Pada semester lepas, kami banyak belajar di makmal sehingga lewat petang.

Pada semester lepas means last semester and gives the time frame first.

Malay often puts time expressions at the beginning of a sentence, especially to set the scene. That is very natural. You could also place the time later in some contexts, but sentence-initial position is very common.

• pada = at / in / on, depending on context
• semester lepas = last semester

So Pada semester lepas is a natural way to say Last semester, ...

Here, pada introduces a time expression. In this sentence, it works like in or during in English.

So:

• Pada semester lepas = last semester / during last semester

In everyday Malay, speakers sometimes omit pada with time expressions, depending on the phrase and the level of formality. But in this sentence, pada is perfectly correct and natural.

In Malay, lepas can come after a time noun to mean last in the sense of the previous one.

So:

• semester lepas = last semester
• minggu lepas = last week
• tahun lepas = last year

This word order is normal in Malay. English usually puts last before the noun, but Malay often puts lepas after it.

This is a very important distinction in Malay.

• kami = we, but not including the listener
• kita = we, including the listener

So kami banyak belajar... means the speaker is talking about their group, not including the person being addressed.

A native English speaker often asks about this because English only has one word, we, but Malay splits it into two meanings.

Here, banyak means a lot and modifies the verb belajar.

So:

• banyak belajar = studied a lot

Even though banyak often means many / much / a lot, in this sentence it is functioning adverbially, describing the amount or extent of studying.

Examples:

• Saya banyak membaca. = I read a lot.
• Mereka banyak bercakap. = They talk a lot.

In Malay, banyak commonly comes before the verb when it means a lot in this kind of sentence.

So:

• kami banyak belajar = we studied a lot

That is the most natural phrasing here.

You may sometimes hear different word orders in different contexts, but for a learner, banyak + verb is a very useful and natural pattern.

It can mean either study or learn, depending on context.

In this sentence, because of di makmal and sehingga lewat petang, the most natural English meaning is probably studied:

• kami banyak belajar di makmal = we studied a lot in the lab

Malay often uses one verb where English might choose between two different verbs.

Malay verbs do not change form for tense the way English verbs do.

So belajar stays belajar, whether the action is past, present, or future. The time is usually understood from context or from time expressions.

In this sentence, the past meaning comes from:

• Pada semester lepas = last semester

That tells us the studying happened in the past.

Di is the preposition used for location, meaning in / at / on depending on context.

So:

• di makmal = in the laboratory / in the lab

This is different from ke, which usually shows movement to a place.

Compare:

• Kami belajar di makmal. = We studied in the lab.
• Kami pergi ke makmal. = We went to the lab.

Yes. Makmal is the standard Malay word for laboratory or lab.

In educational contexts, makmal is very common, for example:

• makmal komputer = computer lab
• makmal sains = science lab

Sehingga means until or up to.

In this sentence:

• sehingga lewat petang = until late afternoon / until late in the afternoon

It shows how long the action continued. So the group studied in the lab and continued doing so until late afternoon.

Yes. Hingga and sehingga are very close in meaning, and in many cases either one works.

So you could also say:

• ... di makmal hingga lewat petang.

Both are natural. Sehingga can sometimes sound a little more formal or complete, but the difference is usually small for everyday understanding.

Lewat petang means late afternoon or late in the afternoon.

Breakdown:

• lewat = late
• petang = afternoon / early evening

So sehingga lewat petang means the activity continued until that late-afternoon time.

The comma separates the introductory time phrase from the main clause:

• Pada semester lepas, = introductory time expression
• kami banyak belajar di makmal sehingga lewat petang. = main statement

In Malay writing, this comma is natural and helps readability. It works similarly to English punctuation in sentences like Last semester, we studied a lot in the lab...

Not very naturally. A rough word-for-word breakdown is:

• Pada = in / during
• semester lepas = last semester
• kami = we (not including you)
• banyak = a lot
• belajar = study / learn
• di makmal = in the lab
• sehingga = until
• lewat petang = late afternoon

A more natural English translation would be something like:

• Last semester, we studied a lot in the lab until late afternoon.

So the meaning is straightforward, but the most natural English wording may not match the Malay word order exactly.