Learn Hardcore Malay: Di hadapan khemah, ayah menyalakan unggun api yang kecil. - In front of the tent, Father lights a small campfire.

di hadapan is slightly more formal or neutral, common in writing and careful speech.
di depan is more colloquial and very common in everyday speech.

In this sentence, you could also say:

Di depan khemah, ayah menyalakan unggun api yang kecil.

The meaning is the same; the style just shifts a little towards more casual.

Can we move di hadapan khemah to the end of the sentence? Does that change the meaning?

Yes, you can change the order:

Ayah menyalakan unggun api yang kecil di hadapan khemah.

The basic meaning is still: Father lit a small campfire in front of the tent.

Difference in nuance:

Di hadapan khemah, ... (fronted) puts a little extra emphasis on the location.
..., di hadapan khemah feels more neutral, just adding the location information at the end.

Grammatically, both are fully correct.

What is the function of yang in unggun api yang kecil? Can I say unggun api kecil instead?

yang is a marker that introduces a descriptive clause or phrase about a noun. Here it links unggun api (campfire) with the description kecil (small). Literally: a campfire that is small.

You can say both:

unggun api kecil
unggun api yang kecil

The meaning is the same (a small campfire), but:

unggun api kecil sounds slightly more compact and neutral, typical in simple descriptions.
unggun api yang kecil can sound a bit more specific or contrastive, like the campfire, which was small (e.g. contrasting it with a bigger one).

In many contexts they’re interchangeable.

Why is kecil (small) placed after unggun api, not before it like in English?

In Malay, adjectives usually come after the nouns they describe:

rumah besar = big house
baju merah = red shirt
kucing hitam = black cat
unggun api kecil = small campfire

Putting the adjective before the noun (as in English) is generally wrong in Malay. So kecil unggun api would be incorrect.

What exactly does unggun api mean? How is it different from just api?

api by itself means fire in a very general sense.

unggun api is more specific: a campfire / bonfire, i.e. a pile of burning wood made on the ground, often outdoors.

So:

menyalakan api = to light a fire (could be in many contexts)
menyalakan unggun api = to light a campfire (what you’d make when camping)

You’ll also see api unggun in some usage; in standard Malay, unggun api is the more traditional/standard form, but both are widely understood.

What is the root of menyalakan, and how does its grammar work? How is it different from menyala?

The base word is nyala, which relates to burning or being lit.

From this, you get:

menyala = to be lit / to be burning / to be on
- Api itu menyala. = The fire is burning.
- Lampu menyala. = The light is on.
menyalakan = to light / to switch on / to cause something to burn or be lit
- Ayah menyalakan unggun api. = Father lights a campfire.
- Dia menyalakan lampu. = He/She switches on the light.

The meN- ... -kan pattern often turns a base into a causative verb (make something do/be something).

So:

menyala – intransitive, the fire itself is burning.
menyalakan – transitive, someone causes the fire to start burning.

Could we just say Ayah menyalakan api yang kecil without unggun? Is that correct?

Yes, Ayah menyalakan api yang kecil is grammatically correct and understandable: Father lit a small fire.

However, unggun api more specifically gives the image of a campfire / bonfire. Without unggun, api could be any small fire, not necessarily the classic campfire made from a stack of firewood.

So both are correct; unggun api is just more specific and vivid in this camping context.

Does ayah mean “my father” here, or just “a father”? How about words like bapa or abah?

Literally, ayah means father. But in real usage:

In a sentence like Ayah menyalakan unggun api, it is usually understood as my father or Dad, especially if the speaker is the child.
You can make it explicit by saying ayah saya (my father).

Other common words:

bapa – also father, often slightly more formal or used in certain dialects and official terms (e.g. Bapa Kemerdekaan = Father of Independence).
abah, ayahanda, papa, daddy – more regional/family-preference or affectionate variants.

Capitalization:

Ayah with a capital A can function like a name/title, similar to Dad in English, especially when referring to your own father directly or in writing.

What does khemah mean, and is it the same as kemah or tenda?

khemah means tent.

Regional and variant forms:

In Malay (Malaysia/Brunei), khemah is the common spelling.
In Indonesian, kemah or tenda is used:
- kemah = can mean a camp (as an activity: camping)
- tenda = the physical tent.

Many Malaysians will still understand kemah and tenda, but khemah is the standard Malay form in this sentence.

How do we know menyalakan here means “lit” (past tense) and not “lights” or “is lighting”?

Malay verbs don’t change form for tense. menyalakan by itself is tenseless and can mean:

lights
is lighting
lit
will light

The exact tense comes from context, time words, or surrounding sentences. For example:

Semalam, ayah menyalakan unggun api yang kecil.
Yesterday, Father lit a small campfire.
Setiap malam, ayah menyalakan unggun api yang kecil.
Every night, Father lights a small campfire.
Sekarang, ayah sedang menyalakan unggun api yang kecil.
Now, Father is lighting a small campfire.

In your isolated sentence, English often prefers the past (lit), but Malay itself leaves it open.

How do you pronounce khemah and unggun api, especially kh and ngg?

Approximate pronunciation:

khemah → /kheh-mah/
- kh is like a rough h in the back of the throat (similar to the Arabic خ, or the ch in German Bach). In everyday speech it’s often just a slightly stronger h.
unggun → /oong-goon/
- ngg is pronounced as ng
  - g (like in finger, not like singer).
- So you clearly hear the g sound.
unggun api → /oong-goon ah-pee/

Stress in Malay is generally even or slightly towards the second-last syllable, so don’t stress it as strongly as in English.