Learn Hardcore Malay: Kami duduk diam di galeri seni dekat kampus itu. - We sit quietly in the art gallery near that campus.

kami = we (not including the person spoken to) → “we (but not you)”
kita = we (including the person spoken to) → “we (you and I / you all and I)”

In Kami duduk diam di galeri seni dekat kampus itu, the speaker is saying that they and their group did something without including the listener.

If the speaker wanted to say “we (including you) sat quietly…”, they would say:

Kita duduk diam di galeri seni dekat kampus itu.

Does duduk only mean “to sit”, or can it also mean “to stay / live” in Malay?

Primarily:

duduk = to sit

But in everyday Malay, duduk is also often used to mean:

to stay / reside / live (somewhere)

Examples:

Saya duduk di kerusi. = I sit on the chair.
Saya duduk di Kuala Lumpur. = I live in Kuala Lumpur.

In your sentence, duduk diam clearly refers to the physical act of sitting quietly, not “living quietly” there. Context normally makes the meaning obvious.

What does diam add to duduk? Could I just say Kami duduk di galeri seni…?

diam = quiet, silent, still, not speaking / not moving much.

The phrase duduk diam combines:

duduk = to sit
diam = quietly / silently / still

So Kami duduk diam… means “We sat quietly / sat in silence / sat still…”.

If you say only Kami duduk di galeri seni…, that just means:

“We sat at the art gallery…” (no information about being quiet).

Both are grammatical, but duduk diam paints a more specific picture: you were seated and quiet (not chatting, not making noise, etc.).

Is diam an adjective (“quiet”) or an adverb (“quietly”) here?

Malay doesn’t strictly separate adjectives and adverbs the way English does. Many words can function as both, depending on context.

As an adjective:
- Dia seorang yang diam. = He/She is a quiet person.
As an adverb-like modifier:
- Dia duduk diam. = He/She sits quietly.

In Kami duduk diam, diam functions like an adverb, modifying how they sit: quietly / silently / still. But grammatically, Malay just uses the same form without extra endings (no -ly).

Is there any tense marking in Kami duduk diam…? How do I know if it’s past or present?

Malay verbs do not change form for tense. duduk can mean:

sit / are sitting / were sitting / will sit, etc.

The tense is understood from context or from added time words:

Kami duduk diam di galeri seni…
→ could be “We are sitting quietly…” or “We sat quietly…”, depending on context.
Tadi kami duduk diam di galeri seni…
→ tadi (earlier) makes it clearly past.
Sekarang kami duduk diam…
→ sekarang (now) makes it clearly present.
Esok kami akan duduk diam…
→ akan (will) makes it clearly future.

So the base sentence is tense-neutral.

Why is di used before galeri seni? Is di like “in” or “at” or “on”?

di is a general location preposition, usually corresponding to “in / at / on”, depending on the noun:

di rumah = at home / in the house
di sekolah = at school
di meja = on the table
di galeri seni = at the art gallery / in the art gallery

English splits these into different prepositions, but Malay just uses di for most static locations. The specific English choice (in/at/on) depends on natural English usage, not a change in Malay.

What does dekat mean here? Is it a preposition like “near”, or an adjective like “nearby”?

dekat literally means near / close, and it has two main uses:

As a preposition (often like “near / close to”):
- dekat kampus itu = near that campus
- Rumah saya dekat stesen LRT. = My house is near the LRT station.
As an adjective/adverb (“near, nearby, close”):
- Rumah itu dekat. = That house is near / close.

In di galeri seni dekat kampus itu, dekat kampus itu describes the location of the art gallery:
“at an art gallery near that campus”.

You could also say di galeri seni berhampiran kampus itu (more formal), but dekat is very common in speech.

What is the function of itu in kampus itu, and why is it at the end?

itu is a demonstrative, roughly “that” in English.

Word order:

English: that campus (demonstrative before the noun)
Malay: kampus itu (noun + demonstrative)

So:

kampus itu = that campus (a specific campus already known to both speakers)
kampus ini = this campus

In your sentence, kampus itu indicates a particular campus both speaker and listener already recognize (e.g., the local university campus).

How is galeri seni structured? Is it like a compound noun “art gallery”?

Yes. galeri seni is a noun + noun structure:

galeri = gallery
seni = art

In Malay, you often put the main noun first, then the describing/qualifying noun:

galeri seni = gallery (of) art → art gallery
bilik tidur = room (for) sleeping → bedroom
bas sekolah = bus (for) school → school bus

So galeri seni works very similarly to “art gallery”, just with the order “gallery art” in Malay.

Could the sentence start with Di galeri seni dekat kampus itu…? Would that change the meaning?

Yes, you can front the location phrase for emphasis:

Kami duduk diam di galeri seni dekat kampus itu.
→ Neutral order: subject (Kami) first.
Di galeri seni dekat kampus itu, kami duduk diam.
→ Emphasizes the place first: “At the art gallery near that campus, we sat quietly.”

The basic meaning stays the same, but the focus shifts:

Original: focus more on what “we” did.
Fronted location: focus more on where the action happened.

Can kami be omitted, like just Duduk diam di galeri seni dekat kampus itu?

Yes, subject pronouns are often dropped in Malay when context makes them clear.

Kami duduk diam di galeri seni dekat kampus itu.
→ Explicit: “We sat quietly at the art gallery near that campus.”
Duduk diam di galeri seni dekat kampus itu.
→ Could mean:
- “(We) sat quietly at the art gallery near that campus.”
- or in instructions: “Sit quietly at the art gallery near that campus.”

Spoken Malay commonly omits saya / kami / kita / dia, etc., when it’s obvious who is being talked about. In a textbook example, keeping kami makes it clearer.

Is duduk diam formal, informal, or neutral? Would it sound natural in conversation?

duduk diam is neutral and very natural in both spoken and written Malay.

Examples:

A parent to a child:
- Duduk diam, jangan bising. = Sit still, don’t make noise.
A teacher in class:
- Semua, tolong duduk diam. = Everyone, please sit quietly.
A narrative sentence:
- Kami duduk diam di galeri seni…

It’s not slang and not very formal; it’s simply standard, everyday Malay.