Lantai dapur masih lembap selepas saya mencuci pinggan.

The kitchen floor is still damp after I wash the plates.

Breakdown of Lantai dapur masih lembap selepas saya mencuci pinggan.

• saya: I
• adalah: to be
• selepas: after
• masih: still
• mencuci: to wash
• pinggan: the plate
• lantai: the floor
• dapur: kitchen
• lembap: damp

Questions & Answers about Lantai dapur masih lembap selepas saya mencuci pinggan.

What is the structure and literal meaning of “Lantai dapur”? Why is there no word for “of” like in English “floor of the kitchen”?

In Malay, possession or “X of Y” relationships are often expressed by simply putting two nouns next to each other:

• lantai = floor
• dapur = kitchen

So lantai dapur literally is “floor kitchen”, but it means “the kitchen floor” or “the floor of the kitchen”.

Malay doesn’t need a separate word like “of” here. The usual pattern is:

Noun 1 + Noun 2 → “Noun 1 of Noun 2”
pintu rumah = door (of the) house
tandas pejabat = office toilet
telefon ibu = mother’s phone

If you want to be more explicit, you can say lantai di dapur (“the floor in the kitchen”), but that emphasizes the location a bit more than ownership/association.

What exactly does “masih” mean, and where does it go in the sentence?

Masih means “still” in the sense of “continuing to be in a certain state”.

In this sentence:

• masih lembap = still damp

The general pattern is:

Subject + masih + adjective/verb

Examples:

• Dia masih muda. = He/She is still young.
• Saya masih belajar. = I am still studying.
• Mereka masih tidur. = They are still sleeping.

So masih comes before the adjective or verb whose continuity you want to express.

Why is there no word for “is” in “Lantai dapur masih lembap”? Where is the verb “to be”?

Malay usually does not use a separate verb for “to be” (like “is/are/am”) with adjectives or nouns in simple present statements.

• Lantai dapur masih lembap.
  Literally: “Kitchen floor still damp.”

The adjective lembap itself functions as the predicate (“is damp”). You do not say:

• ✗ Lantai dapur adalah lembap. (wrong/odd here)

Adalah and ialah are used in more specific structures (often with noun–noun relationships, or in formal written Malay), e.g.:

• Masalah utama ialah kekurangan air.
  The main problem is lack of water.

But with adjectives like lembap, you normally just say:

Subject + (masih) + adjective
Baju ini kotor. = This shirt is dirty.
Dia masih marah. = She is still angry.

What is the difference between “lembap” and “basah”? Can I use them interchangeably?

Both relate to wetness, but the nuance is different:

• lembap ≈ damp / slightly wet / moist
• basah ≈ wet / soaked

In your sentence:

• Lantai dapur masih lembap… suggests a bit wet or not completely dry, which matches “damp”.

Compare:

• Baju saya basah. = My clothes are wet/soaked.
• Baju saya masih lembap. = My clothes are still damp (not fully dry yet).

Note: You may also see the spelling lembab in some places, but lembap is the standard form in modern Malay spelling.

How does Malay show past tense here? The English meaning is past (“after I washed”), but there is no past tense marking in “selepas saya mencuci pinggan”.

Malay does not have verb conjugation for tense like English does. Instead, time is usually understood from:

• Time words: tadi (earlier), nanti (later), esok (tomorrow), semalam (yesterday), etc.
• Context and surrounding sentences.

In selepas saya mencuci pinggan:

• selepas = after
• saya mencuci pinggan = I wash the dishes / I am washing the dishes / I washed the dishes

The “past” sense (“after I washed”) comes from selepas, which implies that the action is completed relative to the main clause.

If you wanted to make the past time more explicit, you could add a word like:

• Selepas saya mencuci pinggan tadi… = After I washed the dishes earlier…

What is the difference between “selepas”, “sesudah”, and “lepas”?

All three can mean “after”, but they differ in register and usage:

• selepas

  • Common and neutral.
  • Used in both speech and writing.
  • Works well in your sentence: selepas saya mencuci pinggan.

• sesudah

  • Slightly more formal/literary, but still common.
  • Can often replace selepas:
    Sesudah saya mencuci pinggan…

• lepas

  • More colloquial / informal.
  • Often used in speech, and sometimes acts more like a verb “to pass”:
    Lepas saya cuci pinggan, lantai dapur masih lembap.

So for standard, learner-friendly Malay, selepas (or sesudah) is a good choice.

Why is it “selepas saya mencuci pinggan” and not something like “selepas saya cuci pinggan”? What does “mencuci” do?

