Breakdown of Ketika berehat, saya makan snek kecil sambil tatal laman web berita di telefon.
Questions & Answers about Ketika berehat, saya makan snek kecil sambil tatal laman web berita di telefon.
In Malay, if the subject is the same in both parts of the sentence, it’s very common to mention it only once.
- Full, explicit version:
Ketika saya berehat, saya makan snek kecil…
(When I am resting, I eat a small snack…) - Natural spoken/written version:
Ketika berehat, saya makan snek kecil…
(When resting, I eat a small snack…)
Because saya appears in the main clause (saya makan…), it’s understood that saya is also the one berehat (“resting”), so it doesn’t need to be repeated.
This kind of subject “dropping” is normal and very natural in Malay when context is clear.
Ketika means when / while (at the time that). It introduces a time clause.
Roughly:
- ketika – “when / at the time that”, a bit more formal than bila, roughly similar to semasa.
- semasa – “during / while / when”, also formal-ish, very close in meaning to ketika.
- apabila – “when / whenever”, commonly used in formal writing.
- bila – “when”, more casual / spoken.
In this sentence:
- Ketika berehat, saya makan snek kecil…
= When I’m resting, I eat a small snack…
You could also say:
- Semasa berehat, saya makan snek kecil… (very similar)
- Apabila saya berehat, saya makan snek kecil… (more obviously “when(ever)” I rest)
- Bila saya berehat, saya makan snek kecil… (more informal, everyday speech)
All are grammatically fine; the choice is mostly about formality and style.
The base word is rehat (rest, break).
Berehat is the verb form meaning “to rest / to take a break”.
- rehat – noun-like: rest, break
- Waktu rehat – recess/break time
- berehat – verb: to rest
- Saya berehat sekarang. – I’m resting now.
In the sentence ketika berehat, berehat is a verb in a non-finite form, something like “while resting” or “when (I’m) resting”.
You would not say ketika rehat here if you mean “while I am resting”. Ketika rehat would lean more towards “at break time” (referring to the break period itself as a noun), which is slightly different nuance.
Sambil links two actions happening at the same time by the same subject.
In …saya makan snek kecil sambil tatal laman web berita…:
- makan snek kecil – eating a small snack
- tatal laman web berita – scrolling news websites
- sambil – while (at the same time)
So the idea is:
I eat a small snack while scrolling news websites…
If you just used dan:
- Saya makan snek kecil dan tatal laman web berita…
…it would sound more like a simple list: I eat a small snack and scroll news websites, without clearly emphasising that they are simultaneous. Sambil explicitly signals that the two actions overlap in time.
Both forms exist:
- tatal – base form (stem)
- menatal – with the meN- verb prefix
In standard grammar, you often see menatal (= to scroll, especially in more formal contexts). However, in modern, casual Malay, particularly in digital/tech contexts:
- People frequently use the base form, especially after sambil or in informal writing:
- sambil tatal
- sambil scroll (using the English loan)
So:
- sambil tatal laman web berita – very natural in informal/neutral usage
- sambil menatal laman web berita – more explicitly “correct” and slightly more formal-sounding
Both are understood; the sentence as given is fine and sounds natural.
Yes, tatal is widely understood, especially in Malaysia.
Common alternatives:
- skrol / scroll – direct borrowing from English (very common in speech and informal writing)
- sambil skrol laman web berita di telefon
- melungsur / melayari – more like “surf / browse (the web)”, not exactly “scroll”
- melayari laman web berita di telefon – “browsing news websites on the phone”
Nuance:
- tatal / scroll – specifically the motion of scrolling up/down.
- melayari – more general: visiting/browsing websites, not just scrolling.
So the sentence with tatal specifically highlights the scrolling action, which matches typical phone usage.
Literal breakdown:
- laman – page / site
- web – web (loan word)
- laman web – website / web page
- berita – news
So laman web berita = news website(s) or news web page(s).
Malay normally does not mark plural with an -s the way English does. Whether it’s singular or plural is decided by context:
- Saya melawat laman web berita.
= I visit a news website or I visit news websites.
If you really need to stress plurality, you can say something like:
- beberapa laman web berita – several news websites
- banyak laman web berita – many news websites
But here, laman web berita alone is totally natural and can imply multiple sites.
Di is the normal preposition for “in / at / on (a place or device)”.
- di telefon – on the phone
- di komputer – on the computer
- di meja – on the table
Pada is also a preposition, but:
- It’s used more in abstract senses (e,.g. pada masa itu – at that time, pada saya – in my opinion).
- Saying pada telefon for “on the phone” sounds odd / unnatural in everyday Malay.
If you want to be more specific:
- di telefon bimbit – on the mobile phone
- di telefon pintar – on the smartphone
But in casual context, di telefon already implies “on my phone (device)” and is perfectly natural.
Yes, Malay word order is fairly flexible with adverbial time clauses.
Original:
- Ketika berehat, saya makan snek kecil sambil tatal laman web berita di telefon.
Possible variations:
Saya makan snek kecil sambil tatal laman web berita di telefon ketika berehat.
– Also correct; the “when resting” part is just moved to the end.- Saya makan snek kecil ketika berehat sambil tatal laman web berita di telefon.
- Saya, ketika berehat, makan snek kecil sambil tatal laman web berita di telefon. (more written/formal, with commas)
All these keep the same basic meaning. The original version puts “when resting” at the start to set the scene first, which is a common style: [time] + [what I do].
Malay generally does not inflect verbs for tense (past/present/future). Tense is understood from:
- Context
- Time words (e.g. semalam – yesterday, sekarang – now, nanti – later)
- Sometimes adverbs like selalu (always), kadang-kadang (sometimes), etc.
Your sentence:
- Ketika berehat, saya makan snek kecil sambil tatal laman web berita di telefon.
Without extra time words, this most naturally reads as:
- habitual present or a general statement:
When(ever) I rest, I (usually) eat a small snack while scrolling news websites on my phone.
If you want to show clearly:
- Past:
Ketika berehat tadi, saya makan snek kecil… – When I was resting just now, I ate a small snack… - Future:
Nanti ketika berehat, saya akan makan snek kecil… – Later when I rest, I will eat a small snack…
So the same structure works for different tenses, with small time markers added.
In Malay, an adjective normally comes after the noun without needing yang:
- snek kecil – a small snack
- telefon baru – a new phone
- baju merah – a red shirt
Yang is used when you:
- Need to form a relative clause:
- snek yang saya beli – the snack that I bought
- Want to emphasise or clarify the adjective:
- snek yang kecil itu – that small snack (with emphasis/contrast)
In this sentence, we just need “a small snack”, so snek kecil is the normal, simple form. Snek yang kecil would sound more like you’re contrasting it with another snack, or picking out that particular small one.
Yes, but it’s subtle and often stylistic.
- saya makan snek kecil – the most common, neutral everyday way to say “I eat a small snack”.
- saya memakan snek kecil – uses the meN- prefix (memakan), which:
- sounds more formal/literary, or
- can emphasise the act of consuming something fully.
In modern spoken Malay, for ordinary actions like eating, drinking, etc., people usually prefer bare verbs:
- makan, minum, baca, etc.
So in your sentence, saya makan snek kecil is the most natural choice. Saya memakan snek kecil is grammatically correct but feels more formal or stylistically heavy for this casual context.