Tagalog language

Tagalog (/təˈɡɑːlɒɡ/, tə-GAH-log;[4] Tagalog pronunciation: [tɐˈɡaːloɡ]) is an Austronesian language spoken as a first language by the ethnic Tagalog people, who make up a quarter of the population of the Philippines, and as a second language by the majority.[5][6] Its standardized form, officially named Filipino, is the national language of the Philippines, and is one of two official languages alongside English.

Not to be confused with the Australian Tagalag language.
Tagalog
Wikang Tagalog
ᜏᜒᜃᜅ᜔ ᜆᜄᜎᜓᜄ᜔
Pronunciation[tɐˈɡaːloɡ]
Native toPhilippines
RegionManila, Southern Tagalog and Central Luzon
EthnicityTagalog
Native speakers
22.5 million (2010)[1]
23.8 million total speakers (2019)[2]
45 million L2 speakers (as Filipino, 2013)[3]
Early forms
Standard forms
Dialects
  • Bataan
  • Batangas
  • Bulacan
  • Lubang
  • Manila
  • Marinduque
  • Tanay–Paete (Rizal-Laguna)
  • Tayabas (Quezon)
Latin (Tagalog/Filipino alphabet),
Philippine Braille
Baybayin (historical)
Official status
Official language in
 Philippines (in the form of Filipino)
Recognised minority
language in
 Philippines (Regional language; apart from national standard of Filipino)
Regulated byKomisyon sa Wikang Filipino
Language codes
ISO 639-1tl
ISO 639-2tgl
ISO 639-3tgl
Glottologtaga1280  Tagalogic
taga1269  Tagalog-Filipino
Linguasphere31-CKA
Predominantly Tagalog-speaking regions in the Philippines.

Tagalog is closely related to other Philippine languages, such as the Bikol languages, Ilocano, the Visayan languages, Kapampangan, and Pangasinan, and more distantly to other Austronesian languages, such as the Formosan languages of Taiwan, Malay (Malaysian and Indonesian), Hawaiian, Māori, and Malagasy.

History
Main article: Old Tagalog
The Tagalog Baybayin script

The word Tagalog is derived from the endonym taga-ilog ("river dweller"), composed of tagá- ("native of" or "from") and ilog ("river"). Linguists such as David Zorc and Robert Blust speculate that the Tagalogs and other Central Philippine ethno-linguistic groups originated in Northeastern Mindanao or the Eastern Visayas.[7][8]

Possible words of Old Tagalog origin are attested in the Laguna Copperplate Inscription from the tenth century, which is largely written in Old Malay.[9] The first known complete book to be written in Tagalog is the Doctrina Christiana (Christian Doctrine), printed in 1593. The Doctrina was written in Spanish and two transcriptions of Tagalog; one in the ancient, then-current Baybayin script and the other in an early Spanish attempt at a Latin orthography for the language.

Vocabulario de la lengua tagala, 1794.

Throughout the 333 years of Spanish rule, various grammars and dictionaries were written by Spanish clergymen. In 1610, the Dominican priest Francisco Blancas de San Jose published the "Arte y reglas de la lengua tagala" (which was subsequently revised with two editions in 1752 and 1832) in Bataan. In 1613, the Franciscan priest Pedro de San Buenaventura published the first Tagalog dictionary, his "Vocabulario de la lengua tagala" in Pila, Laguna.

The first substantial dictionary of the Tagalog language was written by the Czech Jesuit missionary Pablo Clain in the beginning of the 18th century. Clain spoke Tagalog and used it actively in several of his books. He prepared the dictionary, which he later passed over to Francisco Jansens and José Hernandez.[10] Further compilation of his substantial work was prepared by P. Juan de Noceda and P. Pedro de Sanlucar and published as Vocabulario de la lengua tagala in Manila in 1754 and then repeatedly[11] reedited, with the last edition being in 2013 in Manila.[12]

Among others, Arte de la lengua tagala y manual tagalog para la administración de los Santos Sacramentos (1850) in addition to early studies[13] of the language.

The indigenous poet Francisco Balagtas (1788–1862) is regarded as the foremost Tagalog writer, his most notable work being the early 19th-century epic Florante at Laura.[14]

Official status
Main article: Filipino language
Diariong Tagalog (Tagalog Newspaper), the first bilingual newspaper in the Philippines founded in 1882 written in both Tagalog and Spanish.

Tagalog was declared the official language by the first revolutionary constitution in the Philippines, the Constitution of Biak-na-Bato in 1897.[15]

In 1935, the Philippine constitution designated English and Spanish as official languages, but mandated the development and adoption of a common national language based on one of the existing native languages.[16] After study and deliberation, the National Language Institute, a committee composed of seven members who represented various regions in the Philippines, chose Tagalog as the basis for the evolution and adoption of the national language of the Philippines.[17][18] President Manuel L. Quezon then, on December 30, 1937, proclaimed the selection of the Tagalog language to be used as the basis for the evolution and adoption of the national language of the Philippines.[17] In 1939, President Quezon renamed the proposed Tagalog-based national language as Wikang Pambansâ (national language).[18] Under the Japanese puppet government during World War II, Tagalog as a national language was strongly promoted; the 1943 Constitution specifying: The government shall take steps toward the development and propagation of Tagalog as the national language.".

In 1959, the language was further renamed as "Pilipino".[18] Along with English, the national language has had official status under the 1973 constitution (as "Pilipino")[19] and the present 1987 constitution (as Filipino).

Controversy

The adoption of Tagalog in 1937 as basis for a national language is not without its own controversies. Instead of specifying Tagalog, the national language was designated as Wikang Pambansâ ("National Language") in 1939.[17][20] Twenty years later, in 1959, it was renamed by then Secretary of Education, José Romero, as Pilipino to give it a national rather than ethnic label and connotation. The changing of the name did not, however, result in acceptance among non-Tagalogs, especially Cebuanos who had not accepted the selection.[18]

The national language issue was revived once more during the 1971 Constitutional Convention. The majority of the delegates were even in favor of scrapping the idea of a "national language" altogether.[21] A compromise solution was worked out—a "universalist" approach to the national language, to be called Filipino rather than Pilipino. The 1973 constitution makes no mention of Tagalog. When a new constitution was drawn up in 1987, it named Filipino as the national language.[18] The constitution specified that as the Filipino language evolves, it shall be further developed and enriched on the basis of existing Philippine and other languages. However, more than two decades after the institution of the "universalist" approach, there seems to be little if any difference between Tagalog and Filipino.

