Di rumah nenek, tomato dan timun selalu dihidang bersama cuka ketika cuaca panas.

It means at grandma’s house or at grandmother’s house.

• di = at / in / on for location
• rumah = house
• nenek = grandmother / grandma

So di rumah nenek literally means at grandmother’s house.

In this sentence, it sets the scene before the main statement.

Because these are two different di forms:

• di rumah: here di is a preposition meaning at/in/on, so it is written separately
• dihidang: here di- is a passive prefix attached to a verb, so it is written together

This is a very common point for learners.

Compare:

• di rumah = at home
• di meja = on the table
• dimasak = is cooked
• dibaca = is read

So spacing matters a lot in Malay.

Malay often puts time or place information at the beginning of a sentence to set the context.

So:

• Di rumah nenek, tomato dan timun selalu dihidang bersama cuka...

feels natural and means something like:

• At grandma’s house, tomatoes and cucumbers are always served with vinegar...

You could also rearrange it, but the original version sounds very normal because it first tells you where this custom happens.

Yes, literally it is something like house grandmother, but in natural English that becomes grandmother’s house.

Malay often shows possession just by putting two nouns together:

• rumah nenek = grandmother’s house
• buku Ali = Ali’s book
• kereta ayah = father’s car

There is no apostrophe ’s like in English.

It could, but it does not have to.

• rumah nenek = grandma’s house / grandmother’s house
• rumah nenek saya = my grandmother’s house

Malay often leaves out things that are understood from context. If the speaker’s own grandmother is obvious from the situation, nenek alone is enough.

So the sentence can sound more natural and less heavy without saya.

Malay nouns usually do not change form for singular vs plural.

So:

• tomato can mean tomato or tomatoes
• timun can mean cucumber or cucumbers

The meaning comes from context. In this sentence, because we are talking about food that is regularly served, English naturally translates them as tomatoes and cucumbers.

Malay can show plurality if needed, for example by:

• reduplication: timun-timun
• words like para, beberapa, banyak, etc.

But very often it is simply left unmarked.

Selalu means always.

It tells you that this is a habitual or regular action:

• tomato dan timun selalu dihidang...
• tomatoes and cucumbers are always served...

In Malay, adverbs like selalu often come before the verb:

• selalu makan = always eat
• selalu datang = always come
• selalu dihidang = are always served

Dihidang is passive and means is served / are served.

• root: hidang = serve
• passive: dihidang = is served / are served

The sentence focuses on the food, not on who serves it.

So:

• Tomato dan timun selalu dihidang... = Tomatoes and cucumbers are always served...

If you used an active form, you would focus more on the person doing the serving, for example:

• Nenek selalu menghidang tomato dan timun... = Grandma always serves tomatoes and cucumbers...

Both are possible, but the original sentence sounds more neutral and descriptive.

Yes, dihidangkan is also possible in many contexts.

• dihidang = served
• dihidangkan = served / served up / presented

The -kan form can sound a little more explicitly transitive or formal, depending on context. In everyday usage, both may appear, but dihidang is perfectly understandable and natural here.

So these are both possible:

• tomato dan timun selalu dihidang bersama cuka
• tomato dan timun selalu dihidangkan bersama cuka

The difference is small in this sentence.

Bersama cuka means together with vinegar or served with vinegar.

• bersama = together with / along with
• cuka = vinegar

You could also say dengan cuka, and it would still be understandable. But bersama often sounds a bit smoother when talking about items that are served together.

So:

• bersama cuka = together with vinegar
• dengan cuka = with vinegar

In this food context, bersama works very naturally.

It means when the weather is hot or during hot weather.

Breaking it down:

• ketika = when / at the time when
• cuaca = weather
• panas = hot

So the phrase gives the time or condition under which this usually happens.

A natural English translation is:

• when the weather is hot
• in hot weather

Yes. Malay has several ways to express this idea.

Possible alternatives include:

• semasa cuaca panas = during hot weather
• apabila cuaca panas = when the weather is hot
• waktu cuaca panas = when the weather is hot

These are similar, though ketika is a very standard and natural choice.

Because Malay does not use articles the same way English does.

English needs things like:

• the house
• a cucumber
• the weather

Malay usually does not use words equivalent to a or the in ordinary sentences. So meaning is understood from context.

For example:

• rumah = house / the house / a house
• timun = cucumber / cucumbers / the cucumbers
• cuaca panas = hot weather / the weather is hot, depending on context

This is one of the biggest structural differences from English.

It is talking about a habit or a usual practice.

The key clue is selalu = always.

So the meaning is not:

• One day, tomatoes and cucumbers were served...

It is more like:

• At grandma’s house, tomatoes and cucumbers are always served with vinegar when the weather is hot.

So it describes something customary.

Yes, tomato is normal in Malay.

You may also see tomat, especially in Indonesian usage. The two languages overlap a lot, but some vocabulary differs.

For standard Malay in Malaysia:

• tomato is very common
• timun = cucumber
• cuka = vinegar

So the sentence looks natural for Malay.

A simple way to see it is:

• Di rumah nenek = place setting
• tomato dan timun = subject/topic
• selalu dihidang = adverb + passive verb
• bersama cuka = accompaniment
• ketika cuaca panas = time/condition

So the structure is roughly:

[Place], [thing], [frequency + passive verb], [with what], [when/under what condition].

That is why the sentence feels a little different from English word order, but it is very natural in Malay.