Kami makan salad buah bersama keluarga di tasik.

We eat fruit salad with our family at the lake.

Breakdown of Kami makan salad buah bersama keluarga di tasik.

• makan: to eat
• di: at
• bersama: with
• keluarga: the family
• tasik: the lake
• salad buah: the fruit salad
• kami: we/us

Questions & Answers about Kami makan salad buah bersama keluarga di tasik.

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

Malay has two different words for we:

• kami = we (not including the person you’re talking to)
• kita = we (including the person you’re talking to)

In Kami makan salad buah bersama keluarga di tasik, kami tells you that the speaker’s group does not include the listener.

So it means something like:

• We (but not you) eat/ate fruit salad with (our) family at the lake.

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

• Kita makan salad buah bersama keluarga di tasik.
  → We (you and I) eat/ate fruit salad with the family at the lake.

Does makan mean eat or ate? Where is the tense in this sentence?

In Malay, verbs like makan do not change form for tense. Makan just means to eat / eat / ate / eaten, depending on context.

So Kami makan salad buah... can mean:

• We are eating fruit salad...
• We eat fruit salad...
• We ate fruit salad...

To make the time clearer, Malay often adds time words or aspect markers:

• Kami sedang makan = We are eating (right now).
• Kami sudah / telah makan = We have eaten / We already ate.
• Kami akan makan = We will eat.

Without extra words, you rely on context to know the tense.

Why is it salad buah, not buah salad? How does this word order work?

In Malay, the main noun usually comes first, and the word that describes it comes after.

• salad = salad
• buah = fruit

So salad buah literally feels like “salad (of) fruit”, which we translate as fruit salad.

Compare:

• jus oren = orange juice (literally juice orange)
• kuih coklat = chocolate cake (literally cake chocolate)

So the pattern is: > Main noun + describing noun
> salad + fruit → salad buah (fruit salad)

What does bersama mean, and how is it different from dengan?

Both bersama and dengan can translate as with, but there is a nuance:

• bersama = together with, often sounds a bit more formal or emphasizes being together.
• dengan = with, the basic, very common word.

In this sentence:

• bersama keluarga = together with (the) family / with (our) family.

You could also say:

• Kami makan salad buah dengan keluarga di tasik.

This is also correct, and sounds very natural.
Bersama often feels slightly more “together as a group”, while dengan is the default, general with.

Why is it just keluarga, not keluarga kami? How do we know whose family it is?

Malay often omits possessive pronouns (my, our, etc.) when the meaning is obvious from context.

• keluarga by itself can mean (the) family or our family, depending on context.
• Because the subject is kami (we), it’s natural to understand bersama keluarga as with our family.

If you want to be very explicit, you can say:

• bersama keluarga kami = together with our family
• bersama keluarga saya = together with my family

But in everyday Malay, just bersama keluarga is normally enough.

What does di mean in di tasik, and is it like in or at in English?

Di is a basic preposition meaning at / in / on, depending on context.

• di tasik can be translated as:
  • at the lake (most natural here)
  • sometimes by the lake or on the lake, depending on the situation.

Other examples:

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

The exact English preposition (at, in, on) depends on the noun and context, but in Malay you normally just use di.

Where is the in this sentence? Why don’t we say the family or the lake in Malay?

Malay usually does not use articles like a / an / the. Those ideas are understood from context.

• keluarga can be:
  • a family
  • the family
  • our family (as in this sentence)
• tasik can be:
  • a lake
  • the lake

If you really need to specify, you can add extra words:

• tasik itu = that lake / the lake
• keluarga saya = my family
• keluarga itu = that family / the family

But most of the time, Malay just uses the bare noun like keluarga, tasik and lets context fill in the rest.

Is the word order Kami makan salad buah bersama keluarga di tasik fixed? Can I move parts around?

Malay word order is generally:

Subject – Verb – Object – Extra information (time/place/manner)

In this sentence:

• Kami (Subject)
• makan (Verb)
• salad buah (Object)
• bersama keluarga di tasik (extra information: with whom, where)

You can sometimes move the place/time phrase, but keep the Subject–Verb at the front:

• Di tasik, kami makan salad buah bersama keluarga.
  → At the lake, we (ate) fruit salad with (our) family.

This is still correct; it just emphasizes di tasik.
But you wouldn’t normally break up salad buah or separate bersama from keluarga.

How would I say “We are eating fruit salad...” right now, to be very clear about the present?

To emphasize an action happening right now, Malay often uses sedang before the verb:

• Kami sedang makan salad buah bersama keluarga di tasik.
  → We are eating fruit salad with (our) family at the lake (right now).

Structure: > Subject + sedang + verb + rest of sentence

You can drop sedang if context already makes it clear, but adding it makes the “right now” feeling explicit.

How would I make this sentence negative, like “We are not eating fruit salad with the family at the lake”?

To negate verbs in Malay, you usually add tidak before the verb:

• Kami tidak makan salad buah bersama keluarga di tasik.
  → We do not eat / are not eating / did not eat fruit salad with (our) family at the lake.

If you’re using sedang:

• Kami tidak sedang makan salad buah...
  → We are not in the middle of eating fruit salad...

But the simple, most common way is: > Kami tidak makan ...