sejak, hingga, and sampai in Malaysian Malay

Malay distinguishes a starting boundary from an ending boundary. Sejak presents a point from which a state or repeated activity continues; hingga and sampai mark the limit reached. A complete range commonly uses dari ... hingga/sampai .... Aspect words such as sudah, masih, and akan tell the listener how the event relates to that boundary.

See source dari for its non-temporal uses and Malay time reference for the larger tense-and-aspect system.

Sejak: a starting point with continuation

Sejak takes a time expression: sejak semalam, sejak tahun 2022, sejak kecil, sejak mesyuarat itu. It invites the listener to trace a state or series from that point toward the reference time, usually now unless context supplies another time.

Malay verbs do not change into an English present perfect form. The continuing interpretation comes from sejak, the nature of tinggal, and context. Adding sudah measures the accumulated duration; adding masih emphasizes that it has not stopped.

English since can also introduce a full clause: “since she moved.” Malay likewise permits sejak dia berpindah, but the detailed structure of subordinate clauses belongs on its dedicated page.

Dari ... hingga/sampai: both endpoints

Use dari for the origin of a bounded range and hingga or sampai for its end. Hingga is common in formal notices and careful neutral prose. Sampai is entirely standard too and especially frequent in speech.

With ordinary schedules, the named days are normally included: dari hari Isnin hingga hari Jumaat conventionally includes Monday and Friday. At an exact clock boundary, practical context decides whether activity stops at that instant. Legal or technical writing should state inclusion explicitly if it affects rights or measurements.

It is also possible to state only the end boundary.

Hingga and sampai are close, not identical

As limit markers, the two frequently overlap. Hingga tends toward careful writing, formal announcements, and measured extent. Sampai is often more conversational and can vividly present the point actually reached. Neither label is absolute: sampai occurs in formal Malay, and hingga is heard in speech.

Before a place, sampai ke is common, and hingga ke is also widespread in contemporary Malaysian usage because ke makes the destination explicit. Conservative DBP-oriented editing sometimes treats ke after hingga as redundant and prefers hingga hujung jalan; follow the governing house style rather than silently joining the words. Whenever ke is retained, write ke hujung, not kehujung. By contrast, the prefixes di- and ke- in words such as dibuka and ketiga are attached.

Sampai is also a lexical verb meaning “arrive.” In Bas sudah sampai, it is not a preposition and takes no following endpoint.

Sehingga can introduce a result—roughly “to the extent that/so that”—and is not simply a longer substitute for every hingga. Full result-clause syntax belongs elsewhere.

Time, space, and quantity use the same boundary logic

The three forms are not limited to calendar time. A route, degree, or numerical span can also have a source and limit.

For a destination without emphasis on the limit, plain ke is usually enough: pergi ke sekolah. Sampai ke sekolah foregrounds reaching or extending all the way there.

Common Mistakes

1. Using dari alone for continuing “since”

2. Combining sejak with a bare duration and completed telah

3. Attaching free ke

4. Using sampai as both limit marker and redundant destination

Key Takeaways

Use sejak when a situation is viewed from its starting point onward. Use dari ... hingga/sampai ... when both edges of a range are named. Hingga often suits careful and formal wording; sampai is especially common in speech and also functions as the verb “arrive.” Duration is not carried by a special verb tense: the boundary phrase works together with sudah, masih, akan, and context.