"That cat was sleeping when we arrived."

Translation: Kucing itu tidur ketika kami datang.

[Lisa-Lisa-Lisa]

couldn't arrive also be muncul ? she we appears/ showed up... because datang to me sounds like when we came, which I guess also works ...

[WayangOrang]

'arrive' = 'tiba' , 'datang'

'muncul' has a different meaning than 'tiba' or 'datang'.

[Lisa-Lisa-Lisa]

ok so are you saying muncal means appears not arrive?

[WayangOrang]

Yes.
muncul = to appear, to show up (to let yourself be seen), to emerge.

[Mey363876]

Sedang tidur OR lagi tidur.

[ArnetDonkin]

why is kita wrong? surely this could be inclusive also

[WayangOrang]

It's not wrong.

[SpaceDandy_Meow]

For this example, I put 'Kucing itu sedang tidur ketika kami datang'. I know that there aren't really 'cases' but is it more common to omit the 'sedang' for past tense? Or is that only added if the listener shows confusion?

[WayangOrang]

In this sentence, you can use 'sedang', but you can also leave it out, it doesn't change the meaning.

[Al-Maghloob]

Is 'bila' Malay?

[MalaySinga]

Pada masa or pada waktu ought to be accepted instead of ketika here