Making Out in Tagalog. Renato Perdon
of the islands in 1565, the Philippines became a melting pot where the east met the west. The Philippines, particularly in its economy, society and culture, was forever changed. The west and its people brought with them distinctly new ways of living, believing, creating and relating to others that changed and eventually enriched the spoken language.
The almost 50 years of American occupation from 1898 onwards added to the western outlook of the Filipinos in dealing with one another, and particularly with the outside world.
TAGALOG ALPHABET
The Tagalog alphabet has 20 letters: 5 vowels and 15 consonants.
| A | B | K | D | E | G | H | I | L | M |
| N | NG | O | P | R | S | T | U | W | Y |
The five (5) vowels are:
| a | (ah) as in “ask, far” | sabon (soap) |
| e | (eh) as in “end, way” | edad (age) |
| i | (ee) as in “eve, meet” | ilaw (light) |
| o | (aw) as in “obey, note” | lobo (balloon) |
| u | (oo) as in “food, moon” | tuhod (knee) |
and 15 consonants:
| b | as in “bat” | baboy (pig) |
| ng | as in “sing” | ngipin (teeth) |
| k | as in “king” | kasama (companion) |
| p | as in “patriot” | pera (money) |
| d | as in “day” | diwa (spirit) |
| r | as in “rat” | radyo (radio) |
| g | as in “give” | gamot (medicine) |
| s | as in “start” | silya (chair) |
| h | as in “hit” | hita (thigh) |
| t | as in “time” | tasa (cup) |
| l | as in “level” | lito (confused) |
| w | as in “way” | wika (language) |
| m | as in “mature” | mata (eyes) |
| y | as in “yard” | yelo (ice) |
| n | as in “nut” | nanay (mother) |
If Tagalog has 15 letters in its alphabet, Filipino which is the Philippine national language has 28 letters—which includes all of the 26 letters of the English alphabet plus ng and ñ. The letters C, F, J, Ñ, Q, V, X, and Z are used mainly in names of people: Corazon, Josefa, Victoria; places: Quezon, Luzon, Zamboanga, Cebu; things: Kleenex, Xerox; and in English loanwords.
PRONUNCIATION
Tagalog words are relatively easy to pronounce. They are in fact read or pronounced as spelled or written except for ng (nang) and mga (ma-nga). All the letters in a word are sounded and there are no silent letters. If a word has two successive vowels, then each vowel is treated as separate syllable and pronounced.
For example: MA-A-A-LA-LA-HA-NIN. By the way, this seven-syllable word means “thoughtful.”
Oo (yes) is pronounced as aw-aw.
Saan (where) is pronounced as sah-ahn
Uwi (go home) is pronounced as oo-wee
Most of the time for non-native speakers, it is quite challenging to pronounce words with ng especially at the beginning of the word. For example, ngiti (smile), ngipin (teeth) or pangalan (name). A strategy to practice these words is to keep pronouncing “sing along” several times until it is pronounced as if it’s one word: singalong.
STRESSING OF WORDS
Tagalog (Ta-GA-log) is pronounced with the stress on the second syllable. Correct pronunciation of Tagalog words depends on the stress, which is normally on the syllable before the last (called the penultimate stress) and unmarked, as in buhay “life;” but sometimes on the last syllable (known as the acute stress), which is marked by an accent, as in buháy “alive.” For most 3-syllable words, the stress is on the second syllable: Tagálog, Salámat.
A difference in stress (emphasis on a particular syllable) causes a difference in meaning of the same word. For example:
| Báka (cow) | Baká (maybe, perhaps) |
| Hápon (afternoon) | Hapón (Japanese) |
| Búkas (tomorrow) | Bukás (open) |
| Táyo (we, us, inclusive) | Tayó’ (stand) |
Unfortunately, there are no stress or accent marks when reading Tagalog materials. So meanings are actually taken in the context on how the word was used.
ASPIRATION
The letters, P, T, and K are not aspirated, meaning they are not pronounced with a puff of air like English. An easy way to test whether these letters are aspirated is to hold a paper in front of your mouth while pronouncing them. The paper should not move or air should not come out from your lips whenever these letters are pronounced, for example, papel (paper). T in Filipino is pronounced in the same way you would pronounce D in English, as in tatay (father) or takda (homework).
GLOTTAL STOP
The glottal stop (’) is produced when the opening between the vocal cords is slightly closed, stopping air coming from the lungs. The glottal stop provides a significant contrast with other sounds:
| Non-glottal | Glottal |
| áso (dog) | aso’ (smoke) |
| báta (robe) | bata’ (child) |
| sála (living room) | sala’ (fault) |
THE LETTER “R”
The Tagalog R is very different from the English R. It is sounded by flicking the tip of the tongue against the back of the upper front teeth. Some Filipinos really like to roll their R’s by rapidly repeating this action in a machine gun fashion. Others roll their Rs from the back of the throat. Now, try to say regalo (gift), relo (watch), turon (banana lumpia), tigre (tiger), … and if you get frustrated, say GRRRR!!!
BASIC GRAMMAR
PREDICATE BEFORE SUBJECT
In English, the sentence structure is subject followed by the predicate. In Tagalog, it’s the other way around: predicate before subject. Some books use different terms like comment + topic which is the same as predicate + subject. (The subject/topic refers to what the sentence is about, and the predicate/comment refers to what is said about the subject.) For example Tumakbo (predicate/comment) si Juan (subject/topic) = “John (topic) ran (comment).” Or Mabait (predicate/comment) ang kaibigan ko (subject/topic) which translates to “My friend is nice.” This is possibly the most striking difference between Tagalog and English, and takes a bit of getting used to.
MARKERS
Do not be confused with “si” in Spanish and in Tagalog! In Spanish, si means Yes. In Tagalog, si is a noun marker found before names of people (and pets) indicating the subject of the sentence. Markers are the most basic grammar items in Tagalog, specifically subject markers which are particles that mark or indicate the subject/topic of the sentence. There are two main subject markers: si and ang that are used before nouns (including names of people).
For example, in the sentence:
Maganda si Fiona.
(Fiona is beautiful.)
the subject of the sentence is Fiona because she is marked by the particle si.
Other examples:
Masipag si Olivia.
(Olivia is hardworking.)
Matalinong guro si Dr. Ramos.
(Dr. Ramos is an intelligent teacher.)
Mabait at mapagbigay si Lola Olive.
(Grandma Olive is kind and generous.)
Si and its plural form, sina, mark the names of people including pets. They appear before personal names.
So, if si/sina are used to mark personal names, when do we use the other marker, ang?
We use ang as a marker for all others, for all non-personal names. For example:
Guwapo ang siyota