Dia tidak mahu menyakiti saya.

In Malay, dia is a third-person singular pronoun that does not show gender. So dia can mean he or she, and context tells you which one is meant.

For example, if you already know the person being talked about is a woman, then dia means she. If it is a man, it means he.

Tidak is used to negate verbs and adjectives, while bukan is mainly used to negate nouns or noun phrases.

In this sentence, mahu is a verb-like word meaning want, so the correct negation is tidak:

• dia tidak mahu = he/she does not want

You would not normally say dia bukan mahu here.

A simple rule:

• tidak
  • verb/adjective
• bukan
  • noun

Mahu means to want. In this sentence, tidak mahu means does not want to.

It is similar to ingin, which also means want or wish to, but ingin is often a little more formal or literary. In everyday speech, mahu is very common.

So:

• dia tidak mahu menyakiti saya = natural, everyday Malay
• dia tidak ingin menyakiti saya = also correct, slightly more formal in tone

This is a very normal pattern in Malay. Mahu functions like want to, and it is followed by another verb.

So the structure is:

dia + tidak mahu + menyakiti + saya
subject + does not want to + hurt + object

This is similar to English:

• He does not want to hurt me

Malay does not need a separate word exactly like English to in this structure.

Menyakiti means to hurt someone, to cause pain to someone, or sometimes to wound emotionally or physically, depending on context.

It comes from the root sakit, which means sick, painful, or pain. With the prefix meN- and the ending -i, it becomes a transitive verb meaning to hurt someone/something.

So:

• sakit = pain / sick / painful
• menyakiti = to hurt someone

In this sentence, it means hurting me.

This happens because of Malay word formation rules with the meN- prefix.

When meN- is added to a root beginning with s, the s usually disappears and the prefix becomes meny-.

So:

• root: sakit
• meN-
  • sakit
    • -i
• result: menyakiti

This is a common sound change in Malay verb formation.

Yes, saya can mean both I and me. Malay pronouns do not change form the way English pronouns do.

In English:

• I = subject
• me = object

In Malay:

• saya can be both subject and object

So:

• Saya mahu = I want
• Dia menyakiti saya = He/she hurts me

This is very normal in Malay.

It is generally neutral and polite. The use of saya makes it suitable for standard Malay and polite conversation.

If you wanted a more casual version, especially in speech, you might hear:

• Dia tak mahu menyakiti saya

Here, tak is a spoken short form of tidak.

So:

• tidak = standard, more formal/written
• tak = casual/spoken

Malay verbs do not change form for tense the way English verbs do. The sentence itself does not explicitly mark past, present, or future.

So Dia tidak mahu menyakiti saya could mean:

• he/she does not want to hurt me
• he/she did not want to hurt me
• he/she will not want to hurt me

Context tells you the time.

If needed, Malay can add time words such as:

• semalam = yesterday
• sekarang = now
• esok = tomorrow

It can mean either, depending on context. Menyakiti is broad enough to cover:

• physical pain
• emotional pain
• hurting someone's feelings

So this sentence could mean:

• he/she does not want to injure me
• he/she does not want to hurt my feelings
• he/she does not want to cause me pain

Context decides which is intended.

The word order is:

Dia = subject
tidak mahu = negative + want
menyakiti = main action
saya = object

So the structure is:

Subject + Negation + Verb + Verb + Object

More naturally, you can think of it as:

Subject + does not want to + verb + object

Malay word order is often quite similar to English in simple sentences, which makes this sentence fairly easy to follow.

A very common spoken version would be:

Dia tak mahu menyakiti saya.

The only change is:

• tidak → tak

Both are correct, but:

• tidak is better in writing and more formal speech
• tak is very common in everyday conversation

Everything else stays the same.