Learn Hardcore Malay: Penjaga zoo menerangkan bahawa gajah itu jinak, bukan liar. - The zoo keeper explains that the elephant is tame, not wild.

Penjaga comes from the root jaga (“to watch, to guard, to look after”), and the prefix peN- turns it into “the person who does that action”.

So penjaga zoo literally means “the person who looks after (the) zoo”, i.e. zoo keeper.

It’s a perfectly normal, common way to say “zoo keeper” in Malay. You might also see:

penjaga haiwan di zoo – the person who looks after animals at the zoo
pekerja zoo – zoo worker (more general, not necessarily an animal keeper)

What is the function of menerangkan here, and how is it formed?

Menerangkan means “to explain” or “to clarify”.

Root: terang – clear, bright
Prefix meN-
- root: menerang (to make clear)
Suffix -kan added: menerangkan – to make something clear to someone, i.e. to explain.

In this sentence, Penjaga zoo menerangkan bahawa … = “The zoo keeper explained that …”. It introduces a clause that contains the explanation.

What does bahawa do in this sentence? Is it like the English word “that”?

Yes. Bahawa is a conjunction that works like English “that” when introducing a clause that functions as the object of a verb like “say”, “explain”, “claim”, etc.

Penjaga zoo menerangkan bahawa gajah itu jinak …
→ The zoo keeper explained that the elephant is tame …

You can often omit bahawa in everyday speech and it will still be understood:

Penjaga zoo menerangkan gajah itu jinak, bukan liar.

However, bahawa is common in more careful, formal, or written Malay.

Why is there itu after gajah? What nuance does gajah itu have?

Itu is a demonstrative that usually corresponds to “that” or “the (aforementioned)”. It often marks something as definite or already known in the context.

gajah – an elephant / elephants (general, not specific)
gajah itu – that elephant / the elephant (in question)

In this sentence, gajah itu suggests the zoo keeper is talking about a particular elephant the listener can identify (for example, the one they’re looking at).

What does jinak mean exactly? Is it just “not wild”?

Jinak means tame, domesticated, or docile – an animal that is gentle and used to human contact, not likely to attack.

It isn’t just “not wild” in a vague sense; it implies an animal that is used to humans and behaves calmly around them.

Examples:

Kucing itu sangat jinak. – The cat is very tame/friendly.
Gajah jinak – a tame elephant (e.g. trained for shows, rides, etc.).

Why is bukan used before liar instead of tidak?

Malay has two main negators:

tidak – negates verbs and adjectives (e.g. tidak besar, tidak makan)
bukan – negates nouns or works in contrast/“A, not B” structures

In this sentence:

gajah itu jinak, bukan liar

This is a contrast pattern: “tame, not wild”. Bukan is natural here because the speaker is contrasting two opposite qualities, jinak vs liar, almost like saying “rather than”:

(It is) tame, not wild (one).

If you just wanted a plain negation of “wild” with no contrast, tidak liar could be grammatically possible, but it sounds less natural than bukan liar in this paired-opposites context.

Could I say gajah itu jinak, tidak liar instead?

You could, and Malaysians would still understand you, but it sounds less idiomatic as a neat contrast.

gajah itu jinak, bukan liar
→ Stylistically tight “A, not B” contrast. Very natural.
gajah itu jinak, tidak liar
→ Grammatically okay, but doesn’t highlight the opposition as clearly. It sounds more like two separate statements: “it’s tame, it’s not wild”.

So for clear “X, not Y” contrasts, prefer bukan.

Is the comma before bukan liar necessary, and could I use tetapi instead?

The comma is stylistic; it marks a slight pause and highlights the contrast:

gajah itu jinak, bukan liar

You could also use tetapi (but/however) to make the contrast more explicit:

Gajah itu jinak tetapi bukan liar. – The elephant is tame but not wild.
Gajah itu jinak, bukan liar. – The elephant is tame, not wild.

Both are correct. The version with a comma and bukan is more compact and slightly more emphatic in everyday speech.

Where is the tense in this sentence? How do I know if it’s past or present?

Malay verbs don’t change form for tense. Menerangkan doesn’t show past or present by itself. The time is understood from context or from time words like tadi (earlier), akan (will), sedang (currently), etc.

This sentence can be:

Past: The zoo keeper explained that the elephant was tame, not wild.
Present: The zoo keeper is explaining that the elephant is tame, not wild.

If you wanted to make it clearly past, you could add a time word:

Tadi, penjaga zoo menerangkan bahawa gajah itu jinak, bukan liar.
– Earlier, the zoo keeper explained that the elephant is/was tame, not wild.

Could I drop bahawa and say Penjaga zoo menerangkan gajah itu jinak, bukan liar in conversation?

Yes. In everyday spoken Malay, many speakers would naturally omit bahawa here:

Penjaga zoo menerangkan gajah itu jinak, bukan liar.

It’s still understood as “The zoo keeper explained that the elephant is tame, not wild.”

Using bahawa makes the structure slightly more formal and explicit, which is common in writing or careful speech:

Penjaga zoo menerangkan bahawa gajah itu jinak, bukan liar.

Is penjaga zoo the subject and menerangkan the verb? What is the object?

Yes:

Penjaga zoo – subject (“the zoo keeper”)
menerangkan – verb (“explained”)
bahawa gajah itu jinak, bukan liar – a clause functioning as the object of menerangkan (what he explained).

So structurally it’s:

[Subject] [Verb] [“that”-clause as object]
Penjaga zoo menerangkan bahawa gajah itu jinak, bukan liar.

What does liar mean here, and can it be used for people too?

In this sentence, liar means wild, as in not domesticated or untamed (used for animals).

haiwan liar – wild animals
singa liar – wild lion

For people, liar can also be used metaphorically:

budak liar – a “wild” kid (naughty, undisciplined, out of control)

Context tells you whether it refers to actual wild animals or to human behavior. Here, because it’s about an elephant, it’s the literal “wild (animal)” meaning.

If I change gajah itu to gajah-gajah itu, how does the meaning change?

Reduplication (gajah-gajah) usually marks plural. So:

gajah itu – that elephant / the elephant (singular, specific)
gajah-gajah itu – those elephants / the elephants (plural, specific)

The whole sentence would then mean:

Penjaga zoo menerangkan bahawa gajah-gajah itu jinak, bukan liar.
→ The zoo keeper explained that those elephants are tame, not wild.