Learn Hardcore Malay: Saya menutup buku, berbaring di sofa, dan berjanji pada diri sendiri bahawa esok saya akan cuba lagi. - I close the book, lie down on the sofa, and promise myself that tomorrow I will try again.

tutup is the base word (root). It can be:
- a verb: saya tutup buku – “I close the book”
- an adjective: buku itu sudah tutup – “the book is already closed”
menutup is the meN- verb form, which clearly marks it as an active transitive verb: “to close (something)”.

In actual usage:

Saya menutup buku – sounds a bit more formal / written.
Saya tutup buku – very common in spoken / informal Malay and still correct.

So the sentence could naturally be: Saya menutup buku or Saya tutup buku.

What is the difference between berbaring and baring? Why use berbaring di sofa instead of just baring di sofa?

Root: baring = “to lie down”.

berbaring is the ber- verb form and is usually the “default” verb in standard Malay for “to be lying (down)” or “to lie down”.
baring on its own is more:
- command / imperative: Baring! – “Lie down!”
- used in some dialects / informal speech as a verb.

So:

Saya berbaring di sofa = natural, standard: “I lie down on the sofa / I am lying on the sofa.”
Saya baring di sofa = understood, but sounds more colloquial or regional.

For careful or written Malay, berbaring is the better choice.

Why is it di sofa and not di atas sofa? Do they mean the same thing?

Both are possible, with a small nuance:

di sofa – literally “at the sofa” but commonly understood as “on the sofa”.
di atas sofa – literally “on top of the sofa”, more explicit.

In everyday Malay, di sofa is perfectly normal when you’re sitting or lying on it. The context makes it clear you’re on it, not just near it. Di atas sofa is also correct, just slightly more explicit or formal.

In berjanji pada diri sendiri, what does pada diri sendiri literally mean, and why do we need it?

berjanji = “to promise”.
pada diri sendiri = “to oneself”.
- pada = to/at
- diri = self
- sendiri = own / self (emphasises reflexivity)

So berjanji pada diri sendiri literally means “to promise to one’s own self”, i.e. “to make a promise to oneself”.

If you say only saya berjanji, it usually implies “I make a promise”, but to whom is not clear. Adding pada diri sendiri shows the promise is made to yourself.

Can we use kepada instead of pada in berjanji pada diri sendiri? What’s the difference between pada and kepada here?

With people, both pada and kepada can appear, and in many cases they are interchangeable.

berjanji kepada diri sendiri
berjanji pada diri sendiri

Both are understood as “promise to oneself”.

Differences:

kepada:
- slightly more formal and often taught first in textbooks for “to (a person)”.
pada:
- very common in everyday speech
- used with time, place, and abstract things as well.

In this sentence, pada diri sendiri is very natural in spoken Malay. Kepada diri sendiri is also correct, and may feel a bit more formal.

What is the role of bahawa in bahawa esok saya akan cuba lagi? Can we omit it?

Bahawa introduces a that-clause, like English “that” in:

“I promise that tomorrow I will try again.”

So:

…berjanji pada diri sendiri bahawa esok saya akan cuba lagi = “...promised myself that tomorrow I will try again.”

Omitting bahawa:

…berjanji pada diri sendiri esok saya akan cuba lagi

This is still understandable and often heard in informal speech, but it can sound a bit less clear or slightly “looser”. In formal or written Malay, keeping bahawa is preferred.

In esok saya akan cuba lagi, could we move esok to another position? For example saya akan cuba lagi esok – is that okay?

Yes, several word orders are possible, all grammatical:

Esok saya akan cuba lagi.
– Time word (esok) at the front; fairly natural, slightly emphasises “tomorrow”.
Saya akan cuba lagi esok.
– Very common order; sounds neutral and natural.
Saya esok akan cuba lagi.
– Also possible, but less common; the flow is not as smooth for everyday speech.

Meaning does not change much; position mainly affects emphasis and rhythm. The original esok saya akan cuba lagi is perfectly fine.

Why do we use akan here? Is it always necessary for future, or could we just say esok saya cuba lagi?

Akan marks future intention or something that will happen:

saya akan cuba lagi ≈ “I will try again / I’m going to try again”.

However, Malay does not require a future tense marker:

esok saya cuba lagi also means “Tomorrow I’ll try again.”

Differences:

With akan: slightly more explicit and can sound a bit more formal or deliberate.
Without akan: very natural in spoken Malay; future time is already shown by esok (“tomorrow”), so akan is optional.

Both are correct; context fills in the time.

Why is it cuba lagi and not mencuba lagi? Is there a difference between cuba and mencuba?

Root: cuba = “to try”.

cuba – base form, very common in spoken Malay:
- saya cuba lagi – “I’ll try again.”
mencuba – the meN- form:
- more formal / written, sounds a bit more “careful” or “bookish”.

In everyday conversation:

cuba is much more frequent: Saya akan cuba lagi. In more formal writing:
mencuba is often used: Saya akan mencuba lagi.

Meaning is the same; only register/style differs.

The sentence starts with Saya, but it is not repeated before each verb. Is it understood that the subject is the same for menutup, berbaring, and berjanji?

Yes. The structure is:

Saya menutup buku, (saya) berbaring di sofa, dan (saya) berjanji…

Malay often drops repeated subjects when they are obviously the same. The comma-separated verbs share the same subject saya.

So all three actions are done by the same person:

I close the book,
(I) lie down on the sofa,
and (I) promise myself…

How do we know whether this whole sentence is in the past or present? There’s no past tense marker like “-ed”.

Malay does not mark tense (past, present, future) on the verb. The time is understood from:

context and
time words like esok (tomorrow), tadi (earlier), semalam (yesterday), etc.

In this sentence:

The first two actions (menutup buku, berbaring di sofa) could be understood as happening now or as a narrative description.
The last part has esok and akan, so that clearly refers to the future.

If you wanted to make the past more explicit for the first actions, you might add a past time expression elsewhere (e.g. tadi, sebentar tadi, malam itu, etc.), but the verbs themselves do not change form.