Learn Hardcore Malay: Adik saya diam-diam makan snek di bilik tidur walaupun ibu sudah melarangnya. - My younger sibling secretly eats a snack in the bedroom even though Mother has already forbidden it.

If you need to be specific:
- adik lelaki = younger brother
- adik perempuan = younger sister
In context, adik can also function like a form of address for someone younger (a child, a teenager, a younger relative).

In this sentence, adik saya naturally means “my younger sibling” (gender unspecified).

Why is it adik saya and not saya adik for “my younger sibling”?

In Malay, possession is usually “owned + owner”, the reverse of English:

adik saya = my younger sibling
buku saya = my book
kereta mereka = their car

So saya adik would sound wrong here; the normal pattern is adik saya.

What does diam-diam mean, and how is it different from just diam?

diam by itself means “silent, quiet, not speaking”.
diam-diam is a reduplicated form that means “secretly, quietly (so others don’t know)”.

So:

Adik saya diam makan snek…
would suggest “My younger sibling eats snacks quietly (not making noise).”
Adik saya diam-diam makan snek…
clearly means “My younger sibling eats snacks in secret / behind someone’s back.”

You can also see:

secara diam-diam = in a secretive way.

But diam-diam on its own is already very natural.

Is diam-diam one word or two words with a hyphen?

It is written as two copies of the word with a hyphen:

Correct: diam-diam
Not standard: diam diam, diamdian

This pattern (reduplication with a hyphen) is common in Malay to change or intensify meaning, e.g.:

pelan-pelan = slowly, gently
kecil-kecil = small (many small things, or emphasizing smallness)

Why is it makan snek and not something like makan snek-snek to show “snacks” (plural)?

Malay usually doesn’t mark plural on the noun if it’s clear from context.

snek can mean “a snack” or “snacks” depending on the situation.
If you really need to emphasize plurality, you can say:
- banyak snek = many snacks
- bermacam-macam snek = various snacks

Reduplication (snek-snek) can be used, but with loanwords like snek, it’s less natural. Most speakers would just say snek, and context does the rest.

What does di bilik tidur mean exactly? Is it “in the bedroom” or “at the bedroom”?

di is the basic location preposition, and bilik tidur is “bedroom”:

di bilik tidur = in the bedroom / in the bedroom area

In English you’d normally translate it as “in the bedroom”.

You might also see:

di dalam bilik tidur = literally “inside the bedroom”
This adds a bit more emphasis to being inside the room, but in many contexts di bilik tidur is enough and sounds more natural.

Can the word order change? For example, can you say Adik saya makan snek diam-diam di bilik tidur instead?

Yes, Malay word order is quite flexible with adverbs like diam-diam and place phrases like di bilik tidur.

The sentence:

Adik saya diam-diam makan snek di bilik tidur…
focuses a bit more on the manner (secretly).

You could also say:

Adik saya makan snek diam-diam di bilik tidur…
Adik saya makan snek di bilik tidur diam-diam… (less common, but still possible in speech)

All are understandable. The usual and most natural versions put diam-diam either before or right after the verb makan. The version in your sentence is very typical.

What does walaupun mean, and how is it used in this sentence?

walaupun is a conjunction meaning “even though / although”.

In your sentence:

walaupun ibu sudah melarangnya
= even though mother has already forbidden it / forbidden him/her

You can place the walaupun-clause either:

At the end, as in your sentence:
- Adik saya diam-diam makan snek di bilik tidur walaupun ibu sudah melarangnya.
Or at the beginning:
- Walaupun ibu sudah melarangnya, adik saya diam-diam makan snek di bilik tidur.

Both are correct and mean the same thing.

Synonyms: meskipun, sekalipun, walau (slightly different register/feel but similar function).

Why is it just ibu and not ibu saya if the meaning is “my mother”?

In Malay, kinship terms like ibu (mother), ayah (father), mak, bapak, etc., can implicitly include possession from context.

Inside a family context:

ibu often naturally means “(my/our) mother”
ayah often naturally means “(my/our) father”

So:

walaupun ibu sudah melarangnya
is usually understood as “even though (my/our) mother has already forbidden it”.

If you want to make it explicit, you can say:

walaupun ibu saya sudah melarangnya

Both are correct; the shorter form with ibu alone is very common in everyday speech.

What does sudah add to ibu sudah melarangnya? Could we leave it out?

sudah means “already” and marks a completed action.

ibu sudah melarangnya
= “mother has already forbidden it/him/her (before now)”

If you drop sudah:

ibu melarangnya
can mean “mother forbids it / forbade it” more generally, without emphasizing that it was already done earlier.

So sudah adds the sense of:

The forbidding happened before and is already in place, but the sibling still does the action.

You can omit sudah, but then you slightly lose that “already (and she still does it anyway)” nuance.

How is melarangnya formed, and what does the -nya refer to?

melarangnya = melarang + -nya

melarang
- Root verb: larang = to forbid / to prohibit
- With the meN- prefix: me
  - larang → melarang
    (this is a standard verb-forming pattern)
-nya
- A pronoun suffix meaning “him / her / it / them”, depending on context.

So melarangnya means “forbid him/her/it/them”.

In this sentence, -nya refers back to adik saya:

ibu sudah melarangnya = “mother has already forbidden him/her (my younger sibling)”

Some other examples:

Dia menolongnya. = He/She helped him/her.
Saya mencarinya. = I am looking for him/her/it.

How would I say “forbid me” or “forbid you” in Malay, similar to melarangnya?

You keep melarang and change the object pronoun:

melarang saya = forbid me
melarang awak / kamu / anda = forbid you (informal / neutral / formal)
melarang kami = forbid us (excluding the listener)
melarang kita = forbid us (including the listener)

With -nya, you don’t specify the person explicitly, so context decides:

melarangnya = forbid him/her/it/them (context tells which one).

Does this sentence describe present, past, or habitual action? Malay doesn’t show tense like English, so how should I understand it?

Malay doesn’t have grammatical tense like English. Time is understood from:

context, and
time words/aspect markers like sudah, tadi, akan, sedang, etc.

Your sentence:

Adik saya diam-diam makan snek di bilik tidur walaupun ibu sudah melarangnya.

is most naturally understood as a habitual or repeated action in the present:

“My younger sibling secretly eats snacks in the bedroom even though mum has already forbidden it.”

sudah melarangnya is clearly past/completed (“has already forbidden”), but makan snek can be:

happening now, or
something the person often does, depending on the wider context or surrounding sentences.