Many of the older generation in the Philippines feel that the replacement of English by Tagalog in the popular visual media has had dire economic effects regarding the competitiveness of the Philippines in trade and overseas remittances.[22]

Use in education

Upon the issuance of Executive Order No. 134, Tagalog was declared as basis of the National Language. On 12 April 1940, Executive No. 263 was issued ordering the teaching of the national language in all public and private schools in the country.[23]

Article XIV, Section 6 of the 1987 Constitution of the Philippines specifies, in part:

Subject to provisions of law and as the Congress may deem appropriate, the Government shall take steps to initiate and sustain the use of Filipino as a medium of official communication and as language of instruction in the educational system.[24]

Under Section 7, however:

The regional languages are the auxiliary official languages in the regions and shall serve as auxiliary media of instruction therein.[24]

In 2009, the Department of Education promulgated an order institutionalizing a system of mother-tongue based multilingual education ("MLE"), wherein instruction is conducted primarily in a student's mother tongue (one of the various regional Philippine languages) until at least grade three, with additional languages such as Filipino and English being introduced as separate subjects no earlier than grade two. In secondary school, Filipino and English become the primary languages of instruction, with the learner's first language taking on an auxiliary role.[25] After pilot tests in selected schools, the MLE program was implemented nationwide from School Year (SY) 2012–2013.[26][27]

Tagalog is the first language of a quarter of the population of the Philippines (particularly in Central and Southern Luzon) and the second language for the majority.[28]

Geographic distribution
No dumping sign along the highway in the Laguna province, Philippines.
A landslide and rockslide-prone area sign at Indang, Cavite.
Welcome arch to Palayan, Nueva Ecija.
Distribution of Tagalog speakers around the world.
  Countries with more than 500,000 speakers
  Countries with 100,000–500,000 speakers
  Countries where it is spoken by minor communities

According to the Philippine Statistics Authority, as of 2014 there were 100 million people living in the Philippines, where the vast majority have some basic level of understanding of the language. The Tagalog homeland, Katagalugan, covers roughly much of the central to southern parts of the island of Luzon—particularly in Aurora, Bataan, Batangas, Bulacan, Cavite, Laguna, Metro Manila, Nueva Ecija, Quezon, Rizal, and Zambales. Tagalog is also spoken natively by inhabitants living on the islands of Marinduque and Mindoro, as well as Palawan to a lesser extent. Significant minorities are found in the other Central Luzon provinces of Pampanga and Tarlac, Ambos Camarines in Bicol Region, and the Cordillera city of Baguio. Tagalog is also the predominant language of Cotabato City in Mindanao, making it the only place outside of Luzon with a native Tagalog speaking majority.[29]

At the 2000 Philippines Census, it is spoken by approximately 57.3 million Filipinos, 96% of the household population who were able to attend school;[30] slightly over 22 million, or 28% of the total Philippine population,[31] speak it as a native language.

The following regions and provinces of the Philippines are majority Tagalog-speaking (from north to south):

Tagalog speakers are also found in other parts of the Philippines and through its standardized form of Filipino, the language serves the national lingua franca of the country.

Tagalog also serves as the common language among Overseas Filipinos, though its use overseas is usually limited to communication between Filipino ethnic groups. The largest concentration of Tagalog speakers outside the Philippines is found in the United States, where in 2013, the U.S. Census Bureau reported (based on data collected in 2011) that it was the fourth most-spoken non-English language at home with almost 1.6 million speakers, behind Spanish, French (including Patois, Cajun, Creole), and Chinese (with figures for Cantonese and Mandarin combined). In urban areas, Tagalog ranked as the third most spoken non-English language, behind Spanish and Chinese varieties but ahead of French.[33] Other countries with significant concentrations of overseas Filipinos and Tagalog speakers include Saudi Arabia, Canada, Japan, United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, and Malaysia.

Classification

Tagalog is a Central Philippine language within the Austronesian language family. Being Malayo-Polynesian, it is related to other Austronesian languages, such as Malagasy, Javanese, Malay (Malaysian and Indonesian), Tetum (of Timor), and Yami (of Taiwan).[34] It is closely related to the languages spoken in the Bicol Region and the Visayas islands, such as the Bikol group and the Visayan group, including Waray-Waray, Hiligaynon and Cebuano.[34]

Tagalog differs from its Central Philippine counterparts with its treatment of the Proto-Philippine schwa vowel *ə. In most Bikol and Visayan languages, this sound merged with /u/ and [o]. In Tagalog, it has merged with /i/. For example, Proto-Philippine *dəkət (adhere, stick) is Tagalog dikít and Visayan & Bikol dukot.

Proto-Philippine *r, *j, and *z merged with /d/ but is /l/ between vowels. Proto-Philippine *ŋajan (name) and *hajək (kiss) became Tagalog ngalan and halík.

Proto-Philippine *R merged with /ɡ/. *tubiR (water) and *zuRuʔ (blood) became Tagalog tubig and dugô.

Dialects
Distribution of Tagalog dialects in the Philippines. The color-schemes represent the four dialect zones of the language: Northern, Central, Southern and Marinduque. While the majority of residents in Camarines Norte and Camarines Sur traditionally speak Bikol as their first language, these provinces nonetheless have significant Tagalog minorities. In addition, Tagalog is used as a second language throughout the country.

At present, no comprehensive dialectology has been done in the Tagalog-speaking regions, though there have been descriptions in the form of dictionaries and grammars of various Tagalog dialects. Ethnologue lists Manila, Lubang, Marinduque, Bataan (Western Central Luzon), Batangas, Bulacan (Eastern Central Luzon), Tanay-Paete (Rizal-Laguna), and Tayabas (Quezon and Aurora) as dialects of Tagalog; however, there appear to be four main dialects, of which the aforementioned are a part: Northern (exemplified by the Bulacan dialect), Central (including Manila), Southern (exemplified by Batangas), and Marinduque.

Some example of dialectal differences are:

  • Many Tagalog dialects, particularly those in the south, preserve the glottal stop found after consonants and before vowels. This has been lost in Standard Tagalog. For example, standard Tagalog ngayón (now, today), sinigáng (broth stew), gabí (night), matamís (sweet), are pronounced and written ngay-on, sinig-ang, gab-i, and matam-is in other dialects.
  • In Teresian-Morong Tagalog, [ɾ] is usually preferred over [d]. For example, bundók, dagat, dingdíng, and isdâ become bunrók, ragat, ringríng, and isrâ, e.g. "sandók sa dingdíng" becoming "sanrók sa ringríng".
  • In many southern dialects, the progressive aspect infix of -um- verbs is na-. For example, standard Tagalog kumakain (eating) is nákáin in Quezon and Batangas Tagalog. This is the butt of some jokes by other Tagalog speakers, for should a Southern Tagalog ask nákáin ka ba ng patíng? ("Do you eat shark?"), he would be understood as saying "Has a shark eaten you?" by speakers of the Manila Dialect.
  • Some dialects have interjections which are considered a regional trademark. For example, the interjection ala e! usually identifies someone from Batangas as does hane?! in Rizal and Quezon provinces.

Perhaps the most divergent Tagalog dialects are those spoken in Marinduque.[35] Linguist Rosa Soberano identifies two dialects, western and eastern, with the former being closer to the Tagalog dialects spoken in the provinces of Batangas and Quezon.

One example is the verb conjugation paradigms. While some of the affixes are different, Marinduque also preserves the imperative affixes, also found in Visayan and Bikol languages, that have mostly disappeared from most Tagalog early 20th century; they have since merged with the infinitive.

