Learn Hardcore Malay: Musim ini kami jarang keluar berjoging di taman. - This season we rarely go out jogging in the park.

In context, musim ini can sometimes feel a bit like around this time or during this period, especially in countries without four very clear seasons. But it still has the nuance of a “season” or a specific period (exam season, flu season, etc.), not just a vague these days.

For these days / nowadays, Malay more often uses:

sekarang ini
kebelakangan ini
akhir-akhir ini

Why does the sentence start with Musim ini? Can I move it to another position?

Putting Musim ini at the start is a natural way to set the time frame first:

Musim ini kami jarang keluar berjoging di taman.
This season, we rarely go out jogging in the park.

You can move the time expression, and the sentence is still grammatical:

Kami jarang keluar berjoging di taman musim ini.

Both are correct. The difference is very slight:

At the beginning (Musim ini …): emphasizes the time period.
At the end (… di taman musim ini.): a more neutral order, focusing first on “we rarely go out jogging” and adding “this season” as extra information.

You can also add pada if you want to sound a bit more formal:

Pada musim ini, kami jarang keluar berjoging di taman.

In everyday speech, dropping pada (as in the original sentence) is perfectly natural.

What is the difference between kami and kita? Why is kami used here?

Malay has two words for we:

kami = we (excluding the listener)
→ “we (but not you)”
kita = we (including the listener)
→ “you and I / all of us, including you”

In Musim ini kami jarang keluar berjoging di taman, the speaker is talking about a group that does not include the person they’re speaking to. For example, they might be talking about their family, their housemates, or their close friends.

If the speaker wanted to include the listener in that group, they would say:

Musim ini kita jarang keluar berjoging di taman.
This season, we (you and I) rarely go out jogging in the park.

How does jarang work? Is it like rarely, seldom, or not often?

jarang is an adverb of frequency and matches English rarely / seldom / not often.

In terms of strength, it’s less extreme than tidak pernah (never), but stronger than kadang-kadang (sometimes). Roughly:

selalu / sering – often
kadang-kadang – sometimes
jarang – rarely / seldom
tidak pernah – never

Placement:

It normally comes after the subject (or after the time phrase + subject):
- Musim ini kami jarang keluar berjoging di taman.
- Kami jarang keluar berjoging di taman musim ini.

It is unnatural to place it like this:

✗ Kami keluar jarang berjoging di taman.

In the original sentence, jarang modifies the whole action keluar berjoging di taman (going out jogging in the park), not just one part of it.

Why do we need keluar before berjoging? Could I just say berjoging di taman?

Yes, you can say the sentence without keluar:

Musim ini kami jarang berjoging di taman.

That means This season, we rarely jog in the park.

Including keluar adds the nuance of going out to jog:

keluar berjoging = to go out (of the house/room) to jog

So:

Musim ini kami jarang berjoging di taman.
→ Focuses on the activity of jogging in the park.
Musim ini kami jarang keluar berjoging di taman.
→ Emphasizes that they rarely go out (leave home) to jog there.

Both are correct; keluar just gives a bit more detail about leaving the house or indoor space.

What does the prefix ber- in berjoging do? Why not just say joging?

The prefix ber- is a very common verb prefix in Malay. One of its functions is to form intransitive verbs that mean to perform the action or have the quality of X.

Some examples:

lari → berlari (to run)
renang → berenang (to swim)
jalan → berjalan (to walk)

For loanwords describing activities, Malay often adds ber- to make them into verbs:

joging → berjoging (to jog)
golf → bermain golf or bergolf (to play golf – the first is more usual)

So berjoging literally means to do the activity of jogging.

In casual conversation, some speakers may sometimes drop ber- and just say joging, but berjoging is the standard, more correct verb form, especially in writing or formal speech.

Where is the tense in this sentence? How do I know if it means we rarely go, we rarely went, or we will rarely go?

Malay does not mark tense (past/present/future) the way English does. The verb form keluar berjoging stays the same; time is understood from context and time expressions.

In this sentence:

Musim ini – this season / during this season now

Because ini (this) usually refers to the present or current period, the most natural reading is present/simple:

This season, we rarely go (or have been going) out jogging in the park.

If you wanted to be explicit about past or future, you’d normally add extra words:

Past:
Musim lepas kami jarang keluar berjoging di taman.
Last season we rarely went out jogging in the park.
Future:
Musim depan kami akan jarang keluar berjoging di taman.
Next season we will rarely go out jogging in the park.

So the base verb form doesn’t change; the time phrase (and words like akan, sudah, etc.) carry the tense-like meaning.

Why is it di taman and not ke taman? What’s the difference between di and ke here?

di and ke both relate to place, but they have different roles:

di = at / in / on (location, where something happens)
ke = to / towards (direction, movement to a place)

In di taman, the focus is on where the jogging happens:

berjoging di taman = to jog in/at the park.

This makes sense because the main action we care about is the jogging itself, which happens in the park.

If you said:

keluar berjoging ke taman

you would be highlighting the movement towards the park, like go out jogging to the park. It’s possible, but less common; most speakers would still say berjoging di taman because jogging is an activity that takes place at that location.

So:

di taman → at / in the park (location of the activity)
ke taman → to the park (destination of movement)

Can I leave out di taman? Does it change the meaning much?

Yes, you can leave it out:

Musim ini kami jarang keluar berjoging.

This means simply:

This season, we rarely go out jogging.

The difference:

With di taman: you specify where the jogging usually happens (in the park).
Without di taman: you talk about the habit of going out jogging in general, without saying where.

Both are natural; choice depends on whether the location is important to the context.

Is this sentence formal, informal, or neutral? How would people say this casually?

Musim ini kami jarang keluar berjoging di taman. is neutral and perfectly fine in both speech and writing. It’s slightly on the “standard” side (no slang, no heavy colloquial forms), but not stiff or overly formal.

In very casual, spoken Malay (especially in Malaysia), you might hear variations like:

Sekarang ni kami jarang jogging kat taman.
Sejak kebelakangan ni, kitorang jarang pergi jogging kat taman.

Differences:

sekarang ni, sejak kebelakangan ni – more like these days / lately
jogging instead of berjoging – casual
kat instead of di – colloquial at/in
kitorang instead of kami/kita – colloquial we (usually inclusive, but usage varies)

The original sentence is good standard Malay suitable for textbooks, writing, and polite conversation.

Can I change the word order around jarang, keluar, and berjoging?

The most natural patterns are:

Musim ini kami jarang keluar berjoging di taman.
Musim ini kami jarang berjoging di taman.
Kami jarang keluar berjoging di taman musim ini.
Kami jarang berjoging di taman musim ini.

In all of these, jarang comes right after the subject (and any time phrase) and before the main verb phrase.

Unnatural or wrong patterns include:

✗ Kami keluar jarang berjoging di taman.
✗ Kami berjoging jarang di taman musim ini.

In Malay, adverbs of frequency like jarang, selalu, sering normally appear:

after the subject (or time phrase + subject), and
before the main verb or verb group.

Why is taman not marked as plural, like parks? How do I say in the parks?

Malay usually doesn’t mark plural nouns explicitly. taman by itself can mean:

a park / the park / parks / the parks
depending on context.

In di taman, we naturally understand it as in the park (or in the park(s)) from the situation. If you really need to emphasize plural, you have a few options:

di taman-taman – in parks (reduplication to show plurality)
di beberapa taman – in several parks
di banyak taman – in many parks

But in everyday usage, di taman is normally enough, and Malay speakers won’t be confused about singular vs plural unless it really matters to the story.