Learn Hardcore Malay: Di sisi pelamin, ada kanak-kanak yang menari kecil apabila muzik tradisional dimainkan. - At the side of the wedding dais, there are children who do little dances when traditional music is played.

Di sisi literally means “at/on the side (of something)” or “beside”.
In this sentence, Di sisi pelamin = “beside the wedding dais” / “at the side of the bridal stage.”

di sisi is a bit more formal/literary and can sound slightly more elegant or descriptive.
di sebelah also means “beside / next to” and is more commonly used in everyday speech.

You could say:

Di sisi pelamin – beside the dais (a bit more formal)
Di sebelah pelamin – beside the dais (more colloquial/neutral)

Both are grammatical here; the choice is mostly about style and tone.

What is pelamin, and why doesn’t English have a simple word for it?

Pelamin refers to a decorated raised platform or dais for the bride and groom in Malay/Indonesian wedding traditions.

Key points:

It is not just any stage; it is specifically the place where the couple sit, often elaborately decorated.
There is no single common English word that matches this cultural object exactly, so we usually translate it as:
- wedding dais
- bridal dais
- wedding platform / bridal stage (less precise but understandable)

So di sisi pelamin is better understood in a cultural context: beside that special wedding platform where the bride and groom are seated.

Why use ada kanak-kanak and not just kanak-kanak? What is ada doing here?

In this sentence, ada functions as an existential verb, similar to “there is / there are” in English.

Ada kanak-kanak... ≈ “There are children...”
It’s not the normal “have” meaning here; it’s stating existence or presence.

Without ada, you could still say:

Kanak-kanak menari kecil di sisi pelamin.
This sounds more like “The children are dancing beside the pelamin”, assuming the children are already known in the context.

With ada, the sentence introduces new information:

Di sisi pelamin, ada kanak-kanak...
= “At the side of the dais, there are children who...”

So ada here is like saying “there is/are” to introduce the fact that such children exist in that location.

Is kanak-kanak singular or plural? Why is it repeated like that?

Kanak-kanak is usually plural: “children”, not “child”.

The repetition (reduplication) of kanak → kanak-kanak is a common way in Malay to form plural nouns, especially for people or living things.
The base word kanak itself is rarely used alone in everyday modern Malay; people just say kanak-kanak for children.

Some related words:

seorang kanak-kanak – a child (literally: one child)
beberapa kanak-kanak – several children
kanak-kanak itu – the children

So in the sentence, kanak-kanak by default means children (more than one).

What is the difference between kanak-kanak and words like budak-budak or anak-anak?

All three can refer to children, but they differ in nuance and usage:

kanak-kanak
- More formal / neutral, often used in writing, news, official contexts.
- Refers to children in general (roughly preschool to pre-teen).
budak-budak
- More colloquial, everyday speech.
- Can mean kids or youngsters, sometimes with a slightly casual or less formal tone.
- budak alone can also mean “kid” or even “worker/assistant” in some contexts.
anak-anak
- Literally “children / sons and daughters”.
- Often used for one’s own children or children belonging to someone/something:
  - anak-anak saya – my children
  - anak-anak murid – students (literally: pupil-children)
- Can also be generic “children” in some contexts.

In this sentence, kanak-kanak is a good choice because it’s neutral and refers to children in general at an event.

What does menari kecil mean? Why is kecil (small) used with menari (to dance)?

Menari = to dance.
Kecil = small / little.

In menari kecil, kecil describes the manner or scale of the dancing:

menari kecil ≈ “to dance a little / dance in a small, subtle way”
(small movements, not a full-on or formal dance performance)

It suggests that the children are:

maybe just wiggling, swaying, or doing small cute dance moves,
not performing a big, proper dance on stage.

This kind of structure is fairly natural in Malay: using an adjective after a verb to soften or qualify how something is done.

