Kami makan tengah hari bersama keluarga di rumah.

We eat lunch with the family at home.

Breakdown of Kami makan tengah hari bersama keluarga di rumah.

• di: at
• bersama: with
• rumah: the home
• keluarga: the family
• kami: we
• makan tengah hari: the lunch

Questions & Answers about Kami makan tengah hari bersama keluarga di rumah.

In Malay there are two words for we, kami and kita. Why is kami used here and not kita?

Malay distinguishes between two kinds of we:

• kami = we, but NOT including the person being spoken to (exclusive)
• kita = we, INCLUDING the person being spoken to (inclusive)

So:

• Kami makan tengah hari bersama keluarga di rumah.
  = We (not including you) have lunch with the family at home.

If the speaker wanted to say that the listener is also part of the group having lunch, they would say:

• Kita makan tengah hari bersama keluarga di rumah.
  = We (you and I, and maybe others) have lunch with the family at home.

In English both are just we, but in Malay you must choose one.

What exactly does makan tengah hari mean? Is it one fixed phrase like lunch, or is it literally eat middle day?

Literally:

• makan = to eat / food / a meal
• tengah hari = middle of the day, midday, noon

Together:

• makan tengah hari = to eat at midday → to have lunch / eat lunch

Grammatically in this sentence:

• Kami = subject (we)
• makan = verb (eat)
• tengah hari = object / complement (lunch / at midday)

So the whole predicate makan tengah hari works like English eat lunch.

You will also see:

• makan pagi = breakfast (literally: eat morning)
• makan malam = dinner / supper (literally: eat night)

All follow the same pattern.

There’s no word for am / are / was / will here. How do we know what tense Kami makan tengah hari… is in?

Malay verbs generally do not change for tense. Makan stays the same for past, present, or future. The time is understood from context or from extra time words.

The bare sentence:

• Kami makan tengah hari bersama keluarga di rumah.

can mean, depending on context:

• We are having lunch with the family at home. (present)
• We had lunch with the family at home. (past)
• We will have lunch with the family at home. (future / plan)

To be more explicit, Malay adds time markers:

• Tadi kami makan tengah hari bersama keluarga di rumah.
  Just now / earlier we had lunch with the family at home.

• Sekarang kami makan tengah hari bersama keluarga di rumah.
  Now we are having lunch with the family at home.

• Nanti kami akan makan tengah hari bersama keluarga di rumah.
  Later we will have lunch with the family at home.

So tense is mostly a matter of context + optional time words, not verb endings.

What is the difference between bersama and dengan? Could I say Kami makan tengah hari dengan keluarga di rumah instead?

Both bersama and dengan can mean with, and in this sentence they are effectively interchangeable.

• bersama

  • literally: together (with)
  • slightly more formal / “togetherness” feel
  • common in written Malay, announcements, slogans
    
    • e.g. Mari kita bersatu bersama keluarga! (Let us unite with our families!)

• dengan

  • neutral with
  • very common in everyday speech and writing
  • used in many other meanings too (with, by, using, and, etc.)

So:

• Kami makan tengah hari bersama keluarga di rumah.
• Kami makan tengah hari dengan keluarga di rumah.

Both are natural and correct. In casual spoken Malay, dengan is probably more common; bersama can feel a bit more formal or “nice-sounding”.

There’s no word like our before keluarga. How do we know it means with our family? How would I say with my family or with his family?

Malay often leaves out possessive words like my / our / his / her when the possessor is obvious from context.

Here:

• Kami = we (excluding you)
• bersama keluarga = with (the) family

Because kami is the subject, listeners will usually understand keluarga to mean our family unless context suggests otherwise.

If you want to be explicit, you add a possessive after keluarga:

• bersama keluarga saya = with my family
• bersama keluarga kami = with our family
• bersama keluarga dia = with his / her family
• bersama keluarga mereka = with their family

So you could say:

• Kami makan tengah hari bersama keluarga kami di rumah.
  We have lunch with our family at home.

The original sentence is still natural; Malay just leaves the pronoun out when it’s clear.

Why isn’t there any word like the or a before keluarga and rumah?

Malay does not have articles like English a/an or the. The bare noun is used, and definiteness is understood from context.

