Easy Tagalog. Joi Barrios

       Introduction

      Designed for individual learners, Easy Tagalog has 20 short lessons. The book focuses on basic vocabulary, practical situations, and grammar needs, in an easy-to-follow way: it forms a step-by-step guide towards building sentences and dialogues.

      The focus is conversational: there are 2 or 3 dialogues per lesson, and all dialogues are short so that they can easily be remembered as you build your skills.

      The dialogues follow two characters, both travelling to the Philippines for the first time: Melissa Roja, a 20-year old Filipina American student studying at the University of the Philippines; and Ralph Woods, a bank manager on a two-year assignment for North American Investment Bank. Melissa is staying at the house of her cousin Sarah, an advertising executive, and Ralph is renting a condominium unit in Makati. A fourth character is Mr. Richard Tolentino, a lawyer at Ralph’s bank.

      The sidebars Info boxes throughout offer two kinds of tips: grammar tips and culture tips. At the end of each lesson, you’ll find a place to pause, and to “sum up” what you’ve covered, usually by creating a few sentences.

       What are some tips you need to remember as a Tagalog language learner?

      First, do not get confused with the name of the language. Some people may refer to it as Tagalog, Pilipino, or Filipino. Tagalog is the name of the language of the ethnolinguistic group, the Tagalogs, living in what is now known as the Metro Manila area, as well as provinces in Central and Southern Luzon (Aurora, Bataan, Batangas, Bulacan, Cavite, Laguna, Marinduque, Nueva Ecija, Mindoro, Quezon, Rizal and Zambales). Pilipino is based on Tagalog, and it was the name designated by the Department of Education when it called for the teaching of a national language in 1959. With the designation of a national language based on Tagalog in 1936, the letter k (from the indigenous system of writing, the baybayin), was reinstated in the standardized alphabet created in 1940. Filipino was the term given to the national language by the 1987 constitution and it included the letters c, f, j, ñ, q, v, x, and z, which were not used in Pilipino.

      Second, the key to language learning is honing the ability to express yourself. As you study each lesson, you may notice that we have given emphasis to two kinds of exercises: questions and answers and role-play situations. We would like you to practice asking and answering questions and to be able to use what you are learning from this book in real-life situations.

      Third, remember that most Filipinos speak in what is called Taglish or Tagalog-English. Do not rack your brains trying to think of Tagalog equivalents to words like computer, hamburger, bus, school, grocery etc. You can use these words in your Filipino sentences. The important thing is that people understand what you are saying.

      Fourth, use Tagalog word formation to your advantage. In Tagalog, words are formed through root (or base) words and affixes. For verbs, among the affixes used are mag- (with its variation nag-) and um-. If at a loss for a verb, for example, langoy (swim), simply say, “Nag-swimming ako!” (I went swimming!).

      Fifth, do not be afraid of making grammatical mistakes or having the wrong pronunciation. Even native speakers make grammatical mistakes. Just try your best to speak the language and people will appreciate you.

      Tagalog is not the easiest language to learn, but neither is it the most difficult. We tried to make this book easy to follow and a practical one to use.

      As with other book writers, there are people we would like to acknowledge—foremost among them, Nancy and Pat, for their guidance and patience and our college friend Ralph Peña, for his unwavering friendship in our site of migration.

      Joi Barrios dedicates this book to her foster parents Bien and Shayne Lumbera, her husband Pierre and her son Elia. She also thanks the following for providing assistance in research, proofreading and the making of the glossary and index: Jan Tristan Gaspi, Althea Contreras, Raphael Bernabe, Abigail Ong, and Allen Siapno.

      Julia Camagong dedicates this book to her parents Fely and Ben Cama-gong, her daughter Renia Gardner, and Robert Roy—for their unconditional love and support. She also thanks the following for their assistance in recording the dialogues, guidance and support: Joanne Beshansky, Philippine Forum, College of Mount Saint Vincent, Potri Ranka Manis, Jonna Baldres, Ramon Mappala, Rusty Fabunan, Cling Corotan, Michelle Saulon, Melanie Dulfo, Yancy Gandionco, Rey Agudana, Gary Labao and Noel Pangilinan.

      Joi Barrios

       Julia Camagong

      EASY

       Tagalog

CHAPTER 1

      How are you?

Kumusta ka?

      Ralph Woods, a bank manager on a two-year assignment in Manila for the North American Investment Bank is at a party hosted by one of his Filipino friends. He is meeting Sarah, an advertising company executive.

       Introductions

      Let us learn about introducing oneself. Here are some words, phrases, and sentences.

Kumusta ka?	How are you? (informal; derived from the
	Spanish “Como esta?”)
ka	You (second person singular)
Mabuti	Fine.
ako	I (first person singular)
si	subject marker (This word tells us that the word which follows it is the subject of the sentence. It is used for proper nouns or names.)
Ako si Sarah.	I + si + Sarah. I am Sarah.
ang	subject marker (This word tells us that the word which follows it is the subject of the sentence. It is used for common nouns.)
pangalan ko	name
	my (first person singular, possessive);
	I (first person singular)
Ralph ang pangalan ko.	Ralph + ang + name + my. My name is Ralph.
Ikinagagalak	pleased
ikinagagalak ko	I am pleased
na	linker (used to link words; used here to mean the word “to)”
kong	contraction of ko + na
makilala	meet
Ikinagagalak kong makilala ka.	Pleased + I + na (used for to) + meet + youPleased to meet you.

       DIALOGUE A

      Study this dialogue to learn how to introduce yourself in Tagalog.

      RALPH : Kumusta ka? How are you?

      SARAH

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