Learn Hardcore Malay: Di pejabat, kami belajar cara menggunakan peti pertolongan cemas jika ada kemalangan kecil. - At the office, we learn how to use the first-aid kit if there is a small accident.

You can see pada with places in very formal or literary Malay (e.g. pada hari itu di pejabat…), but in ordinary standard Malay for location, di is the correct, natural choice. So di pejabat is the right form here.

What’s the difference between kami and kita, and why is kami used?

Both mean we / us, but they differ in whether they include the listener:

kami = we (excluding the person you’re talking to)
kita = we (including the person you’re talking to)

So:

Di pejabat, kami belajar…
= At the office, we (my group, not including you) learn/learned…

This suggests the speaker is talking about their group’s training, and the listener was not part of that group.

If the speaker and listener were in the same training session, the speaker would more naturally say:

Di pejabat, kita belajar cara menggunakan peti pertolongan cemas…
= At the office, we (you and I) learn/learned how to use the first aid kit…

The English translation is past tense (“we learned”), but I don’t see any past tense in Malay. How is tense shown here?

Malay normally does not mark tense with verb changes like English does. The verb belajar can mean:

learn / are learning / learned / have learned

The time is understood from:

context
time words (e.g. tadi, semalam, esok)
optional particles like sudah, telah (have/already), akan (will)

So this sentence can mean:

Di pejabat, kami belajar…
- At the office, we learn… (habitual / general)
- At the office, we learned… (past – if context makes it clear)

If you really want to make past tense explicit, you might say:

Di pejabat tadi, kami telah/sudah belajar cara menggunakan peti pertolongan cemas.
= Earlier at the office, we already learned how to use the first aid kit.

Why do we say belajar cara menggunakan? Can we just say belajar menggunakan?

Both are grammatical, but they feel slightly different:

belajar cara menggunakan peti pertolongan cemas
- literally: learn the way/method of using the first aid kit
- emphasizes the procedure / method: step-by-step how to use it.
belajar menggunakan peti pertolongan cemas
- literally: learn to use the first aid kit
- a bit more general: you learn to use it, without explicitly stressing “the method”.

In many real situations, both could be used.
The version with cara sounds slightly more explicit and instructional, which fits a training or safety course context.

What does peti pertolongan cemas literally mean, and is this the normal way to say “first aid kit”?

Breakdown:

peti = box, chest, case
pertolongan = help, assistance
cemas = emergency / anxious / in a state of alarm

The fixed phrase pertolongan cemas means first aid (emergency help before full medical treatment).

So:

peti pertolongan cemas
= literally first-aid box
= naturally translated as first aid kit

Yes, peti pertolongan cemas is the standard, correct term in Malaysian Malay for a first aid kit.

You may also hear:

peti kecemasan (emergency box) in some contexts
But peti pertolongan cemas is the formal and common form in safety/health contexts.

In jika ada kemalangan kecil, what does ada do? Could I say jika kemalangan kecil berlaku instead?

ada here means there is / there are, expressing existence:

jika ada kemalangan kecil
= if there is a minor accident

Alternative:

jika kemalangan kecil berlaku
= if a minor accident happens/occurs
(berlaku = to happen / to occur)

Both are correct and natural. The difference is small:

ada kemalangan kecil: focuses on the existence of an accident.
kemalangan kecil berlaku: focuses on the event of the accident happening.

In everyday speech, jika ada kemalangan kecil (or kalau ada kemalangan kecil) is very common and slightly simpler.

Why is it kemalangan kecil and not kecil kemalangan? Where do adjectives usually go?

In Malay, adjectives usually come after the noun:

kemalangan kecil = small accident
rumah besar = big house
baju merah = red shirt
orang tua = old person

Putting the adjective before the noun (kecil kemalangan) is not normal and will sound wrong in almost all cases.

Only in some fixed expressions or for special emphasis can something like an adjective come before a noun, but that’s rare and not the pattern you should learn. The safe rule:

Noun + Adjective (kemalangan kecil, peti besar, buku baru)

Does di pejabat mean “at the office” or “in the office”? How specific is di?

di simply marks location and does not distinguish between in / at / on the way English does. So:

di pejabat can be translated as at the office or in the office, depending on what sounds more natural in English.

More examples:

di rumah = at home / in the house
di sekolah = at school / in the school
di atas meja = on the table

Malay leaves that nuance to context; English forces you to choose a preposition. So both “at the office” and “in the office” are valid translations for di pejabat.

Could I use kalau instead of jika here? Is there a difference?

Yes, you could say:

Di pejabat, kami belajar cara menggunakan peti pertolongan cemas kalau ada kemalangan kecil.

The meaning is the same: if there is a minor accident.

Differences:

jika
- more formal / written
- common in official documents, textbooks, formal speech
kalau
- more informal / conversational
- extremely common in spoken Malay and casual writing

In your sentence, jika matches the slightly formal tone of workplace training. Kalau would be what many people naturally say in everyday conversation.

How might this sentence change in casual spoken Malay?

A more casual, spoken version (especially among younger speakers) might look like:

Kat pejabat, kitorang belajar macam mana nak guna peti pertolongan cemas kalau ada kemalangan kecil.

Changes compared to the standard sentence:

di → kat (or dekat) = informal “at”
kami → kitorang = colloquial “we (excluding you)”
cara menggunakan → macam mana nak guna = how to use
menggunakan → guna = shorter, informal verb
jika → kalau = informal “if”

Grammatically standard Malay is your original sentence; the casual version is what you’re likely to hear in everyday speech.