Manila Tagalog Marinduqueño Tagalog English
Susulat silá María at Esperanza kay Juan. Másúlat da María at Esperanza kay Juan. "María and Esperanza will write to Juan."
Mag-aaral siya sa Maynilà. Gaaral siya sa Maynilà. "[He/She] will study in Manila."
Maglutò ka na. Paglutò. "Cook now."
Kainin mo iyán. Kaina yaan. "Eat it."
Tinatawag tayo ni Tatay. Inatawag nganì kitá ni Tatay. "Father is calling us."
Tútulungan ba kayó ni Hilario? Atulungan ga kamo ni Hilario? "Is Hilario going to help you?"

Northern and central dialects form the basis for the national language.

Code-switching with English
Main article: Taglish

Taglish and Englog are names given to a mix of English and Tagalog. The amount of English vs. Tagalog varies from the occasional use of English loan words to changing language in mid-sentence. Such code-switching is prevalent throughout the Philippines and in various languages of the Philippines other than Tagalog.

Code-mixing also entails the use of foreign words that are "Filipinized" by reforming them using Filipino rules, such as verb conjugations. Users typically use Filipino or English words, whichever comes to mind first or whichever is easier to use.

 Magshoshopping kami sa mall. Sino ba ang magdadrive sa shopping center?

 We will go shopping at the mall. Who will drive to the shopping center?

City-dwellers are more likely to do this.

The practice is common in television, radio, and print media as well. Advertisements from companies like Wells Fargo, Wal-Mart, Albertsons, McDonald's, and Western Union have contained Taglish.

Phonology
Main article: Tagalog phonology

Tagalog has 33 phonemes: 19 of them are consonants and 14 are vowels. Syllable structure is relatively simple, being maximally CrVC, where Cr only occurs in borrowed words such as trak "truck" or sombréro "hat".[36]

Vowels

Tagalog has ten simple vowels, five long and five short, and four diphthongs.[36] Before appearing in the area north of the Pasig river, Tagalog had three vowel qualities: /a/, /i/, and /u/. This was later expanded to five with the introduction of words from central and northern Philippines, such as the Kapampangan, Pangasinan and Ilocano languages, as well as Spanish words.

Table of the five general Tagalog vowel phonemes
Front Central Back
Close i ⟨i⟩ u ⟨u⟩
Mid ɛ ⟨e⟩ o̞ ⟨o⟩
Open a ⟨a⟩

Nevertheless, simplification of pairs [o ~ u] and [ɛ ~ i] is likely to take place, especially in some Tagalog as second language, remote location and working class registers.

The four diphthongs are /aj/, /uj/, /aw/, and /iw/. Long vowels are not written apart from pedagogical texts, where an acute accent is used: á é í ó ú.[36]

Table of all possible realizations of Tagalog vowels
Front Central Back
Close i ⟨i⟩ u ⟨u⟩
Near-close ɪ ⟨i⟩ ʊ ⟨u⟩
Mid ɛ̝ ⟨e⟩ o̞ ⟨o⟩
Open-mid ɛ ⟨e⟩ ɔ ⟨o⟩
Near-open ɐ ⟨a⟩
Open a ⟨a⟩ ä ⟨a⟩

The table above shows all the possible realizations for each of the five vowel sounds depending on the speaker's origin or proficiency. The five general vowels are in bold.

Consonants

Below is a chart of Tagalog consonants. All the stops are unaspirated. The velar nasal occurs in all positions including at the beginning of a word. Loanword variants using these phonemes are italicized inside the angle brackets.

Tagalog consonant phonemes[36]
Bilabial Alveolar/Dental Post-alveolar/Palatal Velar Glottal
Nasal m n ɲ ⟨ny, niy⟩ ŋ ⟨ng⟩
Stop pb td kɡ ʔ
Affricate (ts) tʃ ⟨ts, tiy, ty, ch⟩dʒ ⟨diy, dy, j⟩
Fricative s ʃ ⟨siy, sy, sh⟩ h ⟨h, j⟩
Approximant l j ⟨y⟩ w
Rhotic ɾ ⟨r⟩
  • /k/ between vowels has a tendency to become [x] as in loch, German Bach, whereas in the initial position it has a tendency to become [kx], especially in the Manila dialect.
  • Intervocalic /ɡ/ and /k/ tend to become [ɰ], as in Spanish agua, especially in the Manila dialect.
  • /ɾ/ and /d/ were once allophones, and they still vary grammatically, with initial /d/ becoming intervocalic /ɾ/ in many words.[36]
  • A glottal stop that occurs in pausa (before a pause) is omitted when it is in the middle of a phrase,[36] especially in the Metro Manila area. The vowel it follows is then lengthened. However, it is preserved in many other dialects.
  • The /ɾ/ phoneme is an alveolar rhotic that has a free variation between a trill, a flap and an approximant ([r~ɾ~ɹ]).
  • The /dʒ/ phoneme may become a consonant cluster [dd͡ʒ] in between vowels such as sadyâ [sadˈd͡ʒäʔ].

Glottal stop is not indicated.[36] Glottal stops are most likely to occur when:

  • the word starts with a vowel, like aso (dog)
  • the word includes a dash followed by a vowel, like mag-aral (study)
  • the word has two vowels next to each other, like paano (how)
  • the word starts with a prefix followed by a verb that starts with a vowel, like mag-aayos ([will] fix)

Stress and final glottal stop

Stress is a distinctive feature in Tagalog. Primary stress occurs on either the final or the penultimate syllable of a word. Vowel lengthening accompanies primary or secondary stress except when stress occurs at the end of a word.

Tagalog words are often distinguished from one another by the position of the stress and/or the presence of a final glottal stop. In formal or academic settings, stress placement and the glottal stop are indicated by a diacritic (tuldík) above the final vowel.[37] The penultimate primary stress position (malumay) is the default stress type and so is left unwritten except in dictionaries.

Phonetic comparison of Tagalog homographs based on stress and final glottal stop
Common spelling Stressed non-ultimate syllable
no diacritic		 Stressed ultimate syllable
acute accent (´)		 Unstressed ultimate syllable with glottal stop
grave accent (`)		 Stressed ultimate syllable with glottal stop
circumflex accent (^)
baka [ˈbaka] baka ('cow') [bɐˈka] baká ('possible')
pito [ˈpito] pito ('whistle') [pɪˈto] pitó ('seven')
bayaran [bɐˈjaran] bayaran ('pay [imperative]') [bɐjɐˈran] bayarán ('for hire')
bata [ˈbata] bata ('bath robe') [bɐˈta] batá ('persevere') [ˈbataʔ] batà ('child')
sala [ˈsala] sala ('living room') [ˈsalaʔ] salà ('sin') [sɐˈlaʔ] salâ ('filtered')
baba [ˈbaba] baba ('father') [baˈba] babá ('piggy back') [ˈbabaʔ] babà ('chin') [bɐˈbaʔ] babâ ('descend [imperative]')
labi [ˈlabɛʔ]/[ˈlabiʔ] labì ('lips') [lɐˈbɛʔ]/[lɐˈbiʔ] labî ('remains')

Grammar
Main articles: Tagalog grammar and Austronesian alignment

Writing system
See also: Filipino orthography

Tagalog, like other Philippines languages today, is written using the Latin alphabet. Prior to the arrival of the Spanish in 1521 and the beginning of their colonization in 1565, Tagalog was written in an abugida—or alphasyllabary—called Baybayin. This system of writing gradually gave way to the use and propagation of the Latin alphabet as introduced by the Spanish. As the Spanish began to record and create grammars and dictionaries for the various languages of the Philippine archipelago, they adopted systems of writing closely following the orthographic customs of the Spanish language and were refined over the years. Until the first half of the 20th century, most Philippine languages were widely written in a variety of ways based on Spanish orthography.

