Learn Hardcore Malay: Gerai kopi itu di sebelah stesen kereta api. - That coffee stall is beside the train station.

Gerai kopi itu di sebelah stesen kereta api.
literally: That coffee stall at beside the train station.
→ understood as: The coffee stall is next to the train station.

There is no need for a linking verb like “is”. You can add berada (to be located) for emphasis or formality:

Gerai kopi itu berada di sebelah stesen kereta api.

but in everyday speech the shorter version without “is” is completely normal and more common.

What exactly does gerai mean? How is it different from kedai or warung?

Gerai usually means a stall / booth, often small and simple, sometimes temporary (e.g. in a food court, market, or by the roadside).

Kedai means a shop / store, and can be:

Kedai kopi – coffee shop
Kedai buku – bookshop

In Malaysian usage:

Gerai kopi = a stall selling coffee (maybe in a food court or hawker centre).
Kedai kopi = a more established coffee shop / café / kopitiam.

Warung is more common in Indonesian, but in Malaysia you may still hear warung for a small, simple eatery, especially in rural areas. In standard Malay teaching, gerai and kedai are more central.

Why is gerai kopi itu translated as “the coffee stall” if itu literally means “that”?

Itu does literally mean “that”, but in Malay it also works like “the” by making the noun definite (specific and known).

gerai kopi = a coffee stall / coffee stalls (in general)
gerai kopi itu = that coffee stall or the coffee stall (that we both know about)

So in natural English, we often translate itu as “the” when:

The thing is already known in the conversation, or
It is specific from context (e.g. the only coffee stall near the station).

If you wanted to emphasise “this coffee stall (near me)”, you’d use ini:

Gerai kopi ini di sebelah stesen kereta api.
= This coffee stall is next to the train station.

Could the sentence also mean “The coffee stall is next to a train station” instead of “the train station”?

Yes, grammatically it can. Malay does not have articles like “a” or “the”, so:

stesen kereta api can mean a train station or the train station.

The choice in English depends on context:

If you’re talking about some train station, not yet mentioned → a train station.
If it’s clear which station you mean (e.g. the main station in town) → the train station.

To make it clearly indefinite, Malays sometimes add a classifier or numeral:

sebuah stesen kereta api = a train station (one station)

But even then, translators may still choose “a” or “the” depending on the situation.

What does stesen kereta api literally mean, and why are there three words for “train station”?

Stesen kereta api is a compound noun made of:

stesen – station (from English “station”)
kereta api – train (literally “fire vehicle”, from older usage when trains were steam powered)

So, literally: “station [of the] train”.

Some related examples:

stesen bas – bus station
stesen minyak – petrol station

In Indonesian, you’d usually see stasiun kereta api or just stasiun kereta. In Malay, stesen kereta api is standard.

What does di sebelah literally mean, and how is it used?

It breaks down as:

di – at / in / on (location preposition)
sebelah – side

So di sebelah literally means “at the side (of)”, and idiomatically “next to / beside”.

Usage:

Gerai kopi itu di sebelah stesen kereta api.
= The coffee stall is next to the train station.
Di sebelah rumah saya ada sekolah.
= Next to my house there is a school.

You can also specify direction:

di sebelah kiri – on the left side
di sebelah kanan – on the right side

Di sebelah normally needs something after it: di sebelah [noun].

Could I say Gerai kopi itu di stesen kereta api instead? What’s the difference?

Yes, you can, and it is grammatical. But the meaning changes:

Gerai kopi itu di stesen kereta api.
= The coffee stall is at the train station (inside or within the station area).
Gerai kopi itu di sebelah stesen kereta api.
= The coffee stall is next to / beside the train station (separate, but adjacent).

So di stesen kereta api = at the station;
di sebelah stesen kereta api = beside the station.

Why is the word order stesen kereta api and not kereta api stesen?

In Malay noun–noun combinations, the main noun (head) usually comes first, and the describing noun comes after it.

stesen (station) = main noun
kereta api (train) = telling you what kind of station

So:

stesen kereta api = train station
stesen bas = bus station
bilik tidur = bedroom (sleep room)
kapal terbang = airplane (flying ship)

Putting kereta api first (e.g. kereta api stesen) would be wrong in Malay.

Should di and sebelah ever be written together, like disebelah?

For a location meaning (“at / in / on”), di is a preposition and must be written separately:

di sebelah, di rumah, di sekolah, di stesen kereta api

Writing disebelah in this sense is incorrect in standard Malay.

The attached form di- is a prefix used to form passive verbs (e.g. ditulis, dibeli), not locations. So:

di
- noun (location) → always separate word.
di-
- verb (passive) → attached to the verb.

How would I say “The coffee stalls are next to the train station” in Malay?

Malay often leaves plural unmarked, so the original sentence could already be interpreted as plural from context.

If you want to clearly show plural, you have options:

Reduplication:
- Gerai-gerai kopi itu di sebelah stesen kereta api.
  = The coffee stalls are next to the train station.
Use a quantifier:
- Beberapa gerai kopi di sebelah stesen kereta api.
  = Several coffee stalls are next to the train station.

Note:

No verb change for plural (no are vs is difference).
Itu can still be used if the speaker and listener both know which stalls are meant:
Gerai-gerai kopi itu di sebelah stesen kereta api.