Bukunya

Bukunya is a common Indonesian and Malay possessive construction formed from the noun buku (book) plus the third‑person possessive suffix -nya. The phrase literally means his/her/its book and is used to indicate ownership or association with a specific book that is known from context. The exact possessor is usually inferred from the surrounding discourse; the possessor can be a specific person or an unspecified third party.

In usage, bukunya functions as a noun phrase rather than a stand‑alone pronoun. It can appear as the subject or the object of a sentence. For example, Bukunya tebal can mean the book of someone is thick, while Saya meminjam bukunya means I borrowed his/her book. If the speaker wants to refer to multiple books belonging to someone, Indonesian typically uses a reduplicated form such as buku-bukunya to indicate plural ownership, for example buku-bukunya.

Distinctions with other related forms are important. To specify a different possessor, one can use a possessive noun phrase such as buku saya (my book) or milik saya (my property). The -nya suffix itself does not mark number; context or additional words are used to indicate singular versus plural ownership.

Bukunya is widely used in everyday Indonesian and Malay, reflecting a broader pattern of possession in the two languages: possessors can be explicit or inferred, and the possessed noun is modified with suffixes or reduplication to convey nuance. See also buku (book), milik, kepemilikan, and pronoun usage in Indonesian grammar.