• keluarga
  
  • can be a family, the family, or family (in general) depending on context
• rumah
  
  • can be a house, the house, or home

In:

• Kami makan tengah hari bersama keluarga di rumah.

a natural translation is:

• We have lunch with the family at home.

If you want to make “the” very clear, Malay usually uses other words:

• rumah itu = that house / the house
• rumah ini = this house
• sebuah rumah = a (single) house

But in most everyday sentences, you just use the plain noun, as in the example.

What exactly does di mean in di rumah, and how is it different from ke and dari?

di, ke, and dari are three very common prepositions:

• di = at / in / on (location, where something/someone is)
• ke = to / towards (direction, where something is going)
• dari = from (origin, where something comes from)

In the sentence:

• di rumah = at home / in the house

Compare:

• Kami makan tengah hari di rumah.
  We have lunch at home. (location)

• Kami pergi ke rumah nenek.
  We go to Grandma’s house. (direction)

• Kami datang dari rumah nenek.
  We come from Grandma’s house. (origin)

Also note for standard writing: di should be written separately from the noun (di rumah, not dirumah). When joined, di- is usually a prefix on a verb (e.g. diberi, ditulis).

Is the word order fixed? Can I move di rumah or bersama keluarga to a different position?

Malay word order is fairly flexible, especially for time and place phrases, but there is a default pattern:

Subject – Verb – (Object / complement) – other information (place, time, manner)

Your sentence follows this:

• Kami (subject)
• makan tengah hari (verb + object/complement: eat lunch)
• bersama keluarga (with family)
• di rumah (at home)

You can move some parts for emphasis or style, especially time/place phrases:

• Di rumah, kami makan tengah hari bersama keluarga.
  At home, we have lunch with the family.

• Kami makan tengah hari di rumah bersama keluarga.
  We have lunch at home with the family. (still natural)

Moving di rumah to the front emphasizes location. This is common and correct.

What you should generally avoid is splitting the core verb phrase makan tengah hari in strange ways, like:

• ✗ Kami makan bersama keluarga tengah hari di rumah.
  (sounds awkward; it can be interpreted differently)

So: you can rearrange, but keep makan tengah hari together, and use fronting (putting something at the start) mainly to highlight it.

Can I drop Kami and just say Makan tengah hari bersama keluarga di rumah?

Yes, you can drop the subject pronoun in Malay when it’s clear from context. Then the sentence:

• Makan tengah hari bersama keluarga di rumah.

could be understood as:

• (We/they/I) am having lunch with the family at home.

Common uses:

• as a short written note / status:
  Makan tengah hari bersama keluarga di rumah.
  Having lunch with the family at home.

• in a conversation where the subject is already known:
  A: Di mana kamu sekarang? (Where are you now?)
  B: (Saya) makan tengah hari bersama keluarga di rumah.
  (I’m) having lunch with my family at home.

However, if you want to be clear to a learner or in a standalone sentence, it’s safer to keep Kami.

Why is it tengah hari and not hari tengah? How are words combined in phrases like this?

In Malay noun phrases, the main noun usually comes first, and the word that describes it comes after.

• tengah = middle
• hari = day

So:

• tengah hari = middle (of the) day → midday / noon

The head noun is hari (day), described by tengah (middle). Therefore:

• tengah hari (correct)
• ✗ hari tengah (not how Malay normally forms this meaning)

Other examples with the same pattern:

• rumah sakit = (house + sick) → hospital
• kereta api = (car + fire) → train
• baju hujan = (shirt + rain) → raincoat

Head noun first, then its modifier. So makan tengah hari follows the usual pattern: “eat (meal of) middle-of-day” → have lunch.

I’ve seen tengahari written as one word. Is there a difference between tengah hari and tengahari?

You will see both spellings:

• tengah hari (two words)
• tengahari (one word)

In many modern references and formal contexts (e.g. school, exams, dictionaries), tengah hari as two words is preferred and treated as a compound of tengah + hari.

In everyday informal writing (messages, social media), many people write tengahari as a single word. Most native speakers will understand both without any problem.

For safe, standard usage—especially if you are learning Malay for school or formal exams—use:

• tengah hari
• makan tengah hari for “have lunch”.