Mayaman ka ba? (Are you rich?) Regardless of how much money you have, let’s talk about money and related words. Firstly, money in Tagalog is pera. If you speak Spanish, do not be fooled that this means “pear”, which in Tagalog is peras. Do you see what they did there? E.g. May pera ka ba? Kailangan…
The Tagalog language has a vast number of synonyms. Synonyms can be created in a number of ways. One interesting way synonyms are made is by introduction of vocabulary from other languages. For example in English, because of England’s history of being a conqueror and being conquered by foreign kingdoms, the language has absorbed vocabulary…
Doers and receivers play very important roles in the Tagalog language. They are not necessarily always the same as subject and object. Doers are not always subjects while receivers are not always the objects. In fact, in a sentence, the subject can be a receiver while the doer can be the object. In the English…
Sampaguita (Jasminum sambac), a common flower in the Philippines You think Tagalog is an ugly language? Either way, beauty is in the ear of the beholder. This article is a list of Tagalog words, I personally, consider beautiful. I have based the beauty of these words on the pronunciation and how it rolls off the…
Life in the Philippines is a beach like this one in Pagudpud, Ilocos Norte. Mabuhay and let’s get wet! If you do come to the Philippines, you’re Philippine experience wouldn’t be complete without a visit to either of the hundreds of majestic beaches in the country. There are beaches with different colours of sand including yellow,…
The Philippines is a very colourful country and one would see that in the festivals. So colourful you might want to point to every single colour. The Tagalog word for colour is kulay. Here are some of the Tagalog words for different colours. English Tagalog Black Itim White Puti Here is a colour spectrum and…
If you do get a chance to go to the Philippines, I suggest that you learn these 20 words and phrases. Because this blog is dedicated to Tagalog, you’ll be learning Tagalog terms instead of the other languages. I still encourage you to learn words and phrases from other Philippine languages like Bisaya but for…
Are they really the same one language? I’ve already covered this topic in another article in another blog. I’ve learnt a little bit more about the history of the Filipino language during my stay in the Philippines so this post will be an update to the same post on my other blog. When I was…
Do you like Filipino food? Is it delicious? Bitter? Sour? If you do like Filipino food, you can say these words in order to thank the cook. These three Tagalog words all mean delicious, tasty, yummy, etc: Masarap Malasa Malinamnam Masarap, however, is by far the most popular out of the three. You’ll see and…
What – Ano e.g. “Ano ang pangalan mo?” (What is your name?) “Ano ang ginagawa niya?” (What is he/she doing?) Who – Sino e.g. “Sino ka ba?” (Who are you?) “Sino ba ang bagong guro?” (Who is the new teacher?) Whose – Kanino e.g. “Kanino ang kotse ito?” (Whose car is this?) “Kaninong bayad ito?”…
Probably the most popular form of public transportation in the Philippines. They are literally the kings of the roads. A distinctive feature of a jeepney is its jeep-like front appearance. Each jeepney has its own decorations of either movie characters, religious imagery, flags of other countries (usually the US or the UK) or anime, so…
Subject – the noun or pronoun that is the focus of the sentence Object – the noun or pronoun which the subject is acting upon In English, the subject is usually always the first noun or pronoun of a sentence. E.g. The boy ate the apple. ——-(S) (V) (O) As you can see, the…
For English speakers, as well as speakers of most European languages would know that the sentence structure of those languages is mainly. Subject – Verb – Object I (Subject) am (verb) a man (object). In Tagalog however, one needs to become accustomed to the structure when he/she practises the language. The sentence structure is not…
There are three groups of pronouns in Tagalog for different purposes. E.g. I love you. You love me. (NOT You love I.) My friend and I. (NOT My friend and me. NOR Me and my friend. Although conversational.) Just like languages like English, French or German, there are different names for pronouns depending on whether…
Ifugao tribesman, Banaue, Philippines [img source] Now, let’s talk about the opposite of young, which was covered in this article. Once again, there are two words in Tagalog that mean old but for different purposes. Matanda – this means old or elderly person. This word is only used for humans, animals or other living creatures.…
JonaTagalog 