan di tempat kerja
- literally: “pressure at the workplace”
- natural translation: “pressure at work”, “workplace pressure”
- quite neutral and clear.
Tekanan kerja
- literally: “work pressure” (a compound noun)
- very common and a bit more compact:
  Selagi ada kerjasama, tekanan kerja akan jadi lebih rendah.
  “As long as there is cooperation, work pressure will be lower.”
Stres (from English “stress”)
- more casual/colloquial, often used in speech:
  Selagi ada kerjasama, stres di tempat kerja akan jadi kurang.
  “As long as there is cooperation, stress at work will be less.”

Your original phrase tekanan di tempat kerja is slightly more formal/neutral and clearly refers to pressure in the work environment, not pressure in some other context.

Why is akan used? Is it necessary to show the future?

Akan is a modal that marks future or expected events, similar to “will” in English.

Tekanan di tempat kerja akan jadi lebih rendah.
= “The pressure at work will become lower.”

However, Malay does not require a future marker. You could also say:

Tekanan di tempat kerja jadi lebih rendah.

This can still mean “becomes / will become lower”, and the time reference is inferred from context (and from selagi, which already talks about a condition in time).

So:

Including akan:
- Emphasizes the future or outcome.
- Stylistically a bit more explicit.
Omitting akan:
- Still grammatical and quite natural, especially in speech.
- The future meaning is usually understood from context.

In your sentence, akan is helpful for learners and is perfectly natural Malay.

What is the difference between jadi and menjadi in akan jadi lebih rendah?

Both jadi and menjadi can mean “to become”, but they differ slightly in usage and feel:

Jadi
- Common in everyday speech.
- Can mean “become”, “turn out”, or even “to be” in some contexts.
- Your sentence:
  Tekanan di tempat kerja akan jadi lebih rendah.
  “The pressure at work will become lower.”
Menjadi
- Slightly more formal.
- Often used before nouns or noun phrases, but can also be used before adjectives.
- Alternative:
  Tekanan di tempat kerja akan menjadi lebih rendah.

Both versions are correct here. Jadi feels more colloquial/neutral; menjadi sounds a bit more formal or written. There is no change in meaning in this particular sentence.

Why do we say lebih rendah for “lower”? Could we say kurang tekanan instead?

Malay forms comparatives with lebih + adjective:

lebih rendah = “more low” → “lower”
lebih tinggi = “higher”
lebih besar = “bigger”

So:

Tekanan di tempat kerja akan jadi lebih rendah.
= “The pressure at work will become lower.”

You can definitely express the same idea differently:

Kurang tekanan (less pressure)
- Tekanan di tempat kerja akan jadi kurang.
  “The pressure at work will be less.”
Berkurang / berkurangan (to decrease)
- Tekanan di tempat kerja akan berkurang.
  “The pressure at work will decrease.”

All are natural.

Lebih rendah frames it as a comparison of level.
Kurang tekanan / berkurang focuses on the amount of pressure reducing.

Is the word order fixed, or can I move di tempat kerja to another position?

The basic structure of your clause is:

Subject: tekanan di tempat kerja
Predicate: akan jadi lebih rendah

This is standard S–P (subject–predicate) order in Malay.

Natural variations include:

Keep it as is (very natural):
- Tekanan di tempat kerja akan jadi lebih rendah.
Put the place phrase earlier for emphasis (topic-comment pattern):
- Di tempat kerja, tekanan akan jadi lebih rendah.
  “At the workplace, the pressure will be lower.”
Use a shorter subject:
- Tekanan kerja akan jadi lebih rendah.

What you should not do is split it in an unnatural way, like:

✗ Tekanan akan jadi lebih rendah di tempat kerja (this is actually still acceptable, but it shifts di tempat kerja to modify the whole situation rather than just tekanan; in practice people do say this, but the focus is slightly different)
✗ Akan jadi lebih rendah tekanan di tempat kerja (sounds wrong; predicate is in front of the subject without a clear reason).

So yes, you can move di tempat kerja a bit, but you must keep the overall subject–predicate structure clear. The original word order is very natural.

How formal is this sentence? Would people say it like this in everyday conversation?

Your sentence is neutral to slightly formal, and is absolutely fine in spoken Malay, especially in a work context.

Pengurus saya = “my manager” (neutral, workplace-appropriate)
berkata = “said” (a bit formal; common in writing, news, reports)
tekanan di tempat kerja = “pressure at the workplace” (neutral)

In more casual speech, you might hear:

Bos saya cakap selagi kita bekerjasama, stres kat tempat kerja akan jadi kurang.
- bos instead of pengurus
- cakap instead of berkata
- stres instead of tekanan
- kat (colloquial) instead of di

So your original sentence is natural for:

talking to colleagues politely,
reporting something in a meeting,
writing an email or a report.

It is not overly formal, just standard and polite.

Is kerjasama always written as one word? I’ve seen kerja sama too.

This is a spelling difference between Malay in Malaysia and Indonesian:

In Malaysian Malay, the standard spelling is kerjasama (one word).
In Indonesian, the standard is kerja sama (two words), though kerjasama is also widely seen informally.

Since you are learning Malay (not Indonesian), you should write:

kerjasama (one word)
- Selagi ada kerjasama, tekanan di tempat kerja akan jadi lebih rendah.

Meaning-wise, kerjasama and kerja sama are the same; only the orthography differs by standard.