Ayah guna senduk kayu untuk kacau kuah, kemudian dia tapis kuah itu sebelum kami makan.

Ayah means father or dad. In Malay, family terms are very often used directly as nouns or even like names in a sentence.

So Ayah guna... literally means Dad uses/used...

This is very natural in Malay. You do not need an article like the or my unless you specifically want to add one:

• Ayah = Dad
• ayah saya = my father

Guna is a very common everyday way to say use.
Menggunakan is the fuller, more formal version.

So:

• guna = casual, spoken, very common
• menggunakan = more formal, often used in writing or careful speech

Both are correct. This sentence sounds natural and conversational because it uses guna.

Senduk is a ladle, scoop, or a large serving spoon.
Kayu means wood.

So senduk kayu means a wooden ladle.

A useful pattern here is that in Malay, the main noun usually comes first, and the describing word comes after it:

• senduk kayu = wooden ladle
• rumah besar = big house
• meja kayu = wooden table

Not exactly.

• sudu usually means spoon
• senduk usually means ladle or scoop

So in this sentence, senduk is more suitable because it suggests a larger utensil used for stirring or scooping liquid.

Both are possible, but they feel different in style.

• untuk kacau = more casual, spoken
• untuk mengacau = more complete/formal

Malay often drops prefixes like meng- in everyday speech, especially in simple sentences.

So:

• Ayah guna senduk kayu untuk kacau kuah sounds natural and conversational.
• Ayah menggunakan senduk kayu untuk mengacau kuah sounds more formal.

Here, kacau means to stir.

This is a good word to notice because kacau can also mean to disturb, to bother, or to mess up in other contexts.

For example:

• kacau kuah = stir the gravy/broth
• jangan kacau saya = don’t disturb me

So the meaning depends heavily on context.

Kuah usually refers to the liquid part of a dish, such as:

• gravy
• broth
• sauce-like liquid served with food

It is not always exactly the same as English soup.
It often means the flavorful liquid that goes with rice, noodles, curry, or other dishes.

So in this sentence, kuah is best understood as the broth/gravy/sauce depending on the food.

Kemudian means then, after that, or afterwards.

It connects the two actions in sequence:

1. Dad stirs the gravy
2. then he strains it

So it helps show the order of events.

Other similar connectors include:

• lalu = then
• selepas itu = after that

After Ayah is mentioned once, Malay can refer back to him with dia, which means he or she.

Important point: Malay dia does not show gender.
So dia can mean:

• he
• she

In this sentence, it clearly refers to Ayah, so it means he.

Yes, it could.

Both are possible:

• ...kemudian dia tapis kuah itu...
• ...kemudian Ayah tapis kuah itu...

Using dia avoids repetition and sounds natural, just like English often switches from Dad to he.

Repeating Ayah can add emphasis or clarity, but it is not necessary here.

Itu here points to a specific thing already mentioned: the gravy / that gravy.

So kuah itu means something like:

• that gravy
• the gravy

Malay often uses itu after a noun to show that the listener already knows which thing is being referred to.

Also notice the word order:

• kuah itu = that gravy
• not itu kuah

That is normal in Malay: demonstratives like ini and itu usually come after the noun.

Malay often repeats the noun for clarity, and this sounds perfectly natural.

So instead of saying only he strains it, Malay commonly says he strains that gravy / the gravy:

• dia tapis kuah itu

This makes the reference very clear.

A shorter version is possible in some contexts, but repeating the noun is extremely normal in Malay.

Tapis means to strain, to filter, or to sieve.

In cooking, it often means passing liquid through a strainer to remove solids.

So dia tapis kuah itu means he strains the broth/gravy before serving or eating it.

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

So makan can mean:

• eat
• eats
• ate
• are eating

The time is understood from context.

In this sentence, the sequence words make it clear:

• kemudian = then
• sebelum = before

So English naturally translates it in the past, but Malay does not need a special past-tense verb form.

This is a very important Malay distinction:

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

So sebelum kami makan means before we ate/ate it, where we does not include the person being spoken to.

If the speaker wanted to include the listener, they would use kita instead.

It sounds natural and everyday, slightly on the informal/conversational side.

That is mainly because of forms like:

• guna instead of menggunakan
• kacau instead of mengacau
• tapis instead of menapis

A more formal version would be:

• Ayah menggunakan senduk kayu untuk mengacau kuah, kemudian dia menapis kuah itu sebelum kami makan.

Both are correct, but the original sounds more like normal spoken Malay.