Learn Hardcore Malay: Lagu kegemaran saya dimainkan di kafe kecil itu malam tadi. - My favorite song was played at that small café last night.

gemar = to like / to be fond of
- Saya gemar muzik. = I like music.
kegemaran is formed with the prefix and suffix ke- ... -an, often used to make a noun from an adjective/verb:
- gemar → kegemaran = favourite (literally “thing of liking”)

So lagu kegemaran saya is literally “the song of my liking”, i.e. my favourite song.

You’ll see this ke- … -an pattern in other words too:

penting (important) → kepentingan (importance, interest)
kaya (rich) → kekayaan (wealth)

What’s the difference between kegemaran and kesukaan? Can I say lagu kesukaan saya?

Yes, lagu kesukaan saya is also correct and natural.

suka = to like
kesukaan = (thing of) liking → favourite
gemar = to like / be fond of
kegemaran = (thing of) liking → favourite

In everyday speech:

kegemaran can sound a bit more formal or “standard Malay”.
kesukaan is also common and perfectly acceptable.

Both:

lagu kegemaran saya
lagu kesukaan saya

mean my favourite song.

Why is dimainkan used here? What’s the difference between main, memainkan, and dimainkan?

All three come from the root main (to play).

main
- Basic verb: to play
- Budak-budak main di luar. = The kids are playing outside.
memainkan (meN- prefix → active/transitive)
- to play (something) / to make something play
- DJ itu memainkan lagu baharu. = The DJ played a new song.
dimainkan (di- prefix → passive)
- is/was played
- Lagu itu dimainkan. = The song was played.

In your sentence:

Lagu kegemaran saya dimainkan…
= My favourite song was played…

Malay very often uses this di- passive when the doer is not mentioned or not important. It’s similar to English passive sentences.

If dimainkan is passive, who is doing the playing? How would I say who played the song?

In Lagu kegemaran saya dimainkan di kafe kecil itu malam tadi, the doer is not mentioned. It’s understood from context (e.g. the café, the DJ, the staff).

If you want to mention the doer, you normally add oleh (by):

Lagu kegemaran saya dimainkan oleh DJ itu di kafe kecil itu malam tadi.
= My favourite song was played by that DJ at that small café last night.

Or you can switch to an active sentence:

DJ itu memainkan lagu kegemaran saya di kafe kecil itu malam tadi.
= That DJ played my favourite song at that small café last night.

How do we know the action is in the past? There’s no past tense marker on dimainkan.

Malay verbs usually do not change form for tense (no -ed, no -s).

The time is shown by time expressions, not by changing the verb:

malam tadi = last night
semalam = yesterday
tadi = earlier (today)
nanti = later
esok = tomorrow

So in:

Lagu kegemaran saya dimainkan di kafe kecil itu malam tadi.

the verb dimainkan itself is “neutral”, but malam tadi tells us it happened in the past, so we translate:
My favourite song was played…

Can I move di kafe kecil itu or malam tadi to other positions in the sentence?

Yes, Malay word order is quite flexible for place and time phrases.

Your original sentence:

Lagu kegemaran saya dimainkan di kafe kecil itu malam tadi.

Common variations that are still natural:

Lagu kegemaran saya dimainkan malam tadi di kafe kecil itu.
Malam tadi, lagu kegemaran saya dimainkan di kafe kecil itu.
Di kafe kecil itu, lagu kegemaran saya dimainkan malam tadi.

Usual tendencies:

Time expressions (malam tadi) often appear at the beginning or end.
Place expressions (di kafe kecil itu) usually follow the verb, but can be fronted for emphasis.

All of these keep the basic meaning; differences are about emphasis and style, not grammar.

Why is it kafe kecil itu for that small café, not itu kafe kecil?

Inside a noun phrase, Malay typically orders things like this:

Noun + adjective(s) + demonstrative (ini/itu)

So:

kafe = café (noun)
kecil = small (adjective)
itu = that (demonstrative)

→ kafe kecil itu = that small café

If you say kafe itu kecil, that’s a full sentence, not a noun phrase:

kafe itu kecil = that café is small

So:

Saya suka kafe kecil itu. = I like that small café. (noun phrase)
Kafe itu kecil. = That café is small. (statement about the café)

What exactly does itu do here? How is it different from ini?

itu and ini are demonstratives, similar to that and this.

ini = this (near the speaker)
itu = that (farther away, or already known in context)

In kafe kecil itu:

itu points to a specific café the speaker assumes you know, or one that’s not right here.

Compare:

kafe kecil ini = this small café (here, near me)
kafe kecil itu = that small café (over there / that one we both know)

In many contexts, itu also works like “the” in English, marking something as specific or previously mentioned.

What’s the difference between malam tadi and semalam? Could I use semalam instead?

Both can refer to the recent past, but there’s a nuance:

malam tadi = last night (specifically, the night-time period before now)
semalam = yesterday / the day before (more general; often refers to the previous day as a whole)

In many casual contexts, people use semalam close to how English uses “yesterday”:

Lagu kegemaran saya dimainkan di kafe kecil itu semalam.
= My favourite song was played at that small café yesterday.

If you specifically mean the night, malam tadi is clearer and more precise.

Can I say Lagu kegemaran aku instead of Lagu kegemaran saya? What’s the difference?

Yes, grammatically you can say:

Lagu kegemaran aku = my favourite song
Lagu kegemaran saya = my favourite song

The difference is formality and tone:

saya = polite, neutral, used in formal situations, with strangers, in writing.
aku = informal, intimate, used with close friends, family, or in songs/poems.

So:

In a formal setting or to someone you don’t know well:
Lagu kegemaran saya dimainkan di kafe kecil itu malam tadi.
Talking to a close friend:
Lagu kegemaran aku dimainkan di kafe kecil itu malam tadi.