Mencuci is the meN- verb form from the root cuci (wash/clean).

• cuci = wash (bare root; can appear after certain auxiliaries or in imperatives)
• mencuci = to wash / washing (polite, more standard verbal form)

Your sentence uses the standard verb form:

• saya mencuci pinggan = I wash the dishes.

In everyday speech, many people do say:

• Selepas saya cuci pinggan…

Both are grammatical; mencuci sounds a bit more careful/standard; cuci alone is very common in casual conversation.

What is the difference between “mencuci pinggan” and “membasuh pinggan” / “basuh pinggan”?

All can refer to washing dishes, but there are slight differences:

• mencuci pinggan

  • Uses cuci/mencuci (wash/clean).
  • Neutral, slightly more formal or textbook-like.

• membasuh pinggan

  • Uses basuh/membasuh (wash).
  • Also correct and natural.

• basuh pinggan

  • Very common in speech (shorter, more colloquial).

In everyday Malaysian Malay, you’ll often hear:

• Saya nak basuh pinggan dulu. = I want to wash the dishes first.

Your sentence with mencuci pinggan is perfectly natural, especially in written or careful speech.

Does “pinggan” mean one “plate” or multiple “dishes/plates”? How do I show singular and plural?

Pinggan by itself is number-neutral. It can mean “plate” or “plates/dishes” depending on context.

Malay often doesn’t mark plural explicitly. But you can if you want:

• sebuah pinggan = one plate (using a classifier: buah)
• beberapa pinggan = several plates
• banyak pinggan = many plates
• pinggan-pinggan = plates (plural shown by repetition; more formal/literary or when stressing plurality)

In your sentence, mencuci pinggan is understood as washing the dishes (more than one).

Why is it “Lantai dapur…” instead of “Di dapur…”? Could I say “Di dapur, lantai masih lembap…”?

Both structures are possible, but they do slightly different things.

1. Lantai dapur masih lembap…

   • Subject = the kitchen floor.
   • Straightforward: “The kitchen floor is still damp…”

2. Di dapur, lantai masih lembap…

   • Di dapur = In the kitchen (location phrase).
   • This emphasizes the place first:
     “In the kitchen, the floor is still damp…”

Grammatically:

• Lantai dapur is a noun phrase used as the subject.
• Di dapur is a prepositional phrase giving the location.

Your original version is simple and natural; the alternative is also correct but with a slight shift in focus to the location.

Why is the pronoun “saya” used here? Could we use “aku” instead?

Both saya and aku mean “I / me”, but they differ in politeness and context:

• saya

  • Polite, neutral, standard.
  • Used with strangers, in formal situations, or whenever you want to be respectful.

• aku

  • Informal, intimate.
  • Used with close friends, family, or people of the same age/status in casual settings.

So:

• Selepas saya mencuci pinggan.

  • Neutral/polite, suitable almost everywhere.

• Selepas aku cuci pinggan.

  • Very natural among close friends or in casual speech.

Your sentence uses saya, which is safe and appropriate in most contexts.

Could we shorten “selepas saya mencuci pinggan” to “selepas mencuci pinggan”? Is it okay to omit “saya”?

Yes, you can say:

• Lantai dapur masih lembap selepas mencuci pinggan.

Here, the subject “I” is understood from context. Malay often omits pronouns when they are clear or not important.

The meaning then becomes more like:

• “The kitchen floor is still damp after washing the dishes.”
  (without explicitly stating who did the washing)

If you specifically want to emphasize that you washed them, keep saya. Otherwise, omitting it is fine and common.

Where should “masih” go? Can I say “Lantai dapur lembap masih selepas…”?

Masih normally appears before the adjective or verb that it modifies.

Correct:

• Lantai dapur masih lembap… (still damp)
• Dia masih belajar. (still studying)
• Saya masih lapar. (still hungry)

Incorrect/unnatural:

• ✗ Lantai dapur lembap masih…

So the standard pattern here is: > Subject + masih + adjective
> Lantai dapur masih lembap.

How would I say the opposite: “The kitchen floor is no longer damp after I washed the dishes”?

You can use tidak (not) and lagi (any more / no longer):

• Lantai dapur tidak lembap lagi selepas saya mencuci pinggan.

Breakdown:

• tidak lembap = not damp
• lagi = anymore / no longer (in negative sentences)

Other variants:

• Lantai dapur sudah tidak lembap lagi…
  (“already no longer damp…”, adds a sense of “by that time, it has already stopped being damp”)

All of these follow the same basic structure and are natural in Malay.