Learn Hardcore Malay: Saya banyak belajar di perpustakaan untuk peperiksaan esok. - I study a lot in the library for tomorrow’s exam.

Here banyak is functioning adverbially, modifying the verb belajar (“to study / to learn”), and it usually goes before the verb in this kind of pattern:

Saya banyak makan. – I eat a lot.
Dia banyak membaca. – He/She reads a lot.

So:

Saya banyak belajar… – I study/learn a lot … (emphasis on the amount of studying).

Putting banyak before the verb is the most natural way to say “do X a lot” in Malay.

Could I say Saya belajar banyak instead? Does it mean the same thing?

Not quite the same, and it can sound a bit off without more words.

Saya banyak belajar
– Usually understood as “I study a lot / I have learned a lot” (quantity/intensity of the activity).
Saya belajar banyak
– On its own, this is less natural. It tends to suggest “I learn many (things)”, where banyak is more like “many” describing some implied object.

You normally see belajar banyak followed by a noun:

Saya belajar banyak perkara. – I learn many things.
Kami belajar banyak bahasa. – We learn many languages.

So for “I study a lot”, Saya banyak belajar is the natural pattern.

Does belajar mean “to learn” or “to study”? How do I know which one is meant here?

Belajar can mean both:

to study (like preparing for exams, doing schoolwork), and
to learn (acquiring knowledge or a skill).

Context tells you which nuance is stronger.

Because the sentence mentions:

di perpustakaan – at the library
untuk peperiksaan esok – for tomorrow’s exam

the most natural English equivalent is “to study”:

Saya banyak belajar di perpustakaan untuk peperiksaan esok.
→ I am studying a lot at the library for tomorrow’s exam.

In another context:

Saya banyak belajar tentang budaya Malaysia.
could be “I learned a lot about Malaysian culture.”

There’s no word like “will” or any tense marker. How do we know the time in this sentence?

Malay generally does not conjugate verbs for tense (no -ed, -s, “will”, etc.). Instead, time is shown by:

time words: semalam (yesterday), sekarang (now), esok (tomorrow),
or context.

In this sentence:

peperiksaan esok – exam tomorrow

That tells you:

The studying is/was around now or recently.
The exam is in the future (tomorrow).

Depending on context, it could be translated as:

“I am studying a lot at the library for tomorrow’s exam.”
“I have been studying a lot at the library for tomorrow’s exam.”

Malay does not need a special verb form to show this; esok carries the future sense for the exam.

How does peperiksaan esok mean “tomorrow’s exam”? Why is esok after peperiksaan?

In Malay, it’s common for time words to come after the noun they describe:

peperiksaan esok – tomorrow’s exam / the exam tomorrow
mesyuarat petang ini – this afternoon’s meeting / the meeting this afternoon
kelas pagi – morning class

So:

peperiksaan – exam
esok – tomorrow

Together: peperiksaan esok = the exam (that is) tomorrow.

More formal / explicit versions are possible:

peperiksaan pada esok hari – the exam on the day tomorrow
peperiksaan saya esok – my exam tomorrow

But in everyday Malay, peperiksaan esok is normal and clear.

What exactly does di mean here, and how is it different from ke?

Both are basic prepositions of place/direction:

di = at / in / on (location, where something is)
ke = to / towards (direction, where something is going)

In the sentence:

di perpustakaan – at the library (location)

Compare:

Saya di perpustakaan. – I am at the library.
Saya pergi ke perpustakaan. – I go to the library.

So you use:

di when you’re already there,
ke when you’re going there.

What does untuk do in this sentence? Could I replace it with another word for “for”?

Untuk means for / for the purpose of. It introduces a purpose:

… di perpustakaan untuk peperiksaan esok.
– at the library for tomorrow’s exam
→ i.e. studying with the purpose of preparing for that exam.

You could sometimes replace untuk with:

kerana / sebab – because of
- Saya banyak belajar di perpustakaan kerana peperiksaan esok.
  – I study a lot at the library because of tomorrow’s exam.

Difference:

untuk = in order to, for the purpose of
kerana/sebab = because (cause/reason)

In your sentence, untuk is more natural because it focuses on purpose (studying in order to prepare).

