Learn Hardcore Malay: Perut saya sakit selepas makan terlalu cepat.

perut saya ✅ natural and neutral
saya perut ❌ wrong word order
saya punya perut ✅ but more colloquial / emphatic, like my stomach (in particular)

You’ll usually use perut saya in standard speech and writing. Saya punya X is common in casual conversation and can sound a bit childlike or strongly possessive, depending on context.

Is sakit a verb (hurts) or an adjective (painful) in this sentence? Why is there no word for is?

Sakit in Perut saya sakit can be understood as:

an adjective: my stomach is painful
or a stative verb: my stomach hurts

Malay doesn’t use a separate verb like is / am / are before adjectives. So:

Perut saya sakit. = My stomach is painful / My stomach hurts.
You do not say Perut saya adalah sakit in everyday speech; that sounds unnatural here.

So sakit itself carries the idea of being in pain, and Malay doesn’t need an extra is.

Can I say Saya sakit perut instead of Perut saya sakit? Do they mean the same thing?

Both are correct but the focus is slightly different.

Perut saya sakit.
Literally: My stomach is painful.
Focus: the stomach (the body part) is in pain.
Saya sakit perut.
Literally: I am stomach-sick.
Natural meaning: I have a stomachache.
Focus: I am unwell, with the specific problem being the stomach.

In everyday conversation, both are commonly used and will be understood as I have a stomachache. Choose whichever feels more natural; neither is wrong.

What exactly does selepas mean, and how is it different from lepas or sesudah?

Selepas means after and introduces the time when something happens.

In the sentence:

selepas makan terlalu cepat = after eating too fast

Related words:

selepas – neutral, common, used in both speech and writing
sesudah – very close in meaning, often slightly more formal/literary
lepas – informal/colloquial shortening of selepas; very common in spoken Malay

Examples (all mean after eating):

selepas makan
sesudah makan
lepas makan (more casual)

So you could also say:

Perut saya sakit lepas makan terlalu cepat. (more informal)

Why is makan used by itself here? How can it mean eating and not just eat?

Malay verbs do not change form for tense (past, present, future) or for -ing forms.

The bare verb makan can mean:

to eat
eat / eats
eating
ate / have eaten, etc.

The exact meaning comes from context and time expressions.

So:

selepas makan terlalu cepat = after eating too fast
(or more literally: after eat too fast)

If you want to make it look more like a full clause, you can say:

selepas saya makan terlalu cepat = after I eat / after I ate too fast

Why is there no subject before makan? Shouldn’t it be selepas saya makan terlalu cepat?

You can say:

Perut saya sakit selepas saya makan terlalu cepat.

That is fully correct and clear.

However, Malay often drops the subject in time phrases like this when:

the subject is obvious from context, and
it is the same as the subject in the main clause.

Here, the person whose stomach hurts is clearly saya (I), so selepas makan is naturally understood as after I eat / after I ate.

Both are grammatical:

Perut saya sakit selepas makan terlalu cepat. (shorter, very natural)
Perut saya sakit selepas saya makan terlalu cepat. (more explicit, a bit more formal or careful)

Where should terlalu cepat go in the sentence? Could I say terlalu makan cepat or makan cepat terlalu?

In Malay, degree words like terlalu (too) usually come before the adjective/adverb they modify, and the whole phrase comes after the verb.

The natural structure is:

[verb] + [degree word + adjective/adverb]

So:

makan terlalu cepat ✅ = eat too fast

The other orders you suggested are not natural:

terlalu makan cepat ❌ sounds wrong
makan cepat terlalu ❌ also sounds wrong

Other natural patterns:

makan cepat = eat fast
makan sangat cepat / makan amat cepat = eat very fast
makan terlalu cepat = eat too fast (excessively fast)

What does terlalu mean exactly? Is it the same as very?

Terlalu means too in the sense of excessive, usually with a negative implication.

terlalu cepat = too fast (faster than is good / than is acceptable)
terlalu pedas = too spicy (uncomfortably spicy)
terlalu mahal = too expensive

For very (strong but not necessarily bad), Malay more often uses:

sangat cepat = very fast
amat cepat = very fast (more formal)
begitu cepat = so fast

So:

terlalu cepat ≈ too fast (a problem)
sangat cepat ≈ very fast (not necessarily a problem)

Could I say Perut saya rasa sakit selepas makan terlalu cepat? Does rasa change the meaning?

Yes, you can say:

Perut saya rasa sakit selepas makan terlalu cepat.

Here:

rasa = feel / feels

So the sentence means:

My stomach feels painful after eating too fast.

Nuances:

Perut saya sakit... = My stomach hurts / is painful...
Perut saya rasa sakit... = My stomach feels painful...

Both are natural. Adding rasa can make it sound slightly more descriptive or subjective (emphasizing your sensation), but in everyday speech the difference is small.

Is there anything in the sentence that shows present vs past tense, like hurts (now) vs hurt (earlier)?

No. Malay verbs do not change form for tense.

Perut saya sakit can mean:
- My stomach hurts (now), or
- My stomach hurt (earlier), depending on context.

Time information usually comes from context or extra words:

Perut saya sakit tadi selepas makan terlalu cepat.
= My stomach hurt earlier after eating too fast.
Perut saya akan sakit kalau saya makan terlalu cepat.
= My stomach will hurt if I eat too fast.

In the original sentence, without extra time words, the time is understood from the situation.

Is Perut saya sakit selepas makan terlalu cepat the most natural word order, or could we say it another way?

Perut saya sakit selepas makan terlalu cepat is very natural and common.

Other natural variations include:

Saya sakit perut selepas makan terlalu cepat.
= I have a stomachache after eating too fast.
Selepas makan terlalu cepat, perut saya sakit.
= After eating too fast, my stomach hurts. (slight emphasis on the time clause)

All three are grammatical; the differences are in focus and style, not in correctness. The original version is perfectly good everyday Malay.