Learn Hardcore Malay: Bila pengawal datang, semua orang duduk diam dan sambung makan secara tenang. - When the guard came, everyone sat quietly and continued eating calmly.

Bila is widely used in speech and informal writing. In more formal Malay (e.g. essays, news, official documents), people often prefer apabila or ketika instead:

Apabila pengawal datang, ... (more formal, very common in writing)
Ketika pengawal datang, ... (also formal; often “at the time when”)

So:

Everyday spoken Malay: bila is perfectly natural.
Formal writing: prefer apabila or ketika.

Could bila here be a question word like When did the guard come? Why isn’t there a question mark?

Here bila is not a question; it introduces a time clause, just like English “when” in “When the guard came, ...”.

If it were a question, the sentence would look more like:
- Bila pengawal datang? = When did the guard come?
In your sentence it’s:
- Bila pengawal datang, semua orang... = When the guard came, everyone...

So bila can be:

A question word: Bila dia sampai? (When did he arrive?)
A subordinator: Bila dia sampai, kami mula makan. (When he arrived, we started eating.)

The comma and the continuation after it make it clearly a “when”-clause, not a question.

Why is datang not marked for past tense? How do we know it means “came” and not “comes / will come”?

Malay verbs usually do not change form for tense. Datang just means come, and the time is understood from context.

So:

Bila pengawal datang...
could be translated as:
- When the guard came... (past)
- When the guard comes... (general truth / habit)
- When the guard comes... (future, depending on context)

You choose came/comes/will come in English based on the broader story or context. Malay relies heavily on context, and can add time words if needed, e.g.:

Bila pengawal datang tadi, ... (when the guard came just now)
Bila pengawal datang nanti, ... (when the guard comes later)

What does pengawal mean exactly? Is it the same as “police” or “soldier”?

Pengawal means guard, someone whose job is to watch over a place, people, or property.

Some related words:

pengawal keselamatan = security guard
polis = police (officer / force)
askar / tentera = soldier / military

So pengawal is the general word for guard, not specifically police or military, unless extra context is given.

What does duduk diam mean? Literally “sit quiet”? Is diam an adjective or an adverb here?

Literally, duduk diam is “sit quiet / silently”.

duduk = sit
diam = silent / still / not speaking

In practice, duduk diam is an idiomatic chunk meaning “sit quietly / sit still and not make a fuss”. It’s a very common expression used with children, in classrooms, etc.

Grammatically, diam is an adjective, but Malay adjectives can function adverbially without changing form. So duduk diam ≈ “sit in a quiet state” → “sit quietly”.

Is duduk necessary? Could we just say semua orang diam?

You can say semua orang diam, but it’s slightly different:

semua orang diam = everyone was silent / not talking
semua orang duduk diam = everyone sat quietly (focus on both posture and behaviour)

In your sentence, duduk diam paints a stronger picture: people sit down and keep still / quiet. Removing duduk loses the “sit” part and only keeps the idea of being silent.

What is the difference between sambung and terus / teruskan when talking about continuing to eat?

All are related to continuing, but with slightly different emphasis:

sambung = resume / pick up again after a pause or interruption
- sambung makan = continue eating again after stopping
terus = go on, carry on without stopping (adverb)
- terus makan = keep on eating / immediately eat (and don’t stop)
teruskan = to continue (something); transitive, usually needs an object
- teruskan makan = continue the eating

In the sentence, sambung makan implies they stopped or hesitated briefly when the guard came, then resumed eating. If you said terus makan, it might sound more like they just kept eating (without really pausing).

Why is it makan secara tenang and not just makan tenang? What does secara do?

Secara roughly means “in a ... way / manner”.
So:

tenang = calm (adjective)
secara tenang = in a calm way → calmly

Makan secara tenang literally: eat in a calm way.

You’ll often see secara + adjective to form something like an adverbial phrase:

secara perlahan = slowly
secara senyap = silently
secara rasmi = officially

You can sometimes say makan tenang, and native speakers will understand, but makan secara tenang sounds more natural and complete, especially in neutral or slightly careful Malay.

Can we use dengan tenang instead of secara tenang? Is there a difference?

Yes, you can say makan dengan tenang, and it is very natural.

Both are acceptable:

makan secara tenang
makan dengan tenang

Nuance:

dengan tenang is extremely common in both speech and writing.
secara tenang can sound a bit more structured / “bookish”, but is also normal.

So, a very natural alternative sentence is:

Bila pengawal datang, semua orang duduk diam dan sambung makan dengan tenang.

Is this sentence formal or informal? Would anything change for formal writing?

The sentence is neutral–informal, very normal in everyday use. For more formal writing, you might see small changes in word choice:

Bila → Apabila or Ketika
sambung → menyambung or meneruskan (more explicitly “continue” in a formal style)
Possibly secara tenang or dengan tenang: both are acceptable in formal texts.

A more formal version could be:

Apabila pengawal datang, semua orang duduk diam dan meneruskan makan dengan tenang.

But your original sentence is perfectly correct and very natural in spoken Malay and casual writing.

Is semua orang the same as “everyone”? Could we also say mereka semua?

Yes, semua orang means everyone / everybody.

semua = all
orang = person/people → orang here = “people”
semua orang = all people → everyone

You could also say:

mereka semua = all of them

Difference in nuance:

semua orang is more general: everyone (there / in that place / in that group).
mereka semua usually refers back to a previously mentioned group (“they, all of them”).

In your sentence, semua orang works well because it means everyone (present at that scene).