Breakdown of Selepas makan malam, adik saya menyusun pinggan mangkuk bersih di rak dekat singki.
Questions & Answers about Selepas makan malam, adik saya menyusun pinggan mangkuk bersih di rak dekat singki.
Literally, “Selepas makan malam” means “After eating at night”, but idiomatically it means “After dinner.”
You can also say:
- Lepas makan malam – more informal (dropping the initial se-).
- Sesudah makan malam – a bit more formal; synonym of selepas.
All three (selepas / lepas / sesudah) mean “after”; the rest of the sentence stays the same.
In Malay, “makan malam” literally means “night eating / night meal.” It functions as the usual way to say “dinner.”
Common meal terms:
- sarapan or sarapan pagi – breakfast
- makan tengah hari – lunch (literally “midday meal”)
- makan malam – dinner (literally “night meal”)
Malay often uses “makan + time of day” instead of a single word equivalent to “dinner.”
“Adik saya” means “my younger sibling”, without specifying gender.
- Adik lelaki saya – my younger brother
- Adik perempuan saya – my younger sister
If the context doesn’t require gender detail, “adik saya” is enough and natural.
The usual order in Malay is:
Possessed thing + possessor
So:
- adik saya = my younger sibling
- rumah saya = my house
- kereta dia = his/her car
“Saya adik” would mean “I am (a) younger sibling” (a “to be” sentence), not “my younger sibling.”
“Menyusun” means “to arrange / to line up / to put in order.”
It comes from:
- base verb: susun – arrange, stack, put in order
- prefix: meN- (here men- before s) → menyusun
The meN- prefix commonly forms active verbs:
- tulis → menulis (to write)
- baca → membaca (to read)
So “adik saya menyusun…” = “my younger sibling arranges…”
Yes, in informal spoken Malay, you’ll often hear:
- Adik saya susun pinggan mangkuk…
Dropping the meN- prefix is common in casual speech.
In standard / written Malay, “menyusun” is preferred because it’s the correct active verb form.
Literally:
- pinggan – plate
- mangkuk – bowl
Together as “pinggan mangkuk”, the pair is used idiomatically to mean “dishes / crockery / tableware” in general, not only plates and bowls.
It’s similar to saying “pots and pans” in English to mean general cookware.
Malay usually doesn’t mark plural nouns with an ending like “-s.”
“Pinggan mangkuk” can be:
- one set of dishes (singular)
- many dishes (plural)
Number is understood from context or explicit words:
- beberapa pinggan mangkuk – several dishes
- banyak pinggan mangkuk – many dishes
So in this sentence, from the real-world context (after dinner), we naturally understand it as plural dishes.
In Malay, adjectives usually come after the noun:
- pinggan mangkuk bersih – clean dishes
- buku baru – new book
- rumah besar – big house
So “pinggan mangkuk bersih” literally is “dishes clean,” which corresponds to “clean dishes” in English.
“Di” is a location preposition meaning “at / in / on”, depending on context.
- di rumah – at home
- di meja – at the table / on the table
- di rak – on the shelf / at the shelf
In “di rak dekat singki”, “di” marks the location: “on the shelf”.
Both are possible, but they have slightly different focus:
- di rak – at / on the shelf (general location; very common)
- atas rak – literally “on top of the shelf” (slightly more specific, emphasizing the top surface)
In daily usage, “di rak” is perfectly natural for “on the shelf.”
You could say:
- menyusun pinggan mangkuk bersih di rak dekat singki
- menyusun pinggan mangkuk bersih di atas rak dekat singki
Both are acceptable; the original is just more succinct.
“Dekat” basically means “near / close to.”
In this sentence:
- di rak dekat singki ≈ “on the shelf near the sink”
Two common patterns:
- di dekat X – literally “at near X” (more explicit, a bit more formal)
- dekat X – “near X” (often used after a noun without repeating di)
Because “di rak” already gives a location, Malay often doesn’t repeat “di” before “dekat singki”. So:
- di rak dekat singki (on the shelf near the sink)
is more natural than di rak di dekat singki.
“Singki” means “sink”, usually the kitchen sink in this kind of context.
You may see variants:
- singki – common spelling in Malay
- sinki – also seen (influenced by English pronunciation)
Both are understood, but “singki” with g is widely used in Malay writing.
Malay does not change verb forms for tense (no -ed, etc.).
The verb “menyusun” itself is tenseless.
The time relationship comes from:
- selepas makan malam – after dinner → implies the arranging happens after that event.
- Context (narration about something that has already happened).
If you need to be explicit:
- Selepas makan malam, adik saya telah menyusun… – adding telah (has/already) to emphasize past completion.
But in everyday usage, the original sentence is enough to imply past time.
You can move the time phrase, but Malay strongly prefers time expressions at the beginning or end:
- Selepas makan malam, adik saya menyusun pinggan mangkuk bersih di rak dekat singki.
- Adik saya menyusun pinggan mangkuk bersih di rak dekat singki selepas makan malam.
Both mean the same.
Placing “selepas makan malam” at the start is very natural and common when setting the scene.