Saya cuma makan roti; kalaupun lapar lagi, kita makan malam di rumah.

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Breakdown of Saya cuma makan roti; kalaupun lapar lagi, kita makan malam di rumah.

• saya: I
• makan: to eat
• di: at

Questions & Answers about Saya cuma makan roti; kalaupun lapar lagi, kita makan malam di rumah.

What does cuma mean here, and how does it differ from hanya, saja/aja, and doang?

They all express limitation (only/just), but differ in register and placement:

• cuma = only/just (informal, very common in speech).
• hanya = only (more formal/written).
• saja/aja = only/just; aja is colloquial; often comes after what it limits: makan roti saja/aja.
• doang = only (very casual slang). Don’t confuse with baru, which means “just (recently)”.

Where is the tense? How can this mean past, present, or future?

Indonesian verbs don’t inflect for tense. Time is inferred or added with adverbs:

• Past/completed: tadi, kemarin, sudah, barusan/baru (e.g., Saya tadi cuma makan roti).
• In progress: sedang (e.g., Saya sedang makan).
• Future/planned: akan, nanti (e.g., Nanti kita makan malam di rumah).

Why is there no subject in kalaupun lapar lagi? Should it be kalaupun saya lapar lagi?

Subjects are often dropped when obvious. Lapar is an adjective used as a predicate (“to be hungry”), so (saya) lapar lagi is fine. You can add the subject (kalaupun saya/aku lapar lagi) if you want explicitness.