Czy możesz pożyczyć mi tę książkę?

A natural breakdown is:

• Czy — a particle that marks a yes/no question
• możesz — you can / are you able to; 2nd person singular of móc
• pożyczyć — to lend or to borrow, depending on the structure
• mi — to me / me; dative form of ja
• tę książkę — this book in the accusative case, because it is the direct object

So the structure is basically:

Czy + you can + lend me + this book?

Czy does not really have a direct one-word English equivalent. It is a question marker used to introduce a yes/no question.

It is similar in function to the way English uses do, does, did, or sometimes just changes intonation:

• Masz książkę. — You have the book.
• Czy masz książkę? — Do you have the book?

In your sentence, czy simply tells you that the whole sentence is a question:

• Czy możesz... ? — Can you... ?

In everyday speech, Polish speakers often omit czy and just use rising intonation:

• Możesz mi pożyczyć tę książkę?

That is also perfectly natural.

Możesz is the 2nd person singular form of the verb móc, which means can / to be able to.

The conjugation is irregular:

• mogę — I can
• możesz — you can
• może — he/she/it can
• możemy — we can
• możecie — you plural can
• mogą — they can

Because the sentence is addressing one person informally, Polish uses możesz.

Because after móc (can / be able to), Polish normally uses another verb in the infinitive, just like English often does:

• Mogę czytać. — I can read.
• Możesz przyjść. — You can come.
• Czy możesz pożyczyć... ? — Can you lend... ?

So możesz pożyczyć is a normal modal verb + infinitive structure.

Yes — pożyczyć can mean either lend or borrow, depending on the sentence structure.

That is one reason learners find it confusing.

Here is the difference:

• pożyczyć komuś coś — to lend someone something
• pożyczyć coś od kogoś — to borrow something from someone

In your sentence:

• pożyczyć mi tę książkę

the word mi means to me, so the structure is lend me this book.

So here pożyczyć clearly means lend, not borrow.

Both mi and mnie can mean me, but they are used differently.

In this sentence, mi is the normal unstressed dative form, and it is the most natural choice:

• Czy możesz pożyczyć mi tę książkę?

Mnie is usually used:

• for emphasis
• after some prepositions
• when the speaker wants stronger contrast

For example:

• Czy możesz pożyczyć mnie tę książkę? — this is not correct here
• Czy możesz pożyczyć tę książkę mnie, a nie jemu? — Can you lend this book to me, not to him?

So in a neutral sentence, mi is the right form.

Because książka is the direct object of the verb, so it must be in the accusative case.

The dictionary form is:

• ta książka — this book; nominative

But in the sentence Can you lend me this book?, this book is what is being lent, so Polish uses the accusative:

• tę książkę

For feminine singular nouns like książka, the accusative usually changes:

• książka → książkę

And the demonstrative ta also changes to match:

• ta → tę

Because Polish words that go together must agree in gender, number, and case.

Here:

• książka is feminine singular
• it is in the accusative
• so the demonstrative ta also has to be feminine singular accusative

That gives:

• ta książka — nominative
• tę książkę — accusative

This kind of agreement is very important in Polish.

Because tę książkę is the standard written form in careful Polish.

For the feminine singular accusative of ta, standard Polish uses:

• tę

So the correct standard phrase is:

• tę książkę

However, in everyday spoken Polish, many people say:

• tą książkę

You will definitely hear that in conversation. But if you are learning standard grammar, especially for writing, tests, or careful speech, use tę książkę.

Yes, Polish word order is more flexible than English, but different orders sound more or less natural depending on emphasis.

The neutral version is:

• Czy możesz pożyczyć mi tę książkę?

A very common alternative is:

• Czy możesz mi pożyczyć tę książkę?

This often sounds especially natural because short unstressed words like mi tend to come earlier.

You could also say:

• Czy możesz pożyczyć tę książkę mnie?

but that sounds more emphatic, as if contrasting me with someone else.

So for a normal request, the best choices are:

• Czy możesz pożyczyć mi tę książkę?
• Czy możesz mi pożyczyć tę książkę?

This is about aspect, which is a major feature of Polish verbs.

• pożyczyć — perfective
• pożyczać — imperfective

In this sentence, pożyczyć is used because the speaker is asking about one complete action: lending the book once.

So:

• Czy możesz pożyczyć mi tę książkę?
  means something like Can you lend me this book? as a single act.

If you used pożyczać, it would suggest repeated action, habitual action, or focus on the process, which does not fit as well here.

Yes. It is addressed to one person informally because of możesz.

You would say this to:

• a friend
• a classmate
• a sibling
• someone you know well

For a more formal version, Polish would use pan or pani:

• Czy może mi pan pożyczyć tę książkę? — to a man
• Czy może mi pani pożyczyć tę książkę? — to a woman

So the original sentence is definitely informal singular.

It is polite enough in many situations, but it is fairly direct.

If you want to sound softer or more polite, Polish often uses a conditional form:

• Czy mógłbyś mi pożyczyć tę książkę? — informal, softer
• Czy mógłby mi pan pożyczyć tę książkę? — formal, to a man
• Czy mogłaby mi pani pożyczyć tę książkę? — formal, to a woman

You can also add proszę, depending on tone and context, but the conditional form is often the most natural way to make the request gentler.

A rough pronunciation guide is:

• Czy ≈ chi
• możesz ≈ MO-zhesh
• pożyczyć ≈ po-ZHI-chich
• mi ≈ mee
• tę ≈ roughly ten but with a nasal vowel
• książkę ≈ roughly KSHONSH-keh

A rough full version might sound like:

chi MO-zhesh po-ZHI-chich mee ten KSHONSH-keh?

A few helpful points:

• cz sounds like English ch
• ż sounds like the s in measure
• ą is a nasal vowel
• książkę is one of those Polish words that looks harder than it sounds once you practice it

Yes. In spoken Polish, that is extremely common.

So both of these are natural:

• Czy możesz pożyczyć mi tę książkę?
• Możesz mi pożyczyć tę książkę?

The version with czy sounds a bit more explicitly marked as a question. Without czy, the question is shown by intonation.

Both are correct, and both are common.