Pada musim cuti sekolah, keluarga saya suka berkelah di tasik.

During the school holiday season, my family likes to have picnics at the lake.

Breakdown of Pada musim cuti sekolah, keluarga saya suka berkelah di tasik.

• suka: to like
• di: at
• keluarga: the family
• pada: during
• saya: my
• berkelah: to have a picnic
• tasik: the lake
• musim cuti sekolah: the school holidays

Questions & Answers about Pada musim cuti sekolah, keluarga saya suka berkelah di tasik.

What does pada mean here, and do I always need it with time expressions?

In this sentence, pada works like “on / in / at” for time and means “during” here.

Malay often uses pada before time expressions:

• pada hari Isnin – on Monday
• pada pukul dua – at two o’clock
• pada musim cuti sekolah – during the school holidays

You don’t always have to use pada in casual speech; people sometimes drop it:

• Musim cuti sekolah, keluarga saya suka berkelah di tasik.

However, in standard/written Malay, using pada is more correct and natural in a full sentence like this.

How is musim cuti sekolah structured? Is it one word group or two separate ideas?

Musim cuti sekolah is one noun phrase made of three words:

• musim = season / period
• cuti = holiday, break
• sekolah = school

Structure:
musim (head noun) + cuti sekolah (describing what kind of season)

Literally it is “the season of school holidays”, which we usually translate as “the school holidays” or “the school holiday period”.

So it’s one unit of meaning, not “season” and “school holiday” as two separate items.

Why is it keluarga saya and not a pronoun like kami or kita?

Keluarga saya literally means “my family”:

• keluarga = family
• saya = my / I / me

Malay often uses a noun + possessive pronoun like this to talk about family:

• adik saya – my younger sibling
• ibu bapa saya – my parents
• keluarga saya – my family

You could also refer back to them with a pronoun later, for example:

• Pada musim cuti sekolah, keluarga saya suka berkelah di tasik. Mereka suka mandi dan memancing.
  (… My family likes to have a picnic at the lake. They like to swim and fish.)

But at the start of the sentence, introducing keluarga saya is the clearest way to say “my family”.

Is keluarga treated as singular or plural in Malay?

Grammatically, keluarga is treated as singular (it’s one unit: a family), but it refers to a group of people, just like family in English.

Malay verbs do not change for singular/plural, so you don’t see a difference in the verb:

• Keluarga saya suka berkelah.
  (My family likes to have picnics.)

If you want to emphasize the people as individuals, you can say:

• Ahli keluarga saya suka berkelah.
  (The members of my family like to have picnics.)

But in normal speech, keluarga saya works for “my family” and you don’t have to worry about singular vs plural verb forms.

What is the difference between suka and gemar? Could I use gemar here?

Both suka and gemar mean “to like”, but:

• suka is more everyday and general
• gemar is a bit more formal or used for hobbies/preferences

In this sentence, you can use either:

• keluarga saya suka berkelah di tasik
• keluarga saya gemar berkelah di tasik

Both are correct.
In casual conversation, suka is more common and natural.

What exactly does berkelah mean? Is it the same as “to picnic”?

Yes, berkelah means “to have a picnic” or “to go on a picnic outing”.

Grammar-wise:

• The root is kelah (an old word related to an outing),
• ber- is a verb prefix often meaning “to do / to have / to engage in” an activity.

So berkelah = to be engaged in a picnic-type outing.

You will also often hear:

• pergi berkelah – to go (and) have a picnic

Example:

• Kami pergi berkelah di tepi pantai.
  We went to have a picnic at the beach.

Why is it di tasik and not ke tasik? What’s the difference?

di and ke are different:

• di = at / in / on (location, where something happens)
• ke = to / towards (movement, going somewhere)

In this sentence:

• berkelah di tasik = having a picnic at the lake (location of the activity)

If you wanted to talk about the movement, you would use ke:

• Kami pergi ke tasik untuk berkelah.
  We went to the lake to have a picnic.

So di tasik is correct here because it describes where the picnic happens, not the direction of travel.

Can I change the word order and put the time at the end of the sentence?

Yes, you can. Both are correct:

1. Pada musim cuti sekolah, keluarga saya suka berkelah di tasik.
2. Keluarga saya suka berkelah di tasik pada musim cuti sekolah.

Malay is quite flexible with time expressions.
Putting the time at the beginning (version 1) is very common and helps highlight when the action usually happens, similar to English:

• During the school holidays, my family likes to have a picnic at the lake.

There is no word for “a” or “the” before tasik. How do I know if it means “a lake” or “the lake”?

Malay normally does not use articles like a/an or the.

So tasik on its own can mean “a lake” or “the lake”, depending on context.

If you really want to make it more specific, you can add:

• tasik itu – that lake / the lake (already known)
• sebuah tasik – a lake (one lake, not specific which)

Examples:

• Keluarga saya suka berkelah di tasik itu.
  My family likes to have a picnic at that lake / the lake.

• Keluarga saya suka berkelah di sebuah tasik yang sunyi.
  My family likes to have a picnic at a quiet lake.

In everyday sentences like yours, di tasik is usually understood as “at the lake” in English.