Hujan lebat, maka kami pulang.

Malay often leaves out the verb to be in simple descriptive statements.

So:

• Hujan lebat literally looks like rain heavy
• but it means It is raining heavily or Heavy rain fell / It was raining hard, depending on context

This is very normal in Malay. The relationship between the words is understood without needing a separate word like is or was.

Lebat means heavy, especially for things like:

• hujan lebat = heavy rain
• salji lebat = heavy snow
• sometimes also dense or thick, depending on context

So hujan lebat is the standard way to say heavy rain or it was raining heavily.

Maka means so, therefore, or thus.

In this sentence:

• Hujan lebat, maka kami pulang.
• It was raining heavily, so we went home.

It links the cause and result:

• cause: Hujan lebat
• result: kami pulang

A useful note: maka can sound a bit formal, literary, or storytelling-like in modern everyday Malay. In casual speech, people often prefer:

• jadi
• lalu
• or they may simply use no linker at all, depending on style

This is an important Malay distinction.

• kami = we, but not including the person being spoken to
• kita = we, including the person being spoken to

So:

• kami pulang = we went home / we went back, but you were not part of the group
• kita pulang = we all go home / went home, including you

English has only one word, we, so this difference often feels new to learners.

Pulang specifically means to go home, to return home, or sometimes to go back.

So:

• kami pulang = we went home / we returned home

It is more specific than just go.

Compare:

• pergi = go
• balik = return / go back / go home in many everyday contexts
• pulang = return home / go home

Pulang is a very common and natural word.

Malay does not mark tense the way English does.

So kami pulang can mean:

• we go home
• we went home
• we are going home

The exact time is usually understood from context, or from time words such as:

• semalam = yesterday
• tadi = earlier / just now
• sekarang = now
• esok = tomorrow

In your sentence, English might translate it as past tense or present tense depending on context:

• It was raining heavily, so we went home
• It is raining heavily, so we’re going home

Both are possible from the Malay alone.

Yes, it can function as a complete statement in Malay, especially in context.

Malay often allows short verbless clauses like this when the meaning is obvious. A weather statement does not always need a full subject-verb structure like English does.

So Hujan lebat naturally conveys:

• It is raining heavily
• There is heavy rain
• Heavy rain fell

The exact English version depends on context.

The comma separates the cause from the result:

• Hujan lebat, = it was raining heavily
• maka kami pulang. = so we went home

This kind of punctuation is common in more careful or written styles.

That said, punctuation in Malay can vary by writer. You may also see similar cause-result sentences written without exactly the same punctuation, especially in informal writing.

It is understandable and correct, but maka can sound somewhat formal or literary in everyday speech.

In casual spoken Malay, people might say:

• Hujan lebat, jadi kami pulang.
• Sebab hujan lebat, kami pulang.
• Hujan lebat, kami pun pulang.

These may sound more conversational.

Your original sentence is still good Malay; it just has a slightly more formal or narrative tone.

Yes. That is one of the nice things—and sometimes tricky things—about Malay.

Hujan lebat can be understood in a few closely related ways:

• heavy rain
• the rain is heavy
• it is raining heavily

Malay often leaves the relationship more compact than English does, and context tells you which English wording is best.

Sometimes yes, but so we went home or therefore we went home is usually closer here.

Maka mainly signals a result or consequence. In stories, it can sometimes feel like then, but in this sentence the logic is:

• heavy rain happened
• as a result, we went home

So so or therefore is the better basic translation.

Yes, Malay allows some flexibility.

For example:

• Maka kami pulang kerana hujan lebat. = So we went home because of the heavy rain.
• Kerana hujan lebat, kami pulang. = Because of the heavy rain, we went home.

But the original order:

• Hujan lebat, maka kami pulang.

nicely presents the situation first and the result second. It is a clear cause-and-effect structure.