In the late 19th century, a number of educated Filipinos began proposing for revising the spelling system used for Tagalog at the time. In 1884, Filipino doctor and student of languages Trinidad Pardo de Tavera published his study on the ancient Tagalog script Contribucion para el Estudio de los Antiguos Alfabetos Filipinos and in 1887, published his essay El Sanscrito en la lengua Tagalog which made use of a new writing system developed by him. Meanwhile, Jose Rizal, inspired by Pardo de Tavera's 1884 work, also began developing a new system of orthography (unaware at first of Pardo de Tavera's own orthography).[38] A major noticeable change in these proposed orthographies was the use of the letter ⟨k⟩ rather than ⟨c⟩ and ⟨q⟩ to represent the phoneme /k/.

In 1889, the new bilingual Spanish-Tagalog La España Oriental newspaper, of which Isabelo de los Reyes was an editor, began publishing using the new orthography stating in a footnote that it would "use the orthography recently introduced by ... learned Orientalis". This new orthography, while having its supporters, was also not initially accepted by several writers. Soon after the first issue of La España, Pascual H. Poblete's Revista Católica de Filipina began a series of articles attacking the new orthography and its proponents. A fellow writer, Pablo Tecson was also critical. Among the attacks was the use of the letters "k" and "w" as they were deemed to be of German origin and thus its proponents were deemed as "unpatriotic". The publishers of these two papers would eventually merge as La Lectura Popular in January 1890 and would eventually make use of both spelling systems in its articles.[39][38] Pedro Laktaw, a schoolteacher, published the first Spanish-Tagalog dictionary using the new orthography in 1890.[39]

In April 1890, Jose Rizal authored an article Sobre la Nueva Ortografia de la Lengua Tagalog in the Madrid-based periodical La Solidaridad. In it, he addressed the criticisms of the new writing system by writers like Pobrete and Tecson and the simplicity, in his opinion, of the new orthography. Rizal described the orthography promoted by Pardo de Tavera as "more perfect" than what he himself had developed.[39] The new orthography was however not broadly adopted initially and was used inconsistently in the bilingual periodicals of Manila until the early 20th century.[39] The revolutionary society Kataás-taasan, Kagalang-galang Katipunan ng̃ mg̃á Anak ng̃ Bayan or Katipunan made use of the k-orthography and the letter k featured prominently on many of its flags and insignias.[39]

In 1937, Tagalog was selected to serve as basis for the country's national language. In 1940, the Balarílà ng Wikang Pambansâ (English: Grammar of the National Language) of grammarian Lope K. Santos introduced the Abakada alphabet. This alphabet consists of 20 letters and became the standard alphabet of the national language.[40] The orthography as used by Tagalog would eventually influence and spread to the systems of writing used by other Philippine languages (which had been using variants of the Spanish-based system of writing). In 1987, the ABAKADA was dropped and in its place is the expanded Filipino alphabet.

Baybayin
Main article: Baybayin

Tagalog was written in an abugida (alphasyllabary) called Baybayin prior to the Spanish colonial period in the Philippines, in the 16th century. This particular writing system was composed of symbols representing three vowels and 14 consonants. Belonging to the Brahmic family of scripts, it shares similarities with the Old Kawi script of Java and is believed to be descended from the script used by the Bugis in Sulawesi.

Although it enjoyed a relatively high level of literacy, Baybayin gradually fell into disuse in favor of the Latin alphabet taught by the Spaniards during their rule.

There has been confusion of how to use Baybayin, which is actually an abugida, or an alphasyllabary, rather than an alphabet. Not every letter in the Latin alphabet is represented with one of those in the Baybayin alphasyllabary. Rather than letters being put together to make sounds as in Western languages, Baybayin uses symbols to represent syllables.

A "kudlit" resembling an apostrophe is used above or below a symbol to change the vowel sound after its consonant. If the kudlit is used above, the vowel is an "E" or "I" sound. If the kudlit is used below, the vowel is an "O" or "U" sound. A special kudlit was later added by Spanish missionaries in which a cross placed below the symbol to get rid of the vowel sound all together, leaving a consonant. Previously, the consonant without a following vowel was simply left out (for example, bundok being rendered as budo), forcing the reader to use context when reading such words.

Example:

vowels
᜔
a ᜀ
i
e		 ᜁ
u
o		 ᜂ
b
b ᜊ᜔
ba ᜊ
bi
be		 ᜊᜒ
bu
bo		 ᜊᜓ
k
k ᜃ᜔
ka ᜃ
ki
ke		 ᜃᜒ
ku
ko		 ᜃᜓᜓ
d/r
d/r ᜇ᜔
da/ra ᜇ
di/ri
de/re		 ᜇᜒ
du/ru
do/ro		 ᜇᜓ
g
g ᜄ᜔
ga ᜄ
gi
ge		 ᜄᜒ
gu
go		 ᜄᜓ
h
h ᜑ᜔
ha ᜑ
hi
he		 ᜑᜒ
hu
ho		 ᜑᜓ
l
l ᜎ᜔
la ᜎ
li
le		 ᜎᜒ
lu
lo		 ᜎᜓ
m
m ᜋ᜔
ma ᜋ
mi
me		 ᜋᜒ
mu
mo		 ᜋᜓ
n
n ᜈ᜔
na ᜈ
ni
ne		 ᜈᜒ
nu
no		 ᜈᜓ
ng
ng ᜅ᜔
nga ᜅ
ngi
nge		 ᜅᜒ
ngu
ngo		 ᜅᜓ
p
p ᜉ᜔
pa ᜉ
pi
pe		 ᜉᜒ
pu
po		 ᜉᜓ
s
s ᜐ᜔
sa ᜐ
si
se		 ᜐᜒ
su
so		 ᜐᜓ
t
t ᜆ᜔
ta ᜆ
ti
te		 ᜆᜒ
tu
to		 ᜆᜓ
w
w ᜏ᜔
wa ᜏ
wi
we		 ᜏᜒ
wu
wo		 ᜏᜓ
y
y ᜌ᜔
ya ᜌ
yi
ye		 ᜌᜒ
yu
yo		 ᜌᜓ

Abecedario

Until the first half of the 20th century, Tagalog was widely written in a variety of ways based on Spanish orthography consisting of 32 letters called 'ABECEDARIO' (Spanish for "alphabet"):[41][42]

MajusculeMinusculeMajusculeMinuscule
AaNgng
BbÑñ
CcN͠g / Ñgn͠g / ñg
ChchOo
DdPp
EeQq
FfRr
GgRrrr
HhSs
IiTt
JjUu
KkVv
LlWw
LlllXx
MmYy
NnZz

Abakada
Main article: Abakada alphabet

When the national language was based on Tagalog, grammarian Lope K. Santos introduced a new alphabet consisting of 20 letters called ABAKADA in school grammar books called balarilà:[43][44][45]

