Selepas makan malam, saya letak senduk kayu di sebelah periuk.

Selepas means after. It introduces a time phrase, so putting Selepas makan malam at the start is like saying After dinner, ... in English.

Malay is flexible, but time expressions very often come at the beginning:

• Selepas makan malam, saya letak senduk kayu di sebelah periuk.
• Saya letak senduk kayu di sebelah periuk selepas makan malam.

Both are natural. Starting with the time phrase just helps set the scene first.

Yes, literally it is made from:

• makan = eat / meal
• malam = night

But makan malam is a fixed everyday expression meaning dinner or the evening meal.

This is very common in Malay: a combination may be understood as one usual phrase rather than word-for-word.

Related meal expressions:

• sarapan = breakfast
• makan tengah hari = lunch
• makan malam = dinner

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

So saya letak can mean different times depending on context:

• I put
• I am putting
• I put down
• sometimes even I have put

In this sentence, Selepas makan malam helps create a past or completed-event reading in many contexts, but the verb itself stays letak.

If you want to make time clearer, Malay often adds time words:

• semalam = yesterday
• tadi = earlier / just now
• sudah = already
• akan = will

Example:

• Selepas makan malam, saya sudah letak senduk kayu di sebelah periuk.

Both are possible, but they feel different in style.

• letak is very common in everyday speech and informal writing.
• meletakkan is more formal, more explicitly verbal, and often sounds more careful or written.

So:

• Saya letak senduk kayu... = natural spoken Malay
• Saya meletakkan senduk kayu... = more formal / standard written style

Native speakers often prefer the shorter base verb in conversation.

Senduk usually means a ladle or serving spoon, especially for soup, sauce, rice, or cooking.

So it is not usually a small eating spoon. In kitchen context, senduk is the larger utensil used to scoop or serve.

Depending on region and context, kitchen utensil vocabulary can vary a bit, but senduk is a normal word here.

In Malay, one noun often directly modifies another noun.

So:

• senduk kayu = wooden ladle
• literally something like ladle wood

This is a very common pattern:

• meja kayu = wooden table
• rumah batu = stone/brick house
• sudu plastik = plastic spoon

If you say senduk daripada kayu, that means a ladle made of wood. That is also correct, but it is more explicit and slightly heavier in style. Senduk kayu is the simpler, more natural phrase in everyday use.

Di sebelah means beside, next to, or at the side of.

Breakdown:

• di = at / in / on
• sebelah = side

So di sebelah periuk means next to the pot or beside the pot.

Similar expressions:

• di tepi periuk = at the edge/side of the pot
• di samping periuk = beside the pot, a bit more formal/literary in some contexts

In this sentence, di sebelah periuk is a very natural choice.

Because this di is a preposition, meaning at / in / on, and prepositions are written separately from the following word.

So:

• di sebelah
• di rumah
• di atas meja

But there is also a different di-, which is a passive verb prefix, and that one is written attached:

• ditulis = written
• diletak/diletakkan = placed

So a useful rule is:

• di + place/location → separate
• di- + verb → attached

Periuk usually means a pot, especially a cooking pot.

It is a general kitchen word, but Malay also has other cookware terms:

• periuk = pot
• kuali = wok / frying pan
• belanga = pot, often a more traditional or specific kind depending on context

So in this sentence, periuk is simply the pot next to which the ladle was placed.

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

So:

• senduk kayu can mean a wooden ladle or the wooden ladle
• periuk can mean a pot or the pot

The exact meaning depends on context.

If speakers want to be more specific, they can add other words, for example:

• sebuah periuk = a pot
• periuk itu = that pot / the pot
• senduk kayu itu = that wooden ladle

But very often, Malay simply leaves this unstated.

Yes, to some extent.

The basic structure here is:

• Selepas makan malam = time
• saya = subject
• letak = verb
• senduk kayu = object
• di sebelah periuk = location

This order is very natural. But Malay allows some movement, especially for time phrases:

• Selepas makan malam, saya letak senduk kayu di sebelah periuk.
• Saya letak senduk kayu di sebelah periuk selepas makan malam.

You could also emphasize location in some contexts, but the original order is the most straightforward.

The comma is helpful, but in informal writing it is not always strictly necessary.

It marks Selepas makan malam as an introductory time phrase:

• Selepas makan malam, saya letak senduk kayu di sebelah periuk.

Without the comma, the meaning is still clear:

• Selepas makan malam saya letak senduk kayu di sebelah periuk.

In careful writing, the comma improves readability.

Yes. Letak is a broad everyday verb meaning things like:

• put
• place
• set down
• sometimes leave somewhere

Examples:

• Letak buku itu di meja. = Put the book on the table.
• Dia letak beg di kerusi. = He/She left the bag on the chair.

So in your sentence, letak is a very normal verb for placing an object somewhere.

Sometimes, yes, if the subject is already clear from context.

For example, in conversation:

• Selepas makan malam, letak senduk kayu di sebelah periuk.

This could sound like:

• an instruction: After dinner, put the wooden ladle next to the pot
• or a subject-dropped statement in casual context

But if you want a clear full sentence meaning I put ..., keeping saya is best:

• Selepas makan malam, saya letak senduk kayu di sebelah periuk.

Malay often allows subject omission, but only when context makes it obvious.