Dia mengempelas kayu padu itu.

Dia can mean he or she in Malay. Malay does not normally mark gender in third-person singular pronouns.

So Dia mengempelas kayu padu itu could mean:

• He is sanding that solid wood
• She is sanding that solid wood

You need context to know which one is meant.

Mengempelas is the active verb form. The base word is empelas, and the prefix meng- is added to make it a verb meaning to sand or to sand down.

This is a very common pattern in Malay:

• cat → mengecat = to paint
• emas → mengemas = to tidy up
• empelas → mengempelas = to sand

So in this sentence, mengempelas tells you that the subject is actively doing the action.

Mengempelas usually means to sand something, especially with sandpaper, in order to smooth the surface.

So it often implies:

• rubbing the surface
• using sandpaper or a similar abrasive tool
• smoothing or finishing the material

In this sentence, it most naturally means the person is sanding the solid wood.

Malay has a verb-forming prefix often written as meN-. Its exact form changes depending on the first sound of the root word.

Because empelas begins with a vowel, the prefix appears as meng-:

• empelas → mengempelas

This sound pattern is normal in Malay morphology.

Yes, padu is functioning as an adjective here.

• kayu = wood
• padu = solid

So kayu padu means solid wood.

Malay usually puts adjectives after the noun, unlike English. That is why it is:

• kayu padu = solid wood

not the English-style order padu kayu.

In Malay, demonstratives like ini and itu usually come after the noun phrase.

So:

• kayu padu itu = that solid wood

The order is:

• noun: kayu
• adjective: padu
• demonstrative: itu

This is very typical Malay word order.

Literally, itu means that. However, in natural translation it can sometimes feel close to the, especially when the speaker is referring to something already known or identifiable.

So kayu padu itu can often be understood as:

• that solid wood
• or in some contexts, the solid wood

But grammatically, the basic meaning of itu is still demonstrative: that.

Malay verbs usually do not change form for tense the way English verbs do.

So Dia mengempelas kayu padu itu could mean different things depending on context:

• He/She sands that solid wood
• He/She is sanding that solid wood
• He/She sanded that solid wood

If the speaker wants to make time clearer, they can add time words such as:

• sedang = currently
• sudah / telah = already
• akan = will

For example:

• Dia sedang mengempelas kayu padu itu = He/She is sanding that solid wood.
• Dia sudah mengempelas kayu padu itu = He/She has sanded / already sanded that solid wood.

Yes. The word order is very normal:

• Dia = subject
• mengempelas = verb
• kayu padu itu = object

So the basic structure is:

Subject + Verb + Object

That is one of the most common sentence patterns in Malay.

You would normally use a passive structure in Malay. A common version would be:

Kayu padu itu diempelas olehnya.

or simply:

Kayu padu itu diempelas.

Here:

• diempelas = is sanded / being sanded
• oleh = by

So compared with the original:

• Dia mengempelas kayu padu itu = He/She sands that solid wood.
• Kayu padu itu diempelas = That solid wood is sanded / is being sanded.

A helpful rough guide is:

meng-əm-pe-las

A few pronunciation notes:

• me in meng- often sounds like muh or a light mə
• the e in empelas is usually a schwa-like sound, similar to the a in about
• stress in Malay is generally not as strong as in English

So an approximate English-friendly pronunciation would be:

muh-ngem-peh-las

The exact sound can vary a little by speaker and region, but that will get you close.