Learn Hardcore Malay: Pengawal itu duduk di bangku dekat pintu taman. - That guard sits on the bench near the park entrance.

pengawal itu can mean:
- that guard (the one over there / previously mentioned), or
- the guard (a specific guard already known from context).

Context decides whether you feel it as that or just the in English. Without itu, pengawal would be more like a guard / guards in a general or previously unknown sense.

Why is there no word for the or a before bangku and pintu taman?

Malay normally has no articles like a / an / the. Nouns such as bangku and pintu taman are neutral by themselves:

bangku = bench / a bench / the bench
pintu taman = garden gate / the garden gate

Definiteness (whether it’s a or the) is understood from context, or sometimes from demonstratives like itu (that) or ini (this). In your sentence, English naturally adds the bench, the garden gate, but Malay doesn’t need any extra word to show that.

Does pengawal specifically mean a security guard, or can it be any kind of guard?

Pengawal is a general word for guard or watchperson. It can refer to:

a security guard (pengawal keselamatan)
a bodyguard (pengawal peribadi)
a palace guard, ceremonial guard, etc.

If you need to be more specific, you usually add another word:

pengawal keselamatan – security guard
pengawal peribadi – bodyguard

On its own, pengawal is just guard; context supplies the exact type.

How do I know if duduk means is sitting, sat, or was sitting, since the verb doesn’t change?

Malay verbs usually don’t change form for tense. The bare verb duduk can be translated depending on context:

The guard is sitting
The guard sits
The guard sat
The guard was sitting

To be explicit, Malay often adds time words or aspect markers:

sedang duduk – is/was in the process of sitting (continuous)
tadi pengawal itu duduk… – earlier, the guard sat…
akan duduk – will sit

In your sentence, with no time marker, most learners are told to read it as a neutral past or present: The guard is sitting / was sitting on a bench… depending on the story.

What is the role of di in di bangku? When do I use di?

Di is a preposition of location, roughly at / in / on depending on the noun:

di bangku – on the bench / at the bench
di rumah – at home / in the house
di sekolah – at school

Use di before a place word to say where something is. English then chooses the best preposition (at / in / on) according to its own rules; Malay just uses di.

Could I say atas bangku instead of di bangku? What’s the difference?

You will most often see:

di atas bangku – literally at on the bench → naturally just on the bench
di bangku – also usually understood as on the bench in this context

Details:

atas literally means top / upper side / on top of.
di atas bangku is more explicit about being on top of the bench.
In everyday speech, di bangku already implies sitting on it, so di by itself is enough.

You normally don’t say atas bangku alone for location; you’d use di atas bangku if you really want to highlight “on top of.”

What exactly does dekat mean here? Is it like near, close to, or at? Do I need di dekat?

In this sentence, dekat means near / close to.

You can say:

dekat pintu taman – near the garden gate
di dekat pintu taman – at/around the area near the garden gate

Both are acceptable. Subtle points:

dekat can function as:
- an adjective/adverb: tempat itu dekat – that place is near
- a preposition-like word: dekat pintu taman – near the garden gate
di dekat sounds slightly more formal or precise, like “at the area near…”.
In casual usage, dekat pintu taman is very natural and common.

So your sentence is fine as it is; di dekat is not required.

Are there other common ways to say near the gate besides dekat pintu taman?

Yes, some common alternatives are:

berhampiran pintu taman – near the garden gate (a bit more formal)
di sisi pintu taman – at the side of the garden gate / beside the gate
di tepi pintu taman – by the side of the garden gate

All of these describe being close to the gate, with small nuances:

berhampiran – general in the vicinity of
di sisi / di tepi – specifically to the side of something

How does pintu taman work? Is it gate of the garden or park gate? Why no word for of?

Pintu taman is a noun–noun compound:

pintu – door/gate
taman – garden, park

Malay often puts two nouns together, with the second noun modifying the first. So:

pintu taman = the garden’s gate / the park gate
literally garden gate / park gate, no word for of is needed.

Other examples:

pintu rumah – the house door
baju tidur – sleep clothes → pyjamas
kereta sekolah – the school’s car / school car

So pintu taman is understood as “the gate that belongs to / leads to the garden/park.”

Could I say pintu di taman instead of pintu taman? Is there a difference?

You can say both, but they’re not identical:

pintu taman – the garden gate / park gate (a specific, characteristic gate associated with the garden).
pintu di taman – a gate/door that is located in the garden/park (more neutral about what kind of gate it is).

In many real-life contexts, they may refer to the same thing, but:

pintu taman sounds like the main entrance gate of the garden/park.
pintu di taman could be any door that happens to be in the park, not necessarily its entrance.

How would I make the sentence clearly plural, like the guards sat on benches near the park gate?

Malay doesn’t mark plural on the noun itself, but you can show plurality in several ways:

Context only (very common):
- Pengawal itu duduk di bangku dekat pintu taman.
  In the right context, this could be understood as the guards were sitting on benches…, even though the form doesn’t change.
Add a numeral or a plural word:
- Beberapa pengawal duduk di beberapa bangku dekat pintu taman.
  – Several guards sat on several benches near the garden gate.
Reduplication (more explicit, but not always necessary):
- Para pengawal duduk di bangku-bangku dekat pintu taman.
  – The guards sat on the benches near the garden gate.
  - para is a plural marker for people (more formal).
  - bangku-bangku is a reduplicated plural, often used when you want to stress “more than one bench.”

Spoken Malay often relies just on context to show whether it’s singular or plural.

Where would I put a time expression like this morning in this sentence?

The most common positions are:

At the beginning:
Pagi ini, pengawal itu duduk di bangku dekat pintu taman.
– This morning, the guard was sitting on a bench near the garden gate.
Or after the subject:
Pengawal itu pagi ini duduk di bangku dekat pintu taman.

Both are grammatical. Sentence-initial (Pagi ini, …) is very natural and clear.

Can I change the word order, like Pengawal itu dekat pintu taman duduk di bangku?

That word order is not natural in Malay. The basic pattern you want to keep is:

[Subject] [Verb] [Location] [More specific location]

Your original sentence follows this:

Pengawal itu – subject
duduk – verb
di bangku – first location
dekat pintu taman – further detail about that location

The most natural variations keep this basic order, for example:

Pengawal itu duduk di bangku yang dekat pintu taman.
– The guard sat on the bench that is near the garden gate.
Pengawal itu duduk dekat pintu taman, di atas bangku.
– The guard sat near the garden gate, on a bench.

But putting dekat pintu taman before duduk usually sounds odd unless you restructure the whole sentence.