MajusculeMinusculeMajusculeMinuscule
AaNn
BbNgng
KkOo
DdPp
EeRr
GgSs
HhTt
IiUu
LlWw
MmYy

Revised alphabet
Main article: Filipino alphabet

In 1987, the Department of Education, Culture and Sports issued a memo stating that the Philippine alphabet had changed from the Pilipino-Tagalog Abakada version to a new 28-letter alphabet[46][47] to make room for loans, especially family names from Spanish and English:[48]

MajusculeMinusculeMajusculeMinuscule
AaÑñ
BbNgng
CcOo
DdPp
EeQq
FfRr
GgSs
HhTt
IiUu
JjVv
KkWw
LlXx
MmYy
NnZz

ng and mga

The genitive marker ng and the plural marker mga (e.g. Iyan ang mga damit ko. (Those are my clothes)) are abbreviations that are pronounced nang [naŋ] and mangá [mɐˈŋa]. Ng, in most cases, roughly translates to "of" (ex. Siya ay kapatid ng nanay ko. She is the sibling of my mother) while nang usually means "when" or can describe how something is done or to what extent (equivalent to the suffix -ly in English adverbs), among other uses.

  • Nang si Hudas ay nadulás.—When Judas slipped.
  • Gumising siya nang maaga.—He woke up early.
  • Gumalíng nang todo si Juan dahil nag-ensayo siya.—Juan greatly improved because he practiced.

In the first example, nang is used in lieu of the word noong (when; Noong si Hudas ay madulas). In the second, nang describes that the person woke up (gumising) early (maaga); gumising nang maaga. In the third, nang described up to what extent that Juan improved (gumaling), which is "greatly" (nang todo). In the latter two examples, the ligature na and its variants -ng and -g may also be used (Gumising na maaga/Maagang gumising; Gumaling na todo/Todong gumaling).

The longer nang may also have other uses, such as a ligature that joins a repeated word:

  • Naghintáy sila nang naghintáy.—They kept on waiting" (a closer calque: "They were waiting and waiting.")

pô/hô and opò/ohò

The words pô/hô and opò/ohò are traditionally used as polite iterations of the affirmative "oo" ("yes"). It is generally used when addressing elders or superiors such as bosses or teachers.

"Pô" and "opò" are specifically used to denote a high level of respect when addressing older persons of close affinity like parents, relatives, teachers and family friends. "Hô" and "ohò" are generally used to politely address older neighbours, strangers, public officials, bosses and nannies, and may suggest a distance in societal relationship and respect determined by the addressee's social rank and not their age. However, "pô" and "opò" can be used in any case in order to express an elevation of respect.

  • Example: "Pakitapon naman pô/ho yung basura." ("Please throw away the trash.")

Used in the affirmative:

  • Ex: "Gutóm ka na ba?" "Opò/Ohò". ("Are you hungry yet?" "Yes.")

Pô/Hô may also be used in negation.

  • Ex: "Hindi ko pô/hô alam 'yan." ("I don't know that.")

Vocabulary and borrowed words
See also: List of loanwords in Tagalog

Tagalog vocabulary is composed mostly of words of native Austronesian origin - most of the words that end with the diphthongs -iw, (e.g. saliw) and those words that exhibit reduplication (e.g. halo-halo, patpat, etc.). However it has a significant number of Spanish loanwords. Spanish is the language that has bequeathed the most loanwords to Tagalog.

In pre-Hispanic times, Trade Malay was widely known and spoken throughout Maritime Southeast Asia.

Tagalog also includes many loanwords from English, Indian languages (Sanskrit and Tamil), Chinese languages (Hokkien, Cantonese, Mandarin), Japanese, Arabic and Persian.

Due to trade with Mexico via the Manila galleons from the 16th to the 19th centuries, many words from Nahuatl (Aztec) and Castilian (Spanish) were introduced to Tagalog.

English has borrowed some words from Tagalog, such as abaca, barong, balisong, boondocks, jeepney, Manila hemp, pancit, ylang-ylang, and yaya. However, the vast majority of these borrowed words are only used in the Philippines as part of the vocabularies of Philippine English.

Other examples of Tagalog words used in English
Example Definition
boondocks meaning "rural" or "back country," was imported by American soldiers stationed in the Philippines following the Spanish–American War as a phonologically nativized version of the Tagalog bundok, which means "mountain."
cogon a type of grass, used for thatching. This word came from the Tagalog word kugon (a species of tall grass).
ylang-ylang a tree whose fragrant flowers are used in perfumes.
Abaca a type of hemp fiber made from a plant in the banana family, from abaká.
Manila hemp a light brown cardboard material used for folders and paper usually made from abaca hemp.
Capiz also known as window oyster, is used to make windows.

Tagalog has contributed several words to Philippine Spanish, like barangay (from balan͠gay, meaning barrio), the abacá, cogon, palay, dalaga etc.

Tagalog words of foreign origin
Main article: List of loanwords in Tagalog

Cognates with other Philippine languages
Tagalog word Meaning Language of cognate Spelling
bakit why Kapampangan obakit
akyat climb/step up Kapampangan ukyát/mukyat
bundok mountain Kapampangan bunduk
at and Kapampangan
Pangasinan		 at
tan
aso dog Kapampangan
Pangasinan		 asu
aso
huwag don't Pangasinan ag
tayo we (inc.) Pangasinan sikatayo
ito, nito this, its Ilocano to
ng of Cebuano
Hiligaynon
Waray
Kapampangan
Pangasinan		 sa
sang
han
ning
na
araw sun; day Visayan languages
Kapampangan
Pangasinan		 adlaw
aldo
agew
ang definite article Visayan languages
Bicolano		 ang
an

Austronesian comparison chart

Below is a chart of Tagalog and a number of other Austronesian languages comparing thirteen words.

