Apabila dia tersenyum sedikit, kening dan bibirnya kelihatan lebih jelas dalam gambar.

Apabila means when in this sentence. It introduces a time clause: Apabila dia tersenyum sedikit = When he/she smiles a little.

Compared with bila:

• apabila is a bit more formal or written
• bila is very common in everyday speech
• both can often be used in similar contexts

So this sentence could also be said as Bila dia tersenyum sedikit... in a more casual style.

Senyum is the root word related to smile. In standard Malay, tersenyum is a very common verb meaning to smile or to be smiling.

A useful way to think about it:

• senyum = the basic word smile
• tersenyum = the natural verb form used in many sentences

In casual speech, people do say dia senyum sedikit, but dia tersenyum sedikit sounds more standard and polished.

With facial expressions, ter- often gives a natural, spontaneous feel rather than a strongly deliberate action.

Here, sedikit means a little or slightly.

So tersenyum sedikit means:

• smile a little
• smile slightly

It softens the action. The person is not giving a big smile, just a small one.

Dia can mean either he or she. Malay does not usually mark gender in third-person singular pronouns.

So without extra context, dia is simply:

• he
• she

The same thing happens with -nya later in the sentence: it can mean his or her, depending on context.

Because -nya is attached directly to the noun.

• bibir = lips / lip
• bibirnya = his/her lips

In Malay, possessive endings are often attached like this:

• bukunya = his/her book
• rumahnya = his/her house
• bibirnya = his/her lips

So this is completely normal Malay word formation.

Yes, in this sentence it is understood that both body parts belong to the same person.

So kening dan bibirnya means:

• his/her eyebrows and lips

Malay often allows the possessive marker to appear only on the last noun in a pair or list when the meaning is obvious.

A more fully explicit version would be:

• keningnya dan bibirnya

But the original sentence is natural and efficient.

Kening means eyebrow or more generally the brow area. In translation, English may use eyebrows because people normally have two.

Malay often does not mark plural unless it really needs to. Number is usually understood from context.

So even if English wants eyebrows, Malay may still just use kening.

This is common with body parts and other nouns:

• Malay often leaves singular/plural unmarked
• English usually forces you to choose

Kelihatan means something like:

• looks
• appears
• is visible
• can be seen

In this sentence, kelihatan lebih jelas means looks clearer or is more clearly visible.

It comes from the root lihat, which is related to see.
Compared with some similar words:

• nampak = visible / looks / can be seen, very common
• kelihatan = visible / appears, slightly more formal or descriptive

So kelihatan is a very natural choice here.

Because Malay can leave the comparison understood from context.

• lebih = more
• jelas = clear

So lebih jelas = clearer / more clear

The sentence does not need to spell out the comparison because it is implied. It probably means something like:

• clearer than before
• clearer when compared with a neutral expression
• clearer in that smiling version of the photo

If Malay wanted to state the comparison explicitly, it could add daripada:

• lebih jelas daripada sebelumnya = clearer than before

Dalam gambar is the natural expression for in the picture/photo.

Malay often treats a picture as a kind of visual space or frame, so dalam works well:

• dalam gambar = in the picture
• dalam foto = in the photo

Di gambar is much less natural in standard usage for this meaning.

So for something visible inside an image, dalam gambar is the safer and more idiomatic choice.

Yes. The clause with apabila can come first or later.

Original:

• Apabila dia tersenyum sedikit, kening dan bibirnya kelihatan lebih jelas dalam gambar.

Another possible order:

• Kening dan bibirnya kelihatan lebih jelas dalam gambar apabila dia tersenyum sedikit.

Both are grammatical. The original version puts the time/condition first, which feels very natural and sets up the situation before giving the result.

Because Malay does not have articles that work like English a/an and the.

So nouns such as kening, bibir, and gambar appear without articles, and the listener understands the meaning from context.

For example:

• dalam gambar can mean in the picture or in a picture
• kening dan bibirnya naturally means his/her eyebrows and lips

This is one of the big differences from English: Malay relies much more on context and much less on article words.