Learn Hardcore Malay: Kalau motosikal rosak ketika saya parkir di bandar, kami akan hantar ke bengkel kecil dekat rumah. - If the motorcycle breaks down when I park in the city, we will send it to a small workshop near home.

kalau – very common in everyday speech; neutral–informal.
jika – more formal, often used in writing or official speech.
apabila – slightly formal and often closer to “when” (especially for things expected or likely to happen).

In this sentence, you could say:

Kalau motosikal rosak… (most natural in conversation)
Jika motosikal rosak… (more formal, written)
Apabila motosikal rosak… (sounds like you expect this to happen at some point)

The basic meaning is the same; you’re mostly changing the level of formality and the feeling of how likely the event is.

Does kalau here mean “if” or “when”?

Kalau can cover both “if” and “when”, depending on context.

If the speaker thinks the event may or may not happen, English usually translates it as “if”.
If the speaker thinks it will definitely happen (for example, something that happens regularly), English would more likely use “when”.

In your sentence, we normally understand it as “if the motorcycle breaks down”, because a breakdown is not guaranteed. But the Malay sentence itself stays neutral; context decides whether you hear it as if or when.

Why is it ketika saya parkir and not something like ketika saya sedang memarkir?

Malay verbs don’t change form for tense or aspect, so ketika saya parkir is already enough to mean “when I am parking / when I park”.

You can add extra words for aspect:

sedang emphasizes a continuous action:
- ketika saya sedang parkir = when I am in the middle of parking
memarkir is the prefixed form of parkir, more formal/standard.

All of these are possible:

ketika saya parkir di bandar
ketika saya sedang parkir di bandar
ketika saya memarkir motosikal di bandar

The original version is natural, simple conversational Malay.

Is parkir a verb or a noun in Malay, and is it okay to use it without any prefix?

Parkir can function as both:

As a verb: saya parkir motosikal = I park the motorcycle
As a noun: tempat parkir = parking space/area

Using it without a prefix (just parkir) is very common in everyday Malaysian and Indonesian Malay. In more formal or very careful language, you might see:

memarkir / memarkirkan (verb, with prefix)
or even meletakkan motosikal (“to put/park the motorcycle”)

But in speech and most informal writing, parkir as a bare verb is completely natural.

Why is it di bandar and not ke bandar?

The difference is:

di = at / in (location, no movement implied)
ke = to (movement towards a place)

In ketika saya parkir di bandar, the focus is on being parked in town at that time, not on going to town. So di bandar is correct because it describes location: parked in town.

If you said ke bandar, it would mean “to town”, which doesn’t fit the idea of while I am parked in town.

What is the difference between kami and kita, and why is kami used here?

Both mean “we”, but:

kami = we excluding the listener
kita = we including the listener

In this sentence:

kami akan hantar… = we (but not you) will send it…

So the speaker is talking about their own group, not including the person they are speaking to. If the listener were part of that group, they would say kita akan hantar… instead.

Do I have to use akan to talk about the future, or can I omit it?

You can usually omit akan.

kami akan hantar ke bengkel… = we will send it to the workshop
kami hantar ke bengkel… can also mean we will send it to the workshop, if the context is clearly future.

Malay often relies on context and time expressions (like nanti, esok, etc.) instead of a strict future marker. Akan adds clarity or emphasis that it’s about the future or a planned action, but it isn’t grammatically required.

Why is it just hantar and not menghantar?

Both are correct forms of the same verb:

hantar = base form (stem)
menghantar = formal/standard meN- verb form

In everyday spoken Malay, especially after words like akan, sudah, mau, boleh, people very often use the bare verb:

akan hantar (very common in speech)
akan menghantar (more formal/written)

So kami akan hantar ke bengkel… is natural conversational Malay. In a formal document, you might choose kami akan menghantar….

There is no word for “it” after kami akan hantar. How do Malay speakers refer to the object here?

In Malay, if the object is clear from context, speakers often omit it completely.

Logically, the full sentence could be:

kami akan hantar motosikal itu ke bengkel…
= we will send the motorcycle to the workshop

Because the motorcycle is already mentioned earlier (motosikal rosak), repeating it isn’t necessary. Malay doesn’t usually insert a separate neutral object pronoun like English “it” here. You either:

repeat the noun (motosikal itu / motosikal tu)
or just drop it when it’s obvious, as in the original sentence.

Why is it bengkel kecil instead of bengkel yang kecil?

In Malay, adjectives usually come after the noun without any extra word:

bengkel kecil = small workshop
rumah besar = big house
kereta merah = red car

Yang is used to mark or emphasize a specific noun, often in more complex or contrastive phrases:

bengkel yang kecil itu = that small workshop (not the big one)
bengkel yang kecil di hujung jalan = the small workshop at the end of the road

In your sentence, we just mean “a small workshop” in general, so bengkel kecil is the normal, simple form.

Should it be dekat rumah or dekat dengan rumah?

Both are heard, but there is a nuance of style:

dekat rumah – very common in everyday spoken Malay; informal but widely understood.
dekat dengan rumah – slightly more complete/standard; safer in careful or formal writing.

So:

bengkel kecil dekat rumah = a small workshop near (my/our) house
bengkel kecil dekat dengan rumah = same meaning, a bit more explicit.

Very formal alternatives include berhampiran rumah or berdekatan dengan rumah, but in ordinary conversation, dekat rumah is perfectly natural.

Can I reverse the order and say Kami akan hantar ke bengkel kecil dekat rumah kalau motosikal rosak…? Does the meaning change?

Yes, you can reverse the order:

Kalau motosikal rosak…, kami akan hantar ke bengkel kecil dekat rumah.
Kami akan hantar ke bengkel kecil dekat rumah kalau motosikal rosak…

Both mean the same thing.

Putting the kalau-clause at the beginning slightly emphasizes the condition. Putting it at the end slightly emphasizes the action. But grammatically and in terms of basic meaning, both are fine.

What exactly does rosak mean here? Is it like “broken” or “broken down”?

Rosak means damaged, not functioning properly, spoiled, broken down, depending on the object.

Examples:

motosikal rosak = the motorcycle has broken down / is not working
telefon saya rosak = my phone is broken
makanan itu sudah rosak = the food has gone bad / spoiled

For vehicles, rosak is the usual word to express “break down / out of order”. It doesn’t necessarily mean it’s physically smashed; just that it no longer works properly.