Learn Hardcore Malay: Selepas hari yang padat, saya tutup laptop, duduk diam di sofa, dan tarik nafas dalam. - After a busy day, I close my laptop, sit quietly on the sofa, and take a deep breath.

selepas – Standard and neutral. Common in writing and polite speech. Very safe to use.
lepas – Colloquial / informal version of selepas. Very common in everyday spoken Malaysian Malay:
- Lepas tu saya balik. = After that I went home.
setelah – More formal or literary. Often used in written language, narratives, and news-style Malay.

In your sentence, you could also say:

Lepas hari yang padat, … (more casual)
Setelah hari yang padat, … (a bit more literary)

All are grammatically correct, just with different vibes.

Why do we say hari yang padat and not just hari padat?

Yang here links hari (day) to its description padat (packed), like a relative/descriptor marker:

hari yang padat ≈ “a day that is packed/busy”

You normally use yang between a noun and a following adjective clause or detailed description. While hari padat is not impossible, it sounds more like a technical label (“a packed day” as a category) and is less natural in everyday speech.

So:

hari yang padat – natural way to describe the day as packed
jadual yang padat – a packed schedule
program yang menarik – an interesting program

What exactly does padat mean here? Is it the same as sibuk?

Padat literally means “dense, compact, packed”. In time-related contexts it means:

full / tightly packed with activities

Sibuk means “busy”, usually about a person:

Saya sibuk hari ini. – I’m busy today.
Jadual saya padat hari ini. – My schedule is packed today.

In hari yang padat, the focus is that the day is filled with many things, not just that you feel busy. You could also say hari yang sibuk, which is common, but padat hints at a packed schedule rather than just a busy feeling.

Why is it saya tutup laptop and not saya menutup laptop?

Both are grammatically correct:

saya tutup laptop – more casual, everyday speech.
saya menutup laptop – more formal / written style.

Malay often uses the base verb (here: tutup) in casual conversation and storytelling. The meN- form (menutup) sounds a bit more official or literary in many contexts.

So in a relaxed, spoken-style sentence like this, tutup matches the tone very well.

Similarly, why tarik nafas instead of menarik nafas?

Again, both are correct:

tarik nafas – common in speech, informal writing, and fixed expressions.
menarik nafas – more complete / formal, often found in narratives, essays, or formal text.

Fixed expressions often use the bare verb:

tarik balik – take back / retract
tarik diri – withdraw (from something)
tarik nafas panjang – take a long breath

So tarik nafas dalam is perfectly natural and idiomatic in this casual context.

Why is saya only mentioned once? Is the subject understood for the other verbs?

Yes. In Malay, once the subject is clear, you don’t need to repeat it for each verb in a series.

Selepas hari yang padat, saya tutup laptop, duduk diam di sofa, dan tarik nafas dalam.

This is understood as:

Selepas hari yang padat, saya tutup laptop, (saya) duduk diam di sofa, dan (saya) tarik nafas dalam.

Repeating saya every time would sound heavy and unnatural in this kind of narrative:

✗ … saya tutup laptop, saya duduk diam di sofa, dan saya tarik nafas dalam. (grammatical but clunky)

Is tutup laptop natural Malay, or should it be tutup komputer riba?

Both are used, but in different registers:

laptop – Common loanword, very frequent in everyday speech and informal writing.
- Saya tutup laptop. – Completely natural in conversation.
komputer riba – Official / standard Malay term, more common in formal writing, government documents, textbooks.

Your sentence has a conversational tone, so tutup laptop fits very well.

In duduk diam di sofa, what does diam do? Is it like an adverb?

Diam is fundamentally an adjective meaning “silent / still / not moving / not doing anything.”

In duduk diam, it functions like an adverb in English:

duduk diam ≈ “sit quietly / sit still / just sit without doing anything”

Malay doesn’t make a strong grammar distinction between adjectives and adverbs. An adjective placed after a verb often describes how the action is done:

berjalan perlahan – walk slowly
bekerja keras – work hard
duduk diam – sit still/quietly

So your intuition is right: it’s used adverbially, even though it’s an adjective in form.

What’s the difference between duduk diam, duduk sahaja, and duduk senyap?

They’re close, but not identical:

duduk diam
- Focus: not moving around, not fidgeting, not doing anything else.
- Often used with children: “Duduk diam!” – “Sit still / sit quietly!”
duduk sahaja (or duduk je / duduk saja in speech)
- Focus: “just sitting, doing nothing else”.
- Slight nuance of passivity or “only this, nothing more”:
  - Dia duduk sahaja di rumah. – He/she just sits at home (does nothing much).
duduk senyap
- Focus more on not talking / being silent.
- senyap = quiet, not making noise.
- So duduk senyap ≈ “sit quietly (without making noise)”.

In your sentence, duduk diam di sofa paints the picture of sitting still and doing nothing, which fits relaxing after a long day.

Why is it di sofa and not di atas sofa?

In Malay, di + place is often enough to mean “in / at / on that place,” depending on context.

di sofa – normally understood as “on the sofa”.
di atas sofa – literally “on top of the sofa”, more explicit about the surface.

Both are grammatically correct here. Di sofa sounds more natural and less wordy in everyday language. You’d use di atas when you really need to stress “on top of” or to avoid ambiguity.

Why is it tarik nafas dalam and not tarik nafas dalam-dalam? Are both correct?

Both are correct, but slightly different:

tarik nafas dalam
- Literally: “take a deep breath.”
- dalam describes the breath as deep (short for nafas yang dalam).
tarik nafas dalam-dalam
- The reduplication dalam-dalam adds intensity or repeated action.
- Often interpreted as: “take a very deep breath” or “breathe deeply (for a while / several times).”

In your sentence, tarik nafas dalam already gives a clear, natural image. If you want to emphasise really deep, possibly repeated breathing to calm down, tarik nafas dalam-dalam is also very idiomatic.

Is the whole sentence more spoken or written style? How would it look in a more formal version?

The given sentence is natural, neutral, and a bit conversational. It’s perfect for:

everyday speech
informal writing (blogs, personal stories, social media)

A more formal / written-style version might look like:

Selepas seharian yang padat, saya menutup komputer riba, duduk diam di atas sofa, dan menarik nafas yang dalam.

Changes:

seharian – “for the whole day”
menutup instead of tutup
komputer riba instead of laptop
di atas sofa instead of di sofa
menarik nafas yang dalam (or menarik nafas dalam-dalam) for a slightly more formal feel

Your original sentence is exactly how many native speakers would narrate this situation in everyday contexts.