Learn Hardcore Malay: Kadang-kadang saya tatal laman web hiburan terlalu lama dan menyesal kerana tidak tidur awal. - Sometimes I scroll entertainment websites for too long and regret not sleeping early.

Kadang-kadang and kadangkala are very close in meaning and both are common. Many speakers treat them as interchangeable.
Sekali-sekala is closer to “once in a while / occasionally”, and often suggests something happens a bit less frequently than kadang-kadang.

About the hyphen:

You will see both kadangkadang and kadang-kadang, but the hyphenated form is more standard in modern writing.

Can I change the word order and say “Saya kadang-kadang tatal laman web hiburan…” instead?

Yes, you can. Both are natural:

Kadang-kadang saya tatal… – puts more emphasis on “sometimes” by fronting it.
Saya kadang-kadang tatal… – more neutral; very common in speech and writing.

Both are grammatical and mean the same thing in this context.

Why is the verb just “tatal” and not “menatal”? Which is more correct?

In standard Malay verb patterns, you often see a meN- prefix:

menulis (to write)
membaca (to read)
menonton (to watch)

For “scroll (on a screen)”, the standard-style form would be menatal.

However, in everyday Malaysian usage, especially with modern/tech verbs, people very often use the bare root form:

saya tatal (I scroll)
dia mesej saya (he/she texts me)
mereka chat sampai lewat malam (they chat until late at night)

So:

menatal laman web hiburan is more formal/standard.
tatal laman web hiburan is very natural in casual speech and informal writing.

Both will be understood; choice depends on formality and style.

How does the noun phrase “laman web hiburan” work? Why is “hiburan” at the end?

Malay noun phrases usually follow “head noun + modifier(s)”, the opposite of English:

laman web = website (literally “web page/site”)
hiburan = entertainment

So laman web hiburan is literally “websites [of] entertainment”, i.e. entertainment websites.

Other similar patterns:

filem aksi = action film
lagu cinta = love song
buku sejarah = history book

Putting hiburan at the end is the normal, grammatical order in Malay.

What exactly is the nuance of “terlalu lama”? Is it just “very long” or does it mean “too long”?

Terlalu usually has a “too (much)” / excessive meaning:

terlalu lama = too long (longer than is good/appropriate)
lama = (for a) long (time) – neutral
sangat lama / amat lama = very long (strong, but not necessarily “too much”)

So in this sentence, terlalu lama implies a negative sense: the person feels they scrolled for longer than they should have, which matches the idea of regret later in the sentence.

Why doesn’t the sentence repeat “saya” before “menyesal”? Can I say “dan saya menyesal”?

Malay often drops repeated subjects when it’s clear from context that the subject is the same:

Kadang-kadang saya tatal … terlalu lama dan menyesal…
→ The subject saya is understood for both tatal and menyesal.

Both versions are correct:

Kadang-kadang saya tatal laman web hiburan terlalu lama dan menyesal… (more compact)
Kadang-kadang saya tatal laman web hiburan terlalu lama dan saya menyesal… (slightly more explicit/emphatic on the regret)

In everyday usage, omitting the second “saya” like in the original feels very natural.

What does “kerana” do in this sentence, and how is it different from “sebab”?

Kerana introduces a reason clause, here:

menyesal kerana tidak tidur awal
= (I) regret because (I) didn’t sleep early.

So kerana = “because” / “since” (reason).

Comparison:

kerana – more neutral or slightly formal; common in writing.
sebab – more casual/colloquial; extremely common in speech.

You could say:

… dan menyesal sebab tidak tidur awal.

It’s natural in spoken Malay; the meaning is the same.

Why is it “tidak tidur awal” (“not sleep early”) instead of something like “tidur lewat” (“sleep late”)?

Both are possible, but they are framed differently:

tidak tidur awal = didn’t sleep early
– focuses on failing to sleep early (not achieving the “good” target).
tidur lewat = slept late
– focuses on the fact that sleep happened late.

Native speakers do say both, e.g.:

Saya menyesal sebab tidak tidur awal.
Saya menyesal sebab tidur lewat.

In the original sentence, the idea is near the English “I regret not sleeping early”, so tidak tidur awal mirrors that structure closely and sounds very natural.

Why is “tidak” used here and not “tak”? Are they the same?

Tidak and tak both mean “not” for verbs and adjectives.

tidak tidur awal
tak tidur awal

Difference is mainly formality and style:

tidak – more formal/neutral, preferred in formal writing and careful speech.
tak – more informal/colloquial, very common in everyday conversation.

So the original tidak tidur awal fits a neutral-to-formal written style. In casual speech, you’d very often hear:

… dan menyesal sebab tak tidur awal.

How is past/habitual time expressed here without any tense marker like “did” or “have”?

Malay generally does not change the verb form for tense. There is no equivalent of English -ed or separate “did / do / will” forms.

Time is shown by:

Context and adverbs (like kadang-kadang = sometimes)
Optional time words:
- semalam (yesterday)
- tadi (earlier, a short while ago)
- setiap malam (every night)

In this sentence:

Kadang-kadang saya tatal… dan menyesal…

The adverb kadang-kadang makes it sound like a habitual or repeated situation (similar to English “I sometimes scroll…”), not a single event in the past. If you wanted one specific past instance, you might add something like semalam:

Semalam saya tatal laman web hiburan terlalu lama dan menyesal kerana tidak tidur awal.
= Yesterday I scrolled entertainment websites for too long and regretted not sleeping early.

Is “dan” the best connector here? Could I use something like “lalu” or “kemudian” instead?

Dan simply means “and”, joining two actions with the same subject:

… saya tatal … terlalu lama dan menyesal …
= I scroll too long and (I) regret…

You can use other connectors, but they slightly change the feel:

lalu – “and then / and so”, often implying consequence.
- … terlalu lama lalu menyesal kerana tidak tidur awal.
kemudian – “then / afterwards”; more about sequence in time.
- … terlalu lama, kemudian menyesal kerana tidak tidur awal.

The original dan is very natural and neutral; lalu or kemudian would put more focus on the sequence or consequence.