English one two three four person house dog coconut day new we (inclusive) what fire
Tagalog isa dalawa tatlo apat tao bahay aso niyog araw bago tayo ano apoy
Tombulu (Minahasa) esa zua (rua) telu epat tou walé asu po'po' endo weru kai, kita apa api
Central Bikol saro duwa tulo apat tawo harong ayam niyog aldaw ba-go kita ano kalayo
Rinconada Bikol əsad darwā tolō əpat tawō baləy ayam noyog aldəw bāgo kitā onō kalayō
Waray usa duha tulo upat tawo balay ayam/ido lubi adlaw bag-o kita anu/nano kalayo
Cebuano usa/isa duha tulo upat tawo balay iro lubi adlaw bag-o kita unsa kalayo
Hiligaynon isa duha/dua tatlo apat tawo balay ido lubi adlaw bag-o kita ano kalayo
Aklanon isaea, sambilog, uno daywa, dos tatlo, tres ap-at, kwatro tawo baeay ayam niyog adlaw bag-o kita ano kaeayo
Kinaray-a sara darwa tatlo apat tawo balay ayam niyog adlaw bag-o kita ano kalayo
Tausug hambuuk duwa tu upat tau bay iru' niyug adlaw ba-gu kitaniyu unu kayu
Maranao isa dowa t'lo phat taw walay aso neyog gawi'e bago tano tonaa apoy
Kapampangan metung adwa atlu apat tau bale asu ngungut aldo bayu ikatamu nanu api
Pangasinan sakey dua, duara talo, talora apat, apatira too abong aso niyog ageo balo sikatayo anto pool
Ilocano maysa dua tallo uppat tao balay aso niog aldaw baro datayo ania apoy
Ivatan asa dadowa tatdo apat tao vahay chito niyoy araw va-yo yaten ango apoy
Ibanag tadday dua tallu appa' tolay balay kitu niuk aggaw bagu sittam anni afi
Yogad tata addu tallu appat tolay binalay atu iyyog agaw bagu sikitam gani afuy
Gaddang antet addwa tallo appat tolay balay atu ayog aw bawu ikkanetam sanenay afuy
Tboli sotu lewu tlu fat tau gunu ohu lefo kdaw lomi tekuy tedu ofih
Kadazan iso duvo tohu apat tuhun hamin tasu piasau tadau vagu tokou onu tapui
Malay/Indonesian satu dua tiga empat orang rumah anjing kelapa/nyiur hari baru/baharu kita apa api
Javanese siji loro telu papat uwong omah asu klapa/kambil hari anyar/enggal kita apa/anu geni
Acehnese sa duwa lhèë peuët ureuëng rumoh/balèë asèë u uroë barô (geu)tanyoë peuë apuy
Lampung sai khua telu pak jelema lamban asu nyiwi khani baru kham api apui
Buginese se'di dua tellu eppa' tau bola asu kaluku esso baru idi' aga api
Batak sada dua tolu opat halak jabu biang harambiri ari baru hita aha api
Minangkabau ciek duo tigo ampek urang rumah anjiang karambia ari baru kito apo api
Tetum ida rua tolu haat ema uma asu nuu loron foun ita saida ahi
Maori tahi rua toru wha tangata whare kuri kokonati ra hou taua aha ahi
Tuvaluan tasi lua tolu fá toko fale kuri moku aso fou tāua ā afi
Hawaiian kahi lua kolu hā kanaka hale 'īlio niu ao hou kākou aha ahi
Banjarese asa dua talu ampat urang rumah hadupan kalapa hari hanyar kita apa api
Malagasy isa roa telo efatra olona trano alika voanio andro vaovao isika inona afo
Dusun iso duo tolu apat tulun walai tasu piasau tadau wagu tokou onu/nu tapui
Iban sa/san duan dangku dangkan orang rumah ukui/uduk nyiur hari baru kitai nama api
Melanau satu dua telou empat apah lebok asou nyior lau baew teleu nama apui

Religious literature
The Ten Commandments in Tagalog.

Religious literature remains one of the most dynamic contributors to Tagalog literature. The first Bible in Tagalog, then called Ang Biblia[49] ("the Bible") and now called Ang Dating Biblia[50] ("the Old Bible"), was published in 1905. In 1970, the Philippine Bible Society translated the Bible into modern Tagalog. Even before the Second Vatican Council, devotional materials in Tagalog had been in circulation. There are at least four circulating Tagalog translations of the Bible

When the Second Vatican Council, (specifically the Sacrosanctum Concilium) permitted the universal prayers to be translated into vernacular languages, the Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines was one of the first to translate the Roman Missal into Tagalog. The Roman Missal in Tagalog was published as early as 1982.

Jehovah's Witnesses were printing Tagalog literature at least as early as 1941[51] and The Watchtower (the primary magazine of Jehovah's Witnesses) has been published in Tagalog since at least the 1950s. New releases are now regularly released simultaneously in a number of languages, including Tagalog. The official website of Jehovah's Witnesses also has some publications available online in Tagalog.[52] The revised bible edition, the New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures, was released in Tagalog on 2019[53] and it is distributed without charge both printed and online versions.

Tagalog is quite a stable language, and very few revisions have been made to Catholic Bible translations. Also, as Protestantism in the Philippines is relatively young, liturgical prayers tend to be more ecumenical.

Examples

Lord's Prayer

In Tagalog, the Lord's Prayer is known by its incipit, Amá Namin (literally, "Our Father").

Amá namin, sumasalangit Ka,
Sambahín ang ngalan Mo.
Mapasaamin ang kaharián Mo.
Sundín ang loób Mo,
Dito sa lupà, gaya nang sa langit.
Bigyán Mo kamí ngayón ng aming kakanin sa araw-araw,
At patawarin Mo kamí sa aming mga salâ,
Para nang pagpápatawad namin,
Sa nagkakasalà sa amin;
At huwág Mo kamíng ipahintulot sa tuksó,
At iadyâ Mo kamí sa lahát ng masamâ.
[Sapagkát sa Inyó ang kaharián, at ang kapangyarihan,
At ang kaluwálhatian, ngayón, at magpakailanman.]
Amen.

Universal Declaration of Human Rights

This is Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (Pángkalahatáng Pagpapahayag ng Karapatáng Pantao)

 Bawat tao'y isinilang na may layà at magkakapantáy ang tagláy na dangál at karapatán. Silá'y pinagkalooban ng pangangatwiran at budhî na kailangang gamitin nilá sa pagtuturingan nilá sa diwà ng pagkakapatiran.
 All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.[54]

Numbers

The numbers (mga bilang) in Tagalog language are of two sets. The first set consists of native Tagalog words and the other set are Spanish loanwords. (This may be compared to other East Asian languages, except with the second set of numbers borrowed from Spanish instead of Chinese.) For example, when a person refers to the number "seven", it can be translated into Tagalog as "pito" or "siyete" (Spanish: siete).

