Pagi tadi langit gelap seolah-olah malam sudah kembali.

This morning the sky was dark as if night had already returned.

Breakdown of Pagi tadi langit gelap seolah-olah malam sudah kembali.

• adalah: to be
• pagi tadi: this morning
• malam: the night
• sudah: already
• langit: the sky
• gelap: dark
• kembali: to return
• seolah-olah: as if

Questions & Answers about Pagi tadi langit gelap seolah-olah malam sudah kembali.

What does pagi tadi mean exactly, and how is it different from just pagi?

Pagi tadi means "earlier this morning" / "this morning (earlier today)".

• pagi on its own just means "morning" in a general sense.
• tadi adds the idea of "earlier today / just now (in the past)".

So:

• pagi tadi = the morning earlier today (already finished)
• pagi = morning (could be today, yesterday, generally, etc., depending on context)

Can I also say tadi pagi? Is there any difference from pagi tadi?

Yes, you can say tadi pagi, and it is very commonly used. In everyday speech:

• pagi tadi and tadi pagi are both natural and usually mean the same thing: this morning / earlier this morning.

If anything, some speakers feel:

• tadi pagi is slightly more casual and very common in speech.
• pagi tadi can feel a bit more "written" or slightly more formal, but is still used in speech.

For practical purposes, you can treat them as interchangeable.

Why is there no verb like "was" between langit and gelap?

In Malay, you usually do not use a separate verb like "to be" (was/is/are) between a noun and an adjective in simple descriptive sentences.

So:

• langit gelap literally = "sky dark"
  → understood as "the sky was dark" / "the sky is dark" depending on context.

You do not say:

• ✗ langit adalah gelap (this sounds unnatural in simple description)

adalah is used differently (e.g. between two nouns: saya adalah guru "I am a teacher" in more formal style), not between a noun and an adjective in a basic sentence like this.

What is the function of seolah-olah here? How strong is the comparison?

seolah-olah means "as if / as though".

In the sentence:

• seolah-olah malam sudah kembali = "as if night had returned"

It:

• introduces something imaginary or hypothetical, not literally true.
• expresses a strong impression or resemblance, but acknowledges it’s not actually night.

Strength-wise, it’s similar to English "as if":

• The sky was dark as if night had returned.
  → clearly a comparison, not a factual claim.

How is seolah-olah different from seperti, macam, or seakan-akan?

All of these introduce similarity/comparison, but with slightly different feels:

• seperti = like / as / similar to

  • More neutral, can be literal or figurative.
  • Langit gelap seperti malam. = The sky was dark like night.

• macam = like (more casual/colloquial)

  • Very common in spoken Malay.
  • Langit gelap macam malam.

• seakan-akan = as if / as though / almost like

  • Very close to seolah-olah, slightly poetic/formal.

• seolah-olah = as if / as though

  • Emphasizes that it seems that way but isn’t actually so.
  • Slightly more formal/literary than macam, but normal in both spoken and written Malay.

In your sentence, seolah-olah highlights that it felt like night had returned, but it really was morning.

Why is it seolah-olah malam sudah kembali and not seolah-olah sudah malam kembali?

Malam sudah kembali is a normal clause order:

• malam (subject)
• sudah kembali (verb phrase: "has returned")

If you say sudah malam kembali, it sounds odd and unclear:

• sudah malam usually means "it is already night"
• kembali "again/returned" at the end would be confusing and unnatural here.

So:

• malam sudah kembali = "night has returned" (clear, natural)
• sudah malam kembali = not the normal way to express that idea.

In seolah-olah malam sudah kembali, you’re embedding a normal clause after seolah-olah.

What does sudah add to kembali? Could I just say malam kembali?

sudah adds the idea of completion or "already".

• kembali = return, come back
• sudah kembali = has returned / has come back / already returned

So:

• malam kembali = "night returns" (more simple, less nuanced, sounds like a regular event)
• malam sudah kembali = "night has returned" (focus on the result: it has come back)

In this figurative sentence, sudah helps create the sense that it feels like night is already back again, not just that it’s in the process of returning.

You can say malam kembali and people will understand, but malam sudah kembali sounds more natural and expressive here.

What kind of meaning does kembali have here? Is it literal or figurative?

Here kembali is figurative.

Literally:

• kembali = "to return / come back"

In the sentence:

• seolah-olah malam sudah kembali
  → "as if night had returned"

It doesn’t mean that "the night traveled away and then came back."
It means:

• The darkness in the morning was so intense that it felt like nighttime had come back.

So the idea of "night returning" is metaphorical, describing how dark the sky looked.

Why isn’t there a word like itu in langit gelap? Would Pagi tadi langit itu gelap be wrong?

Malay often omits demonstratives like itu ("that") or ini ("this") when context makes it clear.

• Pagi tadi langit gelap.
  → "This morning the sky was dark."
  The listener will naturally understand it as the sky.

Pagi tadi langit itu gelap is grammatically correct, but:

• langit itu = that sky (more specific, referring to a particular sky or perhaps a location you both see or know)
• It can sound slightly more pointed or specific than necessary here.

In general, for "the sky" in a neutral description, langit without itu is more natural.

How would the meaning change if I used telah instead of sudah: malam telah kembali?

Both sudah and telah can mark completed actions (like "has already" / simple past), but their style differs:

• sudah:

  • Very common in both spoken and written Malay.
  • Neutral, everyday word.

• telah:

  • Feels more formal, often used in written, news, or official language.
  • Less common in casual conversation.

So:

• malam sudah kembali = natural, neutral; good for conversation and narrative.
• malam telah kembali = sounds more formal or literary.

The basic meaning ("night has returned") is the same; it’s mainly a difference in tone/register.

Is the word order fixed in malam sudah kembali? Could I say malam kembali sudah?

The natural order is malam sudah kembali:

• malam (subject)
• sudah (aspect marker: already/has)
• kembali (verb)

Saying malam kembali sudah is not natural in standard Malay.
Aspect markers like sudah normally come before the main verb, not after it.

So, stick with:

• malam sudah kembali ✅
• malam kembali sudah ❌ (sounds wrong/very strange)

Are there any spelling or hyphenation rules for seolah-olah?

Yes. seolah-olah is written with a hyphen.

• It is a compound word formed by repeating olah with the prefix se-:
  • se
    • olah-olah → seolah-olah

Standard Malay spelling rules:

• Many reduplicated or paired forms use a hyphen:
  seolah-olah, seakan-akan, ulang-alik, kacau-bilau, etc.

Writing it as:

• ✗ seolah olah (with a space)
• ✗ seolahlah or other variants

would be considered incorrect spelling in standard Malay.