English speaker just starting out learning bahasa malay.
The book I'm learning from (Teach Yourself Malay) explains the following:
"To express when in the future, you must use kalau or jika both of which also mean if"
The book then gives the following examples:
"1. Tolong beritahu kami kalau sudah sampai = Please tell us when we get there
and
2. Kalau saya jutawan, saya akan beri sumbangan kepada orang miskin = If I were a millionaire, I would give charity to the poor."
My question is can these two sentences be translated as
1. Please tell me if we get there
and
2. When I am a millionaire, I will give charity to the poor. ?
Of course I'm aware this is a question about a conditional tense in a language which does not express tense in the same way as european languages. But is there really no if / when distinction? The book I'm learning from isn't very good so I'm not sure if this is simply wrong, or whether BM just tolerates ambiguity in this instance.
I hope my question is clear.
Terima Kasih katas bantuan
Glooper