Learn Hardcore Malay: Kita sarapan bersama di rumah setiap pagi. - We have breakfast together at home every morning.

In Kita sarapan bersama di rumah setiap pagi, the speaker is saying that the listener is also part of the group that has breakfast together. That’s why kita is used.

If the speaker wanted to talk about their own group only, without including the listener, they would use kami:

Kami sarapan bersama di rumah setiap pagi.
= We (but not you) have breakfast together at home every morning.

Can sarapan be both a noun and a verb? Why is there no makan in this sentence?

Yes, sarapan can function as:

a noun: breakfast
- Saya sudah makan sarapan. = I have already eaten breakfast.
a verb: to have breakfast / to eat breakfast
- Kita sarapan bersama. = We have breakfast together.

In Kita sarapan bersama..., sarapan is used as a verb meaning have breakfast, so you don’t need makan.
Saying makan sarapan is also common and correct, but it’s a bit longer:

Kita makan sarapan bersama di rumah setiap pagi.
Kita sarapan bersama di rumah setiap pagi. ✅ (shorter, very natural)

What does bersama mean exactly? Is it the same as bersama-sama?

bersama literally means together / with in the sense of doing something jointly.

Kita sarapan bersama = We have breakfast together.

bersama-sama is like saying together (emphatic), similar to “all together” in English. Both are correct, but bersama-sama adds a bit of emphasis:

Kita sarapan bersama di rumah.
Kita sarapan bersama-sama di rumah. (slightly stronger feeling of togetherness)

Why is the word order Kita sarapan bersama di rumah setiap pagi and not something like “Setiap pagi kita sarapan…”?

Malay word order is quite flexible. Both are correct:

Kita sarapan bersama di rumah setiap pagi.
Setiap pagi kita sarapan bersama di rumah.

The neutral pattern is usually:

Subject – Verb – (Manner) – Place – Time

So:
Kita (S) – sarapan (V) – bersama (manner) – di rumah (place) – setiap pagi (time)

Putting setiap pagi at the start simply emphasizes the time: “Every morning, we have breakfast together at home.”

How is tense shown in this sentence? How do I know it’s “have breakfast” and not “had breakfast” or “will have breakfast”?

Malay verbs do not change form for tense. Instead, context and time words show when something happens.

In this sentence, setiap pagi (every morning) indicates a habitual action. In English, the natural translation is:

We have breakfast together at home every morning.

If you wanted to be more explicit about tense, you could add markers:

Dulu kita sarapan bersama di rumah setiap pagi.
(In the past, we used to have breakfast together at home every morning.)
Nanti kita akan sarapan bersama di rumah.
(Later we will have breakfast together at home.)

Can I drop the subject and just say Sarapan bersama di rumah setiap pagi?

Yes, in casual conversation you can drop the subject kita if it’s clear from context who you are talking about:

Sarapan bersama di rumah setiap pagi.

This would usually still be understood as we (or “we/they”) depending on context. However:

With learners and in more formal or clear speech, it’s better to keep the subject:
Kita sarapan bersama di rumah setiap pagi.

What is the function of di in di rumah? Can I omit it?

di is a preposition meaning at / in / on (for locations).

rumah = house / home
di rumah = at home / in the house

You cannot omit di here.
Kita sarapan bersama rumah setiap pagi is wrong.
You must say di rumah to indicate a location.

Does setiap pagi mean exactly “every morning”? Are there other ways to say this?

Yes, setiap pagi literally means every morning.

Other similar expressions:

tiap-tiap pagi – also “every morning” (slightly more emphatic / old-fashioned in some areas)
setiap hari pagi – sometimes heard in colloquial speech, but setiap pagi is cleaner and more standard.
setiap hari – every day (not specifying morning)

So:

Kita sarapan bersama di rumah setiap pagi. = We have breakfast together at home every morning.
Kita sarapan bersama di rumah setiap hari. = We have breakfast together at home every day. (Maybe not only in the morning, but context normally implies morning.)

Is this sentence formal, informal, or neutral? Would it be okay in writing?

Kita sarapan bersama di rumah setiap pagi. is neutral and natural. It works fine in:

everyday speech
informal writing (messages, social media, diary)
many types of general prose

For very formal, written Malay (e.g. academic or official documents), you might see small changes, but the sentence is already grammatically correct and acceptable.

If I want to say “We don’t have breakfast together at home every morning”, how do I negate this sentence?

To negate a verb in Malay, you usually use tidak (or tak in informal speech) before the verb:

Kita tidak sarapan bersama di rumah setiap pagi.
= We do not have breakfast together at home every morning.

Informal:

Kita tak sarapan bersama di rumah setiap pagi.

Can I replace di rumah with di rumah saya / di rumah kita / di rumah nenek etc.?

Yes, you can replace di rumah with a more specific location:

di rumah saya – at my house
di rumah kita – at our (inclusive) house
di rumah nenek – at Grandma’s house
di rumah mereka – at their house

Examples:

Kita sarapan bersama di rumah saya setiap pagi.
Kita sarapan bersama di rumah nenek setiap pagi.

How would I say “We have dinner together at home every night” using the same pattern?

You can use makan malam (dinner) or treat makan malam like the activity of having dinner:

Kita makan malam bersama di rumah setiap malam.
= We have dinner together at home every night.

Or more compact, treating makan malam as the whole verb phrase:

Kita makan malam bersama di rumah setiap malam. (this is already the natural form)