Learn Hardcore Malay: Selepas perpustakaan tutup, kami pergi ke restoran kegemaran kami lagi. - After the library closes, we go to our favorite restaurant again.

Selepas means after and introduces a time clause, just like in English. You can swap it with setelah, which also means after, but there’s a slight difference in style:

Selepas is more common in everyday speech.
Setelah sounds more formal or literary.

Why doesn’t tutup have a tense marker like sudah or telah?

Malay verbs don’t change form for tense. Instead, time words (like selepas) or context tell you when an action happens. You could add sudah tutup or telah tutup for extra emphasis on completion, but it’s unnecessary here because selepas already implies that the library has closed.

What’s the difference between perpustakaan tutup and perpustakaan ditutup?

Perpustakaan tutup uses tutup intransitively: “the library closes/is closed (by its schedule).”
Perpustakaan ditutup is passive: “the library was closed (by someone).”
In this sentence, we’re simply marking the event “the library closed,” so the intransitive form tutup is more natural.

Why does the sentence use kami instead of kita for “we”?

Both kami and kita mean we, but:

Kami excludes the person you’re talking to (“we, but not you”).
Kita includes the person you’re talking to (“we, including you”).
Here the speaker is talking about “our group” without the listener, so kami is correct.

Why is kami repeated in restoran kegemaran kami?

The first kami is the subject pronoun we. The second kami is the possessive pronoun our, attached after the noun phrase. In Malay, possession is shown by placing the pronoun after the noun:
• restoran kegemaran kami = restaurant favourite our = our favourite restaurant

What does kegemaran mean and how is it formed?

Kegemaran is a noun meaning favourite. It’s built from the root gemar (to like/be fond of) with the prefix ke- and suffix -an. So:
• gemar = “to like”
• kegemaran = “favourite (thing/person)”

What is the role of lagi at the end of the sentence?

Here, lagi means again, showing that the action is repeated (“we went … again”). It normally comes after the verb phrase or at the end of the clause:
• kami pergi … lagi = we went … again
(Note: lagi can also mean more, but context clarifies it means repetition here.)

Why are there no words for “the” or “a/an” in the sentence?

Standard Malay doesn’t use articles like the or a/an. Nouns stand alone, and context tells you whether you mean something definite or indefinite:
• perpustakaan = “library” or “the library”
• restoran = “restaurant” or “the restaurant”