Number Cardinal Spanish loanword
(Original Spanish)		 Ordinal
0 sero / walâ (lit. "null") / awán sero (cero) -
1 isá uno (uno) una
2 dalawá [dalaua] dos (dos) pangalawá / ikalawá (informally, ikadalawá)
3 tatló tres (tres) pangatló / ikatló
4 apat kuwatro (cuatro) pang-apat / ikaapat ("ika" and the number-word are never hyphenated. For numbers, however, they always are.)
5 limá singko (cinco) panlimá / ikalimá
6 anim sais (seis) pang-anim / ikaanim
7 pitó siyete (siete) pampitó / ikapitó
8 waló otso (ocho) pangwaló / ikawaló
9 siyám nuwebe (nueve) pansiyám / ikasiyám
10 sampû [sang puwo] diyés (diez) pansampû / ikasampû (or ikapû in some literary compositions)
11 labíng-isá onse (once) panlabíng-isá / pang-onse / ikalabíng-isá
12 labíndalawá dose (doce) panlabíndalawá / pandose / ikalabíndalawá
13 labíntatló trese (trece) panlabíntatló / pantrese / ikalabíntatló
14 labíng-apat katorse (catorce) panlabíng-apat / pangkatorse / ikalabíng-apat
15 labínlimá kinse (quince) panlabínlimá / pangkinse / ikalabínlimá
16 labíng-anim disisaís (dieciséis) panlabíng-anim / pandyes-sais / ikalabíng-anim
17 labímpitó dissisyete (diecisiete) panlabímpitó / pandyes-syete / ikalabímpitó
18 labíngwaló dissiotso (dieciocho) panlabíngwaló / pandyes-otso / ikalabíngwaló
19 labinsiyám disinuwebe (diecinueve) panlabinsiyám / pandyes-nwebe / ikalabinsiyám
20 dalawampû bente / beinte (veinte) pandalawampû / ikadalawampû (rare literary variant: ikalawampû)
21 dalawampú't isá bente'y uno (veintiuno) pang-dalawampú't isá / ikalawamapú't isá
30 tatlumpû trenta / treinta (treinta) pantatlumpû / ikatatlumpû (rare literary variant: ikatlumpû)
40 apatnapû kuwarenta (cuarenta) pang-apatnapû / ikaapatnapû
50 limampû singkuwenta (cincuenta) panlimampû / ikalimampû
60 animnapû sesenta (sesenta) pang-animnapû / ikaanimnapû
70 pitumpû setenta (setenta) pampitumpû / ikapitumpû
80 walumpû otsenta / utsenta (ochenta) pangwalumpû / ikawalumpû
90 siyamnapû nobenta (noventa) pansiyamnapû / ikasiyamnapû
100 sándaán siyento (cien) pan(g)-(i)sándaán / ikasándaán (rare literary variant: ika-isándaan)
200 dalawandaán dos siyentos (doscientos) pandalawándaán / ikadalawandaan (rare literary variant: ikalawándaán)
300 tatlóndaán tres siyentos (trescientos) pantatlóndaán / ikatatlondaan (rare literary variant: ikatlóndaán)
400 apat na raán kuwatro siyentos (cuatrocientos) pang-apat na raán / ikaapat na raán
500 limándaán kinyentos (quinientos) panlimándaán / ikalimándaán
600 anim na raán sais siyentos (seiscientos) pang-anim na raán / ikaanim na raán
700 pitondaán siyete siyentos (setecientos) pampitóndaán / ikapitóndaán (or ikapitóng raán)
800 walóndaán otso siyentos (ochocientos) pangwalóndaán / ikawalóndaán (or ikawalóng raán)
900 siyám na raán nuwebe siyentos (novecientos) pansiyám na raán / ikasiyám na raán
1,000 sánlibo mil (mil) pan(g)-(i)sánlibo / ikasánlibo
2,000 dalawánlibo dos mil (dos mil) pangalawáng libo / ikalawánlibo
10,000 sánlaksâ / sampúng libo diyes mil (diez mil) pansampúng libo / ikasampúng libo
20,000 dalawanlaksâ / dalawampúng libo bente mil (veinte mil) pangalawampúng libo / ikalawampúng libo
100,000 sangyutá / sandaáng libo siyento mil (cien mil)
200,000 dalawangyutá / dalawandaáng libo dos siyento mil (doscientos mil)
1,000,000 sang-angaw / sangmilyón milyón (un millón)
2,000,000 dalawang-angaw / dalawang milyón dos milyón (dos millones)
10,000,000 sangkatì / sampung milyón dyes milyón (diez millones)
100,000,000 sampúngkatì / sandaáng milyón syento milyón (cien millones)
1,000,000,000 sang-atos / sambilyón bilyón (un billón (US),[55] mil millones, millardo[56])
1,000,000,000,000 sang-ipaw / santrilyón trilyón (un trillón (US),[57] un billón[55])
Number English Ordinal Spanish Cardinal
1st first primer, primero, primera una / ika-isá
2nd second segundo/a ikalawá
3rd third tercero/a ikatló
4th fourth cuarto/a ika-apat
5th fifth quinto/a ikalimá
6th sixth sexto/a ika-anim
7th seventh séptimo/a ikapitó
8th eighth octavo/a ikawaló
9th ninth noveno/a ikasiyám
10th tenth décimo/a ikasampû
​1⁄2 half medio/a, mitad kalahatì
​1⁄4 one quarter cuarto kapat
​3⁄5 three fifths tres quintas partes tatlóng-kalimá
​2⁄3 two thirds dos tercios dalawáng-katló
​1 1⁄2 one and a half uno y medio isá't kalahatì
​2 2⁄3 two and two thirds dos y dos tercios dalawá't dalawáng-katló
0.5 zero point five cero punto cinco, cero coma cinco,[58] cero con cinco salapî / limá hinatì sa sampû
0.005 zero point zero zero five cero punto cero cero cinco, cero coma cero cero cinco, cero con cero cero cinco bagól / limá hinatì sa sanlibo
1.25 one point two five uno punto veinticinco, uno coma veinticinco, uno con veinticinco isá't dalawampú't limá hinatì sa sampû
2.025 two point zero two five dos punto cero veinticinco, dos coma cero veinticinco, dos con cero veinticinco dalawá't dalawampú't limá hinatì sa sanlibo
25% twenty-five percent veinticinco por ciento dalawampú't-limáng bahagdán
50% fifty percent cincuenta por ciento limampúng bahagdán
75% seventy-five percent setenta y cinco por ciento pitumpú't-limáng bahagdán

Months and days

Months and days in Tagalog are also localised forms of Spanish months and days. "Month" in Tagalog is buwán (also the word for moon) and "day" is araw (the word also means sun). Unlike Spanish, however, months and days in Tagalog are always capitalised.

Month Original Spanish Tagalog (abbreviation)
January enero Enero (Ene.)
February febrero Pebrero (Peb.)
March marzo Marso (Mar.)
April abril Abríl (Abr.)
May mayo Mayo (Mayo)
June junio Hunyo (Hun.)
July julio Hulyo (Hul.)
August agosto Agosto (Ago.)
September septiembre Setyembre (Set.)
October octubre Oktubre (Okt.)
November noviembre Nobyembre (Nob.)
December diciembre Disyembre (Dis.)
Day Original Spanish Tagalog
Monday lunes Lunes
Tuesday martes Martes
Wednesday miércoles Miyérkules / Myérkules
Thursday jueves Huwebes / Hwebes
Friday viernes Biyernes / Byernes
Saturday sábado Sábado
Sunday domingo Linggó

Time

Time expressions in Tagalog are also Tagalized forms of the corresponding Spanish. "Time" in Tagalog is panahon, or more commonly oras. Unlike Spanish and English, times in Tagalog are capitalized whenever they appear in a sentence.

