Learn Hardcore Malay: Saya mengulang kaji sejarah dengan tekun malam ini.

So mengulang kaji is like “to repeat one’s study”, which fits the idea of revision. It behaves as one verb phrase, so you normally keep mengulang kaji together and put the object after it:

Saya mengulang kaji sejarah.
= I revise history.

You don’t normally split it like: ✗ Saya mengulang sejarah kaji — that would be wrong.

Can I use just ulang or just kaji instead of mengulang kaji?

Not with the same meaning.

ulang alone = to repeat (an action, words, etc.)
e.g. Boleh ulang sekali lagi? = Can you repeat (that) once more?
kaji alone = to study / examine / research (often more serious, academic)
e.g. Mereka mengkaji data itu. = They are studying/examining that data.

Mengulang kaji specifically means to revise previously learned material, especially school subjects. If you say only:

Saya ulang sejarah. – sounds odd; “I repeat history” (not natural).
Saya mengkaji sejarah. – sounds like “I research/examine history” (more like a historian).

For “I’m revising history (for school)”, mengulang kaji is the normal choice.

What is the difference between mengulang kaji and belajar?

Both relate to studying, but the nuance is different:

belajar = to learn / to study (general, can be new or old material)
- Saya belajar sejarah. = I study/am learning history (in general).
mengulang kaji = to revise / review material you have already learned
- Saya mengulang kaji sejarah. = I revise history (before an exam, test, quiz, etc.).

So:

If you’re studying a topic for the first time → belajar
If you’re going back over it to prepare or refresh → mengulang kaji

Why is Saya used here, and how is it different from Aku?

Both mean “I / me”, but they differ in formality:

Saya
- Polite and neutral
- Used in most situations: with strangers, teachers, at work, in writing, in class, etc.
- Safe default pronoun for “I”.
Aku
- Informal and intimate
- Used with close friends, siblings, or in casual speech; in songs and poems too.
- Sounds rude or too familiar if used with people you’re not close to, or in formal settings.

In your sentence, Saya mengulang kaji sejarah dengan tekun malam ini, Saya is appropriate because it sounds polite and neutral — like something you might say to a teacher or write in homework.

The very casual version (to a close friend) could be:

Aku ulang kaji sejarah malam ni.

How should I understand sejarah here? Is it “history in general” or “my history subject”?

Sejarah on its own can mean:

History as a field / subject (like “History” at school), or
History in general (“history” as a concept).

In a school or study context, sejarah very often means the subject of History you learn in class.

Malay does not have articles like a / the, and it doesn’t mark singular/plural on the noun, so context does the work. Here, in a study sentence, native speakers will naturally hear it as:

“I’m revising (my) History (subject).”

If you want to be extra clear, you can say:

Saya mengulang kaji subjek sejarah. = I’m revising the History subject.
Saya mengulang kaji pelajaran sejarah. = I’m revising the History lesson.

What does dengan tekun mean, and why do we need dengan?

tekun = diligent, persistent, focused, hardworking (in doing a task)
dengan = with / by (literally), but often used to form adverbial phrases.

So dengan tekun literally is “with diligence”, functioning like “diligently” or “in a diligent way”.

Why use dengan?

In Malay, a common pattern is:
- dengan + adjective → “in an X way”
- dengan tekun → “diligently”
- dengan cepat → “quickly”
- dengan senyap → “quietly”

You could also say secara tekun (in a diligent manner), but dengan tekun is more natural in everyday speech.

Can I just say Saya mengulang kaji sejarah tekun malam ini without dengan?

You might hear things like that in very casual speech, but the standard and most natural way is with dengan:

✔ Saya mengulang kaji sejarah dengan tekun malam ini.

Without dengan, tekun sits a bit awkwardly; it sounds more like an adjective left hanging. For adverbial meaning (“diligently”), dengan tekun is strongly preferred.

Does tekun sound positive, and are there similar words?

Yes, tekun is clearly positive. It suggests someone who:

focuses carefully
keeps going even when it’s hard
doesn’t get distracted easily

Some similar or related words:

rajin – hardworking, industrious (general, often used for people)
gigih – persistent, determined
bersungguh-sungguh – very earnest, putting in a lot of effort

So your sentence presents you in a very good light: you are not just revising, you’re doing it diligently and seriously.

How do we know the time/tense of the sentence from malam ini? Is it present, future, or past?

Malay doesn’t have tenses like English (no verb changes for past, present, future). Time is shown mostly by time words and sometimes by extra markers like sudah (already), sedang (in the process of), akan (will).

Here:

malam ini = this evening / tonight

Depending on context, it can be interpreted as:

I’m revising history diligently tonight. (future plan)
Or if you’re already doing it now (and it’s already night):
I am revising history diligently tonight.

If you wanted to make it clearly future, you could add akan:

Saya akan mengulang kaji sejarah dengan tekun malam ini.
= I will revise history diligently tonight.

To emphasize that you are doing it right now, you could use sedang:

Saya sedang mengulang kaji sejarah dengan tekun malam ini.
= I am (currently) revising history diligently tonight.

Can malam ini go at the beginning of the sentence instead of the end?

Yes. Malay word order is quite flexible with time expressions. All of these are grammatical:

Saya mengulang kaji sejarah dengan tekun malam ini.
Malam ini saya mengulang kaji sejarah dengan tekun.

Differences:

Version 1 (your original) is neutral and very natural.
Version 2 moves malam ini to the front, putting a bit more emphasis on “Tonight…”, like:
- “Tonight, I’m revising history diligently.”

Both sound normal; in speech, intonation will show what you’re emphasizing.

Do I need pada before malam ini, like pada malam ini?

You don’t need it in this sentence. Malam ini on its own is perfectly natural and common.

pada malam ini is more formal or emphatic, and is often used in:
- speeches
- written announcements
- more formal writing

For an everyday study sentence, just malam ini is more natural:

✔ Saya mengulang kaji sejarah dengan tekun malam ini.
More formal: Saya mengulang kaji sejarah dengan tekun pada malam ini. (still correct, just heavier in tone)

Is the whole sentence formal, informal, or neutral in tone?

The sentence:

Saya mengulang kaji sejarah dengan tekun malam ini.

is polite and neutral. Reasons:

Saya (not Aku) → polite/neutral
mengulang kaji → standard verb phrase
dengan tekun → slightly “proper” sounding, not slang
malam ini → neutral time expression

You could make it more casual for close friends by changing style and a few words:

Aku ulang kaji sejarah rajin malam ni.
(Very colloquial; sounds like spoken Malaysian Malay among friends.)

But as written, yours is suitable for:

talking to a teacher
writing in an exercise book
polite conversation with adults.