Learn Hardcore Malay: Kami akan tukar kepada cadar baru yang lebih lembut malam ini. - We will change to a new, softer bed sheet tonight.

kami = we, but NOT including the person you’re talking to (exclusive “we”)
kita = we, INCLUDING the person you’re talking to (inclusive “we”)

So Kami akan tukar... implies:

“We (some group that doesn’t include you) will change the bedsheets...”

If you’re talking to someone who is part of the group doing the changing (e.g. your spouse or roommate), you would more naturally say:

Kita akan tukar kepada cadar baru yang lebih lembut malam ini.
“We (you and I) will change to softer new bedsheets tonight.”

Using kami to someone who is involved can sound like you’re excluding them.

What does akan mean, and do I always need it for the future?

akan is a marker for future tense / future time, similar to “will” or “going to”.

Kami akan tukar... ≈ “We will change...”

However, Malay often omits explicit tense markers; context gives the time:

Kami tukar kepada cadar baru malam ini.
Literally: “We change to new bedsheets tonight.”
This is still clearly future because of malam ini (“tonight”).

So:

Using akan makes the future more explicit or slightly more formal.
Omitting akan is common in everyday speech when time is clear from context.

Why is it tukar kepada cadar baru and not just tukar cadar baru? What does kepada do?

In this sentence, tukar is used roughly as “switch/change to [something]”.

tukar kepada X = “change/switch to X”
(focus on the new thing you’re changing to)

So tukar kepada cadar baru is like “switch to new bedsheets”.

You can say tukar cadar but that structure is slightly different:

tukar cadar = “change the bedsheets” (focus on the action/object being changed)
tukar kepada cadar baru = “change (from the old ones) to new bedsheets”

Both are grammatical, but:

With kepada, you’re explicitly mentioning the new state/target.
Without kepada, you’re mentioning only the thing affected.

Examples:

Kami akan tukar cadar malam ini.
“We’ll change the bedsheets tonight.”
Kami akan tukar kepada cadar baru malam ini.
“We’ll change to new bedsheets tonight.” (emphasis on the new sheets)

What exactly is cadar? Is it countable? Why is there no word like “a” or “some”?

cadar means “bedsheet” / “bed linen” (usually the flat sheet on the mattress).

Malay doesn’t have articles like “a/an/the” or plural -s, and countability is not shown by changing the noun form. To show “one (piece of) bedsheet”, you can add a classifier:

sehelai cadar = one (piece of) bedsheet
(helai is a classifier for flat, thin things like paper, cloth, sheets)

In casual speech, you often just say cadar without a classifier when the exact number isn’t important, like here:

cadar baru = new bedsheet(s) / new bed linen

So cadar baru could be translated as:

“a new bedsheet”, “new bedsheets”, or “new bed linen”, depending on context.

Why does baru come after cadar? Could it go before, like in English “new sheets”?

In Malay, adjectives usually come after nouns:

cadar baru = “new bedsheets”
rumah besar = “big house”
baju biru = “blue shirt”

So cadar baru is the normal order: noun + adjective.

If you put baru before a verb or clause, its meaning can change to “just now / recently”:

Saya baru tidur. = “I just slept / I’ve just gone to sleep.”
Baru balik? = “(You) just got back?”

So:

cadar baru = “new bedsheets”
baru cadar (on its own) is not a natural way to say “new bedsheet”; it sounds like you’re starting a sentence with baru (“just (now)…”) and then saying cadar as the subject.

What is the role of yang in cadar baru yang lebih lembut?

yang is a relative clause marker (or linker) that turns the following phrase into something like:

“that is / which is / that are”

In cadar baru yang lebih lembut:

cadar baru = new bedsheets
yang lebih lembut = which are softer

So together it’s:

“new bedsheets that are softer”

Without yang, the structure changes:

cadar baru lebih lembut = “(The) new bedsheets are softer.”
That’s a full sentence, not just a noun phrase.

yang lets you attach a description to a noun inside a larger noun phrase, just like “that/which” in English:

rumah yang besar = the house that is big
orang yang tinggi = the person who is tall
cadar baru yang lebih lembut = new bedsheets which are softer

What does lebih lembut mean exactly? Why not just lembut?

lembut = “soft”
lebih = “more” (used for comparisons)

So lebih lembut = “softer” / “more soft”.

Use lebih when you are comparing:

cadar ini lembut. = “These sheets are soft.”
Cadar baru ini lebih lembut (daripada yang lama).
“These new sheets are softer (than the old ones).”

If you only say:

cadar baru yang lembut = “new bedsheets that are soft”
(no comparison; just describing their quality)

In your sentence, yang lebih lembut emphasizes that these new sheets are softer than the previous ones or than some other option.

Why is the time phrase malam ini at the end? Can it come at the beginning or in the middle?

Malay is flexible with time expressions like malam ini (“tonight”). All of these are grammatical, with similar meaning:

Kami akan tukar kepada cadar baru yang lebih lembut malam ini.
Malam ini, kami akan tukar kepada cadar baru yang lebih lembut.
Kami malam ini akan tukar kepada cadar baru yang lebih lembut. (less common, but possible)

Most natural patterns in everyday speech:

[Subject] [tense/aspect] [verb phrase] [time]
→ like the original sentence
or [Time] [subject] [tense/aspect] [verb phrase]
→ to emphasize when it will happen.

Putting malam ini at the end, as in the original, is very common and neutral.

Is tukar here more like “change” or “replace”? Could I use menukar instead?

In this sentence, tukar can be understood as either “change” or “replace”, depending on context. You’re basically swapping old sheets for new ones.

You can also use the meN- form menukar, which is the transitive/active form:

Kami akan menukar cadar lama kepada cadar baru.
“We will change/replace the old sheets with new sheets.”

Subtle points:

tukar (base form) is common in informal speech and can act both transitively and intransitively:
- Kami tukar cadar. (“We change the sheets.”)
- Kami tukar kepada cadar baru. (“We change to new sheets.”)
menukar is more clearly transitive and a bit more formal:
- Kami akan menukar cadar. (“We will change/replace the sheets.”)

In casual spoken Malay, Kami akan tukar kepada cadar baru… is perfectly natural.

Is this sentence formal, informal, or neutral? Could I use it with strangers, or only with family?

The sentence:

Kami akan tukar kepada cadar baru yang lebih lembut malam ini.

is neutral and polite. It’s suitable in:

Everyday conversation with family/friends
Talking to hotel staff or guests
Most written contexts that are not extremely formal

To make it slightly more casual, people might:

drop akan:
- Kami tukar kepada cadar baru yang lebih lembut malam ini.
or use kita instead of kami when the listener is included.

To make it more formal, you might expand it:

Kami akan menukar cadar kepada cadar yang baru dan lebih lembut malam ini.

But the original sentence is already fine for most real-life situations.