Learn Hardcore Malay: Teman baru saya agak sensitif dan tidak suka orang yang sombong di pejabat. - My new friend is rather sensitive and does not like arrogant people at the office.

teman – friend/companion; neutral; common in both speech and writing.
kawan – friend/buddy; very common in everyday speech; slightly more casual.
rakan – colleague/associate; more formal, often used in work or official contexts (e.g. rakan sekerja = colleague).
sahabat – close or dear friend; implies stronger, more emotional bond.

In this sentence, teman baru saya is completely natural. You could also say kawan baru saya, which sounds a bit more casual.

Is there any difference between teman baru saya and teman saya yang baru?

Both can mean my new friend, but there is a slight nuance:

teman baru saya – the default way; sounds very natural and neutral.
teman saya yang baru – puts a bit more focus on baru (“the friend of mine who is new / who I have just made”). It can imply contrast with other existing friends.

In most everyday contexts, teman baru saya is what people would say.

Does baru always mean “new”? I’ve also seen baru mean “just now”.

Baru has two main uses:

As an adjective: new
- kereta baru – new car
- teman baru saya – my new friend
As an adverb: just / only just / recently
- Saya baru sampai. – I’ve just arrived.
- Dia baru makan. – He/She just ate.

In your sentence it’s clearly the adjective meaning new.

What exactly does agak mean, and how strong is it compared to sangat or sikit?

Agak means rather / quite / somewhat. It suggests a moderate degree.

Rough scale of intensity:

sikit / sedikit – a little
agak – rather, quite, somewhat
sangat / amat / terlalu – very, extremely

So agak sensitif = rather/quite sensitive, not extremely sensitive, but more than just a little.

Why is it tidak suka instead of just tak suka?

Both are correct:

tidak suka – standard, more formal; used in writing, formal speech, news, etc.
tak suka – common spoken contraction; very frequent in everyday conversation.

This sentence looks like standard written Malay, so tidak suka fits that register. In casual speech, people would often say tak suka.

Why is it orang yang sombong and not just orang sombong?

Both are possible, but there is a nuance:

orang sombong – arrogant people; simple noun + adjective.
orang yang sombong – people who are arrogant; yang turns sombong into a clearer descriptive phrase, a bit like a relative clause.

In many everyday sentences, orang sombong and orang yang sombong are interchangeable. Adding yang can sound slightly more explicit or emphatic, especially in careful or written language.

What does sombong mean exactly? Is it like “proud” or “arrogant”?

Sombong is negative. It usually means:

arrogant
stuck-up
looking down on others
showing off one’s status, wealth, or abilities

It’s closer to arrogant or conceited than to proud in a positive sense. Positive “proud” is more like bangga (e.g. Saya bangga dengan awak – I’m proud of you).

Does orang here mean “person” or “people”? There’s no plural like in English.

Orang can mean person or people, depending on context. Malay usually doesn’t mark plural with an ending like English -s.

In this sentence, orang yang sombong is best understood as arrogant people in general.

Ways to make the plural sense clearer if needed:

orang-orang yang sombong – explicitly plural, often used in writing.
ramai orang yang sombong – many arrogant people.

But orang yang sombong by itself already comfortably covers “people who are arrogant”.

Why is it di pejabat and not something like pada pejabat or dalam pejabat?

Di is the standard preposition for location (at/in/on a place).

di pejabat – at the office / in the office (general location: workplace).
dalam pejabat – inside the office (more literally inside the room/space).

Pada is used more for time or abstract targets (e.g. on a date, to someone), not for basic physical location, so pada pejabat is not natural here.

So di pejabat is the normal way to say at the office.

Does di pejabat describe the people or the place where they are arrogant?

In this sentence, di pejabat is most naturally read as describing orang yang sombong:

orang yang sombong di pejabat ≈ arrogant people at the office.

So it’s about people in that workplace who are arrogant, not “people who are arrogant only when they are in the office” (although in some contexts that reading is also possible). Usually, context clarifies this, and the default understanding is arrogant people in the office.

Is pejabat the normal word for “office”? I’ve also seen ofis and kantor.

Yes, in Malaysian Malay:

pejabat – standard word for office, used in formal and neutral contexts.
ofis – informal borrowing from English office; common in casual speech.

In Indonesian:

kantor – the usual word for office. (Malaysians understand it but don’t normally use it themselves.)

In your sentence, di pejabat is standard Malaysian usage.

Is it okay to replace tidak suka orang yang sombong di pejabat with benci orang yang sombong di pejabat?

You can say it, but the meaning becomes stronger:

tidak suka – don’t like / dislike
benci – hate / strongly dislike

So:

tidak suka orang yang sombong di pejabat – doesn’t like arrogant people at the office.
benci orang yang sombong di pejabat – hates/ar intensely dislikes arrogant people at the office.

Use benci only if you really want to express a much stronger emotion.