Other possible options with similar feel:

menari perlahan-lahan – dancing slowly
menari comel-comel – dancing in a cute way (very colloquial)

So menari kecil paints a picture of children doing little, modest dance moves rather than a grand performance.

Why do we need yang in kanak-kanak yang menari kecil?

Yang here introduces a relative clause that describes kanak-kanak.

kanak-kanak yang menari kecil = “the children who are dancing a little”

Structure:

kanak-kanak – the noun being described
yang – relative pronoun/marker
menari kecil – the descriptive clause (what the children are doing)

Without yang, the sentence structure and meaning change:

Ada kanak-kanak menari kecil...
This is closer to “There are children dancing a little...” but feels less like a single noun phrase and more like subject + verb. It’s still possible but less neatly “descriptive” of the children.

With yang, the phrase is clearly “children who [do X]”.

So yang is similar to English “who / that / which” in “children who dance a little”.

What is the function of apabila, and how is it different from bila or ketika?

Apabila is a conjunction meaning “when” (in the sense of “whenever / at the time that”).

In this sentence:

apabila muzik tradisional dimainkan = “when traditional music is played”

Differences:

apabila
- More formal / standard.
- Common in writing, news, narratives.
bila
- More informal / conversational.
- Used a lot in speech.
- In casual contexts, you could say:
  - ...bila muzik tradisional dimainkan.
ketika / semasa
- Both can mean “when / while / during the time that”.
- Often used to describe a background time frame:
  - Ketika muzik tradisional dimainkan...
  - Semasa muzik tradisional dimainkan...
- These sometimes feel closer to “while / during the time when”.

Here, apabila fits well because the sentence describes what happens whenever that music is played (children do a little dance).

How does muzik tradisional dimainkan work grammatically? Who is doing the playing?

Muzik tradisional dimainkan is a passive construction.

muzik tradisional – traditional music (the thing affected)
dimainkan – is played / is being played

Dimainkan comes from:

main – play
di- – passive prefix
-kan – causative/applicative suffix (often needed with some verbs)

So literally: “traditional music is-played”.

In English we expect a by-phrase (by someone), but in Malay it can be omitted:

muzik tradisional dimainkan (oleh mereka / oleh kumpulan muzik)
= traditional music is played (by them / by the band)

Since the doer (musicians, sound system operator, etc.) is not important, it’s left out. The focus is on the event of the music being played, not who plays it.

You could also make it active:

apabila mereka memainkan muzik tradisional – when they play traditional music
(more explicit about the subject mereka = they)

Can we change the word order, for example: Ada kanak-kanak yang menari kecil di sisi pelamin apabila muzik tradisional dimainkan?

Yes, that is grammatical and natural.

Original:

Di sisi pelamin, ada kanak-kanak yang menari kecil apabila muzik tradisional dimainkan.
– Emphasis starts with location (“At the side of the dais, there are children who...”)

Alternative:

Ada kanak-kanak yang menari kecil di sisi pelamin apabila muzik tradisional dimainkan.
– Emphasis starts with existence (“There are children who dance a little beside the dais when...”)

Both are fine; Malay allows relatively flexible word order, especially with adverbials of place and time. Changing the order tends to affect focus/emphasis, not basic grammaticality.

How do we know the tense? Does this mean “were dancing”, “are dancing”, or “will dance”?

Malay generally does not mark tense (past/present/future) on the verb the way English does.

menari kecil can be understood as “dance / are dancing / were dancing / will dance” depending on context.

In this sentence, the timing is understood from context:

If used in a narrative about a past event, it will be understood as past:
- “There were children who danced a little...”
If describing a typical situation, it can be a general statement:
- “There are children who dance a little when traditional music is played.”
If marked with time words, it becomes clearer:
- Tadi, di sisi pelamin, ada kanak-kanak yang menari kecil...
  – Earlier, at the side of the dais, there were children who danced a little...

So the verb form itself doesn’t change; context and time expressions tell you whether it’s past, present, or future.