Time English Original Spanish Tagalog
1 hour one hour una hora Isang oras
2 min two minutes dos minutos Dalawang sandali/minuto
3 sec three seconds tres segundos Tatlong saglit/segundo
morning mañana Umaga
afternoon tarde Hapon
evening/night noche Gabi
noon mediodía Tanghali
midnight medianoche Hatinggabi
1:00 am one in the morning una de la mañana Ika-isa ng umaga
7:00 pm seven at night siete de la noche Ikapito ng gabi
1:15 quarter past one
one-fifteen		 una y cuarto Kapat makalipas ikaisa
Labinlima makalipas ikaisa
Apatnapu't-lima bago mag-ikaisa
2:30 half past two
two-thirty		 dos y media Kalahati makalipas ikalawa
Tatlumpu makalipas ikalawa
3:45 three-forty-five
quarter to/of four		 tres y cuarenta y cinco
cuatro menos cuarto		 Tatlong-kapat makalipas ikatlo
Apatnapu't-lima makalipas ikatlo
Labinlima bago mag-ikaapat
4:25 four-twenty-five
thirty-five to/of four		 cuatro y veinticinco Dalawampu't-lima makalipas ikaapat
Tatlumpu't-lima bago mag-ikaapat
5:35 five-thirty-five
twenty-five to/of six		 cinco y treinta y cinco
seis menos veinticinco		 Tatlumpu't-lima makalipas ikalima
Dalawampu't-lima bago mag-ikaanim

Common phrases
English Tagalog (with Pronunciation)
FilipinoPilipino [ˌpiːliˈpiːno]
EnglishInglés [ʔɪŋˈɡlɛs]
TagalogTagalog [tɐˈɡaːloɡ]
Spanish"Espanyol/Español/Kastila"
What is your name?Anó ang pangalan ninyo/nila*? (plural or polite) [ɐˈno aŋ pɐˈŋaːlan nɪnˈjo], Anó ang pangalan mo? (singular) [ɐˈno aŋ pɐˈŋaːlan mo]
How are you?kumustá [kʊmʊsˈta] (modern), Anó po áng lagáy ninyo/nila? (old use)
Knock knocktao po [ˈtaːʔopoʔ]
Good morning!Magandáng umaga! [mɐɡɐnˈdaŋ uˈmaːɡa]
Good noontime! (from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.)Magandáng tanghali! [mɐɡɐnˈdaŋ taŋˈhaːlɛ]
Good afternoon! (from 1 p.m. to 6:00 p.m.)Magandáng hapon! [mɐɡɐnˈdaŋ ˈhaːpon]
Good evening!Magandáng gabí! [mɐɡɐnˈdaŋ ɡɐˈbɛ]
Good-byepaálam [pɐˈʔaːlam]
PleaseDepending on the nature of the verb, either pakí- [pɐˈki] or makí- [mɐˈki] is attached as a prefix to a verb. ngâ [ŋaʔ] is optionally added after the verb to increase politeness. (e.g. Pakipasa ngâ ang tinapay. ("Can you pass the bread, please?"))
Thank youSalamat [sɐˈlaːmat]
This oneito [ʔiˈto], sometimes pronounced [ʔɛˈto] (literally—"it", "this")
That one (close to addressee)iyan [ʔiˈjan]
That one (far from speaker and addressee)iyon[ʔiˈjon]
Heredito ['di:to], heto ['hɛ:to] ("Here it is")
Right therediyan [dʒan], hayan [hɑˈjan] ("There it is")
Over theredoon [doʔon]
How much?Magkano? [mɐɡˈkaːno]
Yesoo [ˈoːʔo]

opò [ˈʔo:poʔ] or ohò [ˈʔo:hoʔ] (formal/polite form)

Nohindî [hɪnˈdɛʔ] (at the end of a pause or sentence), often shortened to dî [dɛʔ]

hindî pô (formal/polite form)

I don't knowhindî ko álam [hɪnˈdiː ko aːlam]

Very informal: ewan [ʔɛˈʊɑn], archaic aywan [ɑjˈʊɑn] (closest English equivalent: colloquial dismissive 'Whatever')

Sorrypasensya pô [pɐˈsɛːnʃa poʔ] (literally from the word "patience") or paumanhin po, patawad po [pɐtaːwad poʔ] (literally—"asking your forgiveness")
Becausekasí [kɐˈsɛ] or dahil [dɑˈhɪl]
Hurry!dalí! [dɐˈli], bilís! [bɪˈlis]
Againmulí [muˈli], ulít [ʊˈlɛt]
I don't understandHindî ko naiintindihan [hɪnˈdiː ko nɐʔɪɪnˌtɪndiˈhan] or

Hindi ko nauunawaan [hɪnˈdiː ko nɐʔʊʊnawaʔˌʔan]

What?Anó? [ɐˈno]
Where?Saán? [sɐˈʔan], Nasaán? [ˌnaːsɐˈʔan] (literally - "Where at?")
Why?Bakít? [bɑˈkɛt]
When?Kailan? [kɑjˈlɑn], [kɑˈɪˈlɑn], or [kɛˈlɑn] (literally—"In what order?/"At what count?"")
How?Paánó? [pɑˌɐˈno] (literally—"By what?")
Where's the bathroom?Nasaán ang banyo? [ˌnaːsɐˈʔan ʔaŋ ˈbaːnjo]
Generic toastMabuhay! [mɐˈbuːhaɪ] (literally—"long live")
Do you speak English?Marunong ka báng magsalitâ ng Inglés? [mɐˈɾuːnoŋ ka baŋ mɐɡsaliˈtaː naŋ ʔɪŋˈɡlɛs]

Marunong po bâ kayóng magsalitâ ng Inglés? (polite version for elders and strangers)
Marunong ka báng mag-Inglés? (short form)
Marunong po ba kayóng mag-Inglés? (short form, polite version for elders and strangers)

It is fun to live.Masayá ang mabuhay! [mɐˈsaˈja ʔaŋ mɐˈbuːhaɪ] or Masaya'ng mabuhay (contracted version)

*Pronouns such as niyo (2nd person plural) and nila (3rd person plural) are used on a single 2nd person in polite or formal language. See Tagalog grammar.

Proverbs

Ang hindî marunong lumingón sa pinánggalingan ay hindî makaráratíng sa paroroonan. (José Rizal)
One who knows not how to look back from whence he came, will never get to where he is going.

Unang kagat, tinapay pa rin. It means :"First bite, still bread." or "All fluff no substance."

Tao ka nang humarap, bilang tao kitang haharapin.
(A proverb in Southern Tagalog that made people aware the significance of sincerity in Tagalog communities. It says, "As a human you reach me, I treat you as a human and never act as a traitor.")

Hulí man daw (raw) at magalíng, nakáhahábol pa rin.
If one is behind but capable, one will still be able to catch up.

Magbirô ka na sa lasíng, huwág lang sa bagong gising.
Make fun of someone drunk, if you must, but never one who has just awakened.

Aanhín pa ang damó kung patáy na ang kabayo?
What use is the grass if the horse is already dead?

Ang sakít ng kalingkingan, ramdám ng buóng katawán.
The pain in the pinkie is felt by the whole body.
(In a group, if one goes down, the rest follow.)

Nasa hulí ang pagsisisi.
Regret is always in the end.

Pagkáhabà-habà man ng prusisyón, sa simbahan pa rin ang tulóy.
The procession may stretch on and on, but it still ends up at the church.
(In romance: refers to how certain people are destined to be married. In general: refers to how some things are inevitable, no matter how long you try to postpone it.)

Kung 'dî mádaán sa santóng dasalan, daanin sa santóng paspasan.
If it cannot be got through holy prayer, get it through blessed force.
(In romance and courting: santóng paspasan literally means 'holy speeding' and is a euphemism for sexual intercourse. It refers to the two styles of courting by Filipino boys: one is the traditional, protracted, restrained manner favored by older generations, which often featured serenades and manual labor for the girl's family; the other is upfront seduction, which may lead to a slap on the face or a pregnancy out of wedlock. The second conclusion is known as pikot or what Western cultures would call a 'shotgun marriage'. This proverb is also applied in terms of diplomacy and negotiation.)

See also

References
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