Why is there no word like “the” before perpustakaan? How do I know if it’s “a library” or “the library”?

Malay normally has no articles like “a/an/the”. The noun perpustakaan by itself can mean:

a library
the library

Which one you choose in English depends on context:

If both speaker and listener know which library:
→ “the library”
If it’s just “some library, not specified”:
→ “a library”

So:

Saya banyak belajar di perpustakaan untuk peperiksaan esok.
could be translated as either
→ “I study a lot at the library for tomorrow’s exam.”
or
→ “I study a lot at a library for tomorrow’s exam.”

Malay does not mark this difference explicitly.

What is the difference between saya and aku? Is saya formal here?

Both mean “I / me”, but their usage is different:

saya
- neutral and polite
- used in most situations: with strangers, teachers, at work, in writing
- safe default for learners
aku
- more informal / intimate
- used with close friends, family, or in casual speech
- can sound rude if used to the wrong person

In your sentence:

Saya banyak belajar di perpustakaan untuk peperiksaan esok.
– perfectly natural, neutral–polite.

With a close friend, you might hear:

Aku banyak belajar di perpustakaan untuk peperiksaan esok.

As a learner, saya is the safest choice.

Can I drop any words and still be grammatical? For example, can I omit banyak or untuk?

Yes, you can drop some words, but the meaning changes.

Drop banyak:

Saya belajar di perpustakaan untuk peperiksaan esok.
– I study at the library for tomorrow’s exam.
(You’re just stating the activity, not saying “a lot”.)

Drop untuk and time phrase remains:

Saya banyak belajar di perpustakaan.
– I study/learn a lot at the library.
(No mention of the exam.)

Drop untuk but keep peperiksaan esok without a preposition is not good:

✗ Saya banyak belajar di perpustakaan peperiksaan esok. (ungrammatical)

You need untuk (or something similar) to link peperiksaan esok as a purpose.

Drop saya:

In context where “I” is obvious, spoken Malay might omit it:

Banyak belajar di perpustakaan untuk peperiksaan esok.

Grammatically fine, but in a full written sentence we usually keep saya.

How could I say “I am studying hard at the library for tomorrow’s exam” more explicitly in Malay?

Your sentence is already natural, but if you want to emphasize ongoing action or studying hard, you can say:

Emphasize it’s happening now (progressive):

Saya sedang belajar di perpustakaan untuk peperiksaan esok.
– I am (currently) studying at the library for tomorrow’s exam.

You can combine with banyak or another intensifier:

Saya sedang belajar bersungguh-sungguh di perpustakaan untuk peperiksaan esok.
– I am studying very hard at the library for tomorrow’s exam.
(bersungguh-sungguh = very seriously / with full effort)

Emphasize effort:

Saya belajar keras di perpustakaan untuk peperiksaan esok.
– I study hard at the library for tomorrow’s exam.

So:

banyak belajar – focus on amount
belajar keras / belajar bersungguh-sungguh – focus on effort / intensity

What does perpustakaan literally come from? Is there a pattern I can learn?

Yes, it follows a common Malay word-formation pattern.

pustaka – (a more literary word) “book(s) / literature / writings”
per- … -an – a common pair of affixes forming places / institutions / abstract nouns

So:

per
- pustaka
  - an → perpustakaan
    – literally something like “place of books” → library

This per-…-an pattern appears in other words too:

latih (train) → perlatihan (training)
niaga (trade) → perniagaan (business, trade)

Seeing per-…-an can often hint that the word is a place, institution, or related abstract noun.

Can esok be moved to the front, like Esok saya banyak belajar…? Does that change the meaning?

Yes, you can move esok, but the meaning changes.

Original:

Saya banyak belajar di perpustakaan untuk peperiksaan esok.
– I am studying a lot at the library for tomorrow’s exam.

Here, esok clearly modifies peperiksaan (the exam is tomorrow).

If you say:

Esok saya banyak belajar di perpustakaan.

This usually means:

Tomorrow I will study a lot at the library.

Now esok is modifying the whole sentence; the studying itself is tomorrow. There’s no explicit “tomorrow’s exam” anymore; it’s about when you will study.

So:

peperiksaan esok → the exam is tomorrow
esok saya banyak belajar… → the studying is tomorrow.