Learn Hardcore Malay: Saya menjawab, “Nanti saya pinjamkan bukuku, tetapi tolong jaga kulitnya.” - I answer, “Later I will lend you my book, but please take care of its cover.”

The base verb is jawab (to answer / to reply).
Menjawab is jawab with the meN- prefix, which is the usual way to form an active verb in standard Malay.

Saya jawab – understandable in speech, but sounds a bit casual / colloquial.
Saya menjawab – standard, “I answered / I replied.”

In narrative writing or more careful speech, menjawab is preferred, especially when you say who did the action (saya). The meaning is the same (“to answer”), but menjawab sounds more complete and standard than just jawab in this position.

Why is nanti used at the start of the quoted sentence? Does it just mean “later”?

Yes, nanti basically means “later / afterwards / in a while,” and here it does two things:

Marks future time
It tells you the action (saya pinjamkan bukuku) will happen in the future, not now.
Softens the sentence
Starting with nanti gives a slightly softer, more reassuring tone, like:
- “I’ll lend you my book later (don’t worry).”

Malay often uses nanti instead of a strict future marker like akan, especially in everyday speech, to sound more natural and friendly.

What exactly does pinjamkan mean? How is it different from pinjam, meminjam, and meminjamkan?

The root is pinjam, related to “borrow / lend,” and Malay distinguishes borrowing vs lending mainly by context and affixes:

pinjam
Base form; by itself it can mean “to borrow” or “to lend,” depending on context and pronouns.
- Saya pinjam buku – “I borrow a book.”
- Boleh saya pinjam buku awak? – “May I borrow your book?”
meminjam
Standard active form meaning “to borrow”.
- Saya meminjam buku itu – “I (am) borrow(ing) that book.”
meminjamkan / pinjamkan
These normally mean “to lend (something to someone).”
- Saya meminjamkan buku saya kepada Ali – “I lent my book to Ali.”
- Saya pinjamkan bukuku – “I’ll lend my book (to you).”

In your sentence, saya pinjamkan bukuku = “I’ll lend you my book.”

meminjamkan is more explicitly standard/complete; pinjamkan (without meN-) is very common in everyday speech and still accepted in standard Malay. Both can function as “to lend.”

Why is it bukuku instead of buku saya? Is there a difference in meaning or tone?

Both mean “my book”:

buku saya = book + saya (“I / me”) after the noun. This is the most neutral, common, and clearly polite form.
bukuku = buku
- -ku (a clitic meaning “my”).

-ku has a slightly different feel:

It can sound a bit more personal, intimate, or literary.
It is common in writing, songs, and when speaking to someone you know well.
It is still polite, but slightly less formal than buku saya.

So:

Nanti saya pinjamkan buku saya – neutral, standard.
Nanti saya pinjamkan bukuku – also fine; just a bit more personal/colloquial or literary, depending on context.

In saya pinjamkan bukuku, who is the book being lent to? Where is the “you”?

The “you” is implied and understood from context, even though it isn’t said explicitly.

More “complete” versions would be:

Nanti saya pinjamkan bukuku kepada kamu.
Nanti saya pinjamkan bukuku kepada awak.

Here:

kepada kamu/awak = “to you.”

Malay often omits information that is obvious from the situation. Because the speaker is clearly talking to someone who asked for the book, listeners automatically understand:

saya pinjamkan bukuku (kepada kamu) = “I’ll lend you my book.”

There’s no word like “will” in Nanti saya pinjamkan bukuku. How is the future tense shown?

Malay doesn’t mark tense with verb changes like English does. Instead, it uses time words and context.

In your sentence, nanti (“later”) already shows that the action is in the future. So:

Saya pinjamkan bukuku.
Could be present, past, or future, depending on context.
Nanti saya pinjamkan bukuku.
Clearly future: “I’ll lend you my book later.”

You can add akan (a future marker), but it’s not required:

Nanti saya akan pinjamkan bukuku. – also correct, slightly more explicit/formal.

Most everyday speech simply uses nanti, esok (tomorrow), minggu depan (next week), etc., without akan.

What is the role of tetapi here, and how is it different from tapi?

Tetapi means “but / however” and introduces a contrast:

Nanti saya pinjamkan bukuku, tetapi tolong jaga kulitnya.
“I’ll lend you my book, but please take care of its cover.”

Comparisons:

tetapi – standard, neutral, used in both writing and speech.
tapi – more casual/colloquial; very common in speech, also used informally in writing.

You could say:

… tetapi tolong jaga kulitnya. – neutral/standard.
… tapi tolong jaga kulitnya. – slightly more informal.

The meaning is the same; the difference is formality and style.

How does tolong work here? Is it “help” or “please”?

Literally, tolong means “to help”:

Tolong saya! – “Help me!”

But when tolong is placed before a verb in a request, it functions like “please” and softens the command:

Tolong jaga kulitnya.
Literally: “Help (by) taking care of its cover.”
Natural meaning: “Please take care of its cover.”

So in your sentence, tolong makes the instruction polite and less direct, similar to:

“but please take care of the cover.”

It’s very common and sounds friendly and respectful, especially when used with saya and other polite forms.

What does jaga mean here, and why isn’t something like “keep” or “protect” used?

Jaga is a versatile verb that broadly means “to look after / to take care of / to guard.”

In this context:

jaga kulitnya = “take care of its cover / look after its cover (so it doesn’t get damaged).”

Depending on context, jaga can cover ideas like:

take care of a child – jaga anak
look after a house – jaga rumah
guard a place – jaga pintu (guard the door)

So tolong jaga kulitnya naturally means “please don’t damage / mistreat the cover,” which is close to English “please take care of the cover” or “keep the cover in good condition.”

Why does kulitnya literally mean “its skin”? How does that end up meaning the “cover” of a book?

The root noun kulit literally means “skin” (of a person or animal), but by extension it also means:

peel / rind of fruit (orange peel, banana skin)
shell of some things
cover or binding of a book

So over time, kulit came to mean the outer layer / outer surface of something. For books, that outer layer is the cover, so:

kulit buku – “book cover”
jaga kulitnya – “take care of its cover.”

Here, kulitnya = kulit (cover) + -nya (its), referring back to the book.

What does the -nya in kulitnya refer to, and how does this possession work?

The suffix -nya is a third-person possessive pronoun that can mean:

his / her
its
their

In kulitnya, it marks “its cover”, where “it” is the book mentioned earlier (bukuku).

So you can think of it as:

kulit – skin / cover
kulitnya – its cover (the book’s cover)

Other examples:

ibunya – his/her mother
rumahnya – his/her/their house
tajuknya – its title / the title of it

In this sentence, context makes it clear that -nya refers to the book, not to some person.

Is the sentence polite? Does bukuku or the command tolong jaga kulitnya sound rude or too direct?

Overall, the sentence is polite and natural, especially in a casual or semi-formal context:

Saya – polite 1st-person pronoun.
Nanti saya pinjamkan bukuku – offering to lend your book; this is friendly.
tetapi tolong jaga kulitnya – request softened by tolong, not a harsh order.

About the specific elements:

bukuku – personal/intimate, but not rude. Slightly less formal than buku saya, but still acceptable with saya.
tolong jaga kulitnya – polite request, not bossy. Without tolong, Jaga kulitnya could sound more like a direct order.

If you wanted it even more formally polite, you could say, for example:

Nanti saya akan meminjamkan buku saya, tetapi saya harap awak dapat menjaganya dengan baik.
(“I will lend you my book later, but I hope you can take good care of it.”)

But for everyday use, your original sentence is appropriately polite and natural.