Dekan fakulti itu datang ke makmal pagi tadi untuk lihat projek pelajar.

Malay does not usually use articles like the and a/an the way English does.

So:

• dekan can mean a dean or the dean
• makmal can mean a lab or the lab
• projek pelajar can mean a student project, the student project, or students’ projects, depending on context

Specificity is often understood from context, or it can be reinforced by words like itu.

Itu often means that, but in many sentences it also helps make a noun phrase more definite, closer to the in English.

In dekan fakulti itu, itu comes at the end of the noun phrase, not directly after the first noun.

This whole phrase can be understood as:

• the dean of that faculty
• that faculty’s dean
• sometimes simply the faculty dean, depending on context

A useful thing to notice is that Malay often places itu after the full noun phrase:

• rumah besar itu = that big house
• pelajar universiti itu = that university student / the student from that university

Malay often links nouns directly to show a relationship that English might express with of.

So:

• dekan fakulti = dean of the faculty
• projek pelajar = student project or students’ project
• buku sejarah = history book

You do not need a separate word like of here. The relationship is understood from the noun order.

Yes, datang basically means come or arrive, but in translation it may sound more natural in English as came, visited, or turned up.

In this sentence, datang ke makmal means the dean came to the lab. English might translate it as:

• came to the lab
• visited the lab

Malay often uses datang in situations where English might choose either come or visit, depending on style.

Ke is a preposition meaning to, especially for movement toward a place.

So:

• datang ke makmal = come to the lab
• pergi ke sekolah = go to school
• balik ke rumah = return home

It is commonly used before places or destinations.

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

The past meaning comes from the time phrase pagi tadi, which means this morning earlier today or earlier this morning.

So datang by itself does not mean specifically came or comes. The time expression tells you it happened earlier:

• pagi tadi = earlier this morning
• semalam = yesterday
• minggu lepas = last week

Without a time marker, the sentence could be more ambiguous in time.

Pagi means morning, and tadi refers to something earlier today or a short while ago.

Together, pagi tadi means:

• this morning
• earlier this morning

It is used for something that happened on the same day, earlier than now.

Compare:

• semalam pagi = yesterday morning
• pagi ini = this morning, often more neutral or reference-based
• pagi tadi = this morning, with a sense of earlier today

Both are possible, but they differ in style.

• lihat is the simpler base form
• melihat is the derived verb with the meN- prefix and is usually more formal or careful

So:

• untuk lihat projek pelajar sounds natural and conversational
• untuk melihat projek pelajar sounds a bit more formal or fully written out

Learners should know that in everyday Malay, especially speech and less formal writing, the shorter base verb often appears after words like untuk.

Here, lihat is a verb meaning see or look at.

In untuk lihat projek pelajar, it means:

• to see the student project
• to look at the students’ project(s)

After untuk, Malay often uses a verb to express purpose:

• untuk makan = to eat
• untuk belajar = to study
• untuk lihat = to see / to look at

It can mean either, depending on context.

Malay nouns do not have to show singular or plural explicitly. So:

• projek pelajar could mean the student’s project
• or the students’ projects
• or more generally student project(s)

Context tells you which meaning is intended. If a speaker wants to make plurality very clear, they can add other clues, such as:

• projek-projek pelajar = students’ projects
• beberapa projek pelajar = several student projects

But in normal Malay, leaving it unmarked is very common.

Pelajar describes projek, not dekan.

So the structure is:

• projek pelajar = student project / students’ project(s)

The sentence breaks down roughly like this:

• Dekan fakulti itu = the dean of that faculty
• datang ke makmal pagi tadi = came to the lab earlier this morning
• untuk lihat projek pelajar = to see the student project(s)

This kind of noun grouping is very common in Malay.

The basic order is:

Subject + Verb + Place + Time + Purpose

Here:

• Dekan fakulti itu = subject
• datang = verb
• ke makmal = place
• pagi tadi = time
• untuk lihat projek pelajar = purpose

So the sentence literally goes something like:

• The faculty dean came to the lab earlier this morning to see the student project(s).

Malay word order is often similar to English in simple statements, but noun phrases and definiteness work differently.

Yes. A more formal version would often use melihat instead of lihat:

Dekan fakulti itu datang ke makmal pagi tadi untuk melihat projek pelajar.

The meaning stays the same, but melihat sounds more formal and standard in careful writing. The version with lihat is still very natural, especially in everyday usage.