Dia berundur perlahan-lahan.

Dia is a third-person singular pronoun that can mean he or she. Malay does not usually mark gender in pronouns the way English does.

So dia berundur perlahan-lahan could mean:

• He retreated slowly
• She backed away slowly

Only the context tells you which one is meant.

Berundur means to retreat, to back away, or to move backward. It is an intransitive verb, which means it does not normally take a direct object in this form.

Depending on context, it can be used for:

• physical movement: backing away
• military retreat
• withdrawing from a position or situation

So it is a bit broader than just one English verb.

The prefix ber- often forms an intransitive verb in Malay.

Here:

• undur relates to moving back / backward
• berundur = to move back, to retreat

This is a very common pattern in Malay. The ber- prefix often gives the sense of doing the action oneself or being in a certain state, without a direct object.

So berundur is the normal verb form you would expect in a sentence like this.

This is reduplication, which is very common in Malay.

Perlahan-lahan means slowly. The repetition does not mean plural here. Instead, it makes the expression sound natural and idiomatic as an adverb.

Compare:

• perlahan = slow / slowly
• perlahan-lahan = slowly, gently, little by little

In many cases, perlahan-lahan sounds more natural than just perlahan when describing how an action is done.

Yes, you could, and it would still be understood. But perlahan-lahan is often more natural and common in this kind of sentence.

Very roughly:

• perlahan = slow / slowly
• perlahan-lahan = slowly, in a gradual or gentle way

So Dia berundur perlahan-lahan sounds smoother and more idiomatic.

Malay word order here is very natural:

• Dia = subject
• berundur = verb
• perlahan-lahan = adverb

So the pattern is:

Subject + Verb + Adverb

That is why perlahan-lahan comes after berundur.

This is similar to English in many cases:

• He walked slowly
• Dia berjalan perlahan-lahan

Here it functions as an adverb, because it describes how the action happens.

It tells us how the person retreated:

• berundur = retreat
• perlahan-lahan = slowly

The word perlahan can behave like an adjective or adverb depending on context, but in this sentence perlahan-lahan is clearly adverbial.

They are related, but not always identical in use.

• mundur often means backward, to move back, or to step down
• berundur is a more clearly verbal form meaning to retreat or to back away

In many contexts they overlap, but berundur sounds like a complete intransitive verb, while mundur can sometimes feel more basic or flexible depending on the sentence.

For a learner, it is safe to understand berundur here as retreat/back away.

A simple pronunciation guide:

• Dia = dee-ah
• berundur = beh-roon-door
• perlahan-lahan = per-lah-han lah-han

A few useful notes:

• r in Malay is usually lightly rolled or tapped
• each vowel is usually pronounced clearly
• the hyphen in perlahan-lahan shows reduplication: you say both parts

No. It often refers to physical movement, but it can also be used more figuratively.

Possible uses include:

• physically backing away
• retreating in battle
• withdrawing from a plan, role, or position

So depending on context, Dia berundur perlahan-lahan could describe a person literally stepping back, or someone withdrawing more figuratively.

Yes. You can also say:

Dia berundur dengan perlahan.

That also means He/She retreated slowly.

The difference is mostly stylistic:

• perlahan-lahan = very common, compact, natural
• dengan perlahan = also correct, slightly more explicit

Both are grammatical. In everyday Malay, perlahan-lahan is often the more natural-sounding choice here.