#learntagalog

Tagalog is easy to pronounce, almost all of the words are read exactly as it they are written.

It might get confusing though, you will notice that there are a lot of the letter "a" in the language, for example there’s a well known Elevator scene:

Person 1: (runs to elevator) Bababa ba?

Person 2: (nods) Bababa.

what happened? Well I can simply break it down just for you:

Bababa (Going down)

Baba (Down)

Ba? (Is it?)

Do you think its nakakapagpabagabag? (Worrisome)

Its OK! You'll get used to it, besides, to efficiently learn a language you must start from the very beginning (we could read children's books if we have to!)

Lets start by letting you get used to the sounds, try saying these out loud:

A           E          I          O           U BA       BE      BI        BO      BU DA       DE     DI      DO       DU GA      GE      GI      GO      GU HA      HE      HI      HO       HU LA        LE        LI        LO        LU MA      ME    MI       MO     MU NA       NE    NI        NO      NU NGA  NGE  NGI  NGO  NGU PA       PE        PI        PO      PU RA      RE        RI       RO       RU SA       SE       SI       SO       SU TA       TE       TI        TO       TU WA    WE     WI      WO      WU YA       YE      YI        YO       YU

A=   pronounced as the a in  Apple

E=   pronounced as the e in Elephant

I=   pronounced as the I in Igloo

O=  pronounced as the o in Orange (none of that “oh” or “owe” just straight up O(range) 

U=   pronounced as the u in Uber ( similar to “oo” sound in a cows “Moo”) (or “oof” xD)

Now you might be asking, what the heck is the “NGA” parts? well it makes the same sound from the following ingles (english) words:

“Sing Along” “Thingamabob” 

notice how there is no super hard emphasis on the G (ex. Chimichanga)?

The “Ng” on its own is pronounced the same way as the NG in:

“Walking” “Drawing” “Learning”

I will use the word “Walking” for now, and add the vowels at the end try saying the following words (remember the nga sound in Sing Along):

Walkinga

Walkinge

Walkingi

Walkingo

Walkingu

______

Here are some sample sentence:

“Ano gagawin natin ngayon? (What are we doing today)

“Nge, peke pala yung nabili ko” (nge! I accidentally bought a fake one!)

“Masakit ngipin ko” (My teeth/tooth hurts)

“Mabango mga bulaklak” (The Flowers smell good)

“May Talumpati ata ang Pangulo mamaya (The President might have a speech later)

______

Slang time d(°∀°d) as always DONT use in formal situations:

“Ngeh” or “Ngek”

it does not mean anything. rather, it is an interjection. its an expression to when something that surprises you (but in a sarcastic way) similar to “Lol what?” or “seriously?” “is that for real?” it has a “seriously? thats so dumb!” tone to it.  (depends on what region you are in the Philippines)

ex.

“Ngeh, pano nangyari yun?” (”wha? how did that even happen?”)

“Ngek, mali yung sagot ko..” (”My answer was wrong.”.)

“Nganga”

technically it means an “open mouth”.  when a person is speechless, either you ended up “nganga” or they ended up “nganga”, or you both ended up “nganga”, in this case you’re both “Tunganga”

“Tunganga”

Dazed / Spaced out

“Ahhh”

this is easy, its just the tagalog version of “oooh”. like “oooh I get it!” in tagalog its an a sound, “Ahhh gets ko na!”

“Tungak!”

the word “Tanga” is a rude way to say idiot / Dumba** (though some close friends use it anyway, you know how friends are). The word “Tungak” Is a less rude of saying it. kind of like “Oh you idiot haha!” (still not saying that you should use this formally though, I mean you are still calling someone an idiot)

“Ewan (ko)” / “Malay (ko)”

a slang for “I dont know” ( its very unprofessional) its pretty much equivalent to “How the heck would I know?” in fact, you say it in the same tone.

“Ehhh”

compared to “ahh” this isnt as positive, its like, when someone asks you to do your chores but your too lazy just go “eeeeh”. pretty much equivalent to “uuuugh” you could add “Ayoko” at the end to make it 

“Eeehh, Ayoko!” (“Ugghhgh I dont want to!”)

“Eh”

some people usually add this at the end like an accent, usually those people are sarcastic. its also similar to “well...” for example

“Hindi ko naman alam eh!” (“Well its not like I knew about it!”)

“Ohh diba”

equivalent would be “Hah! see what I did?” you know those hah! in your face or I told you so moments where you prove someone wrong? say this to all the non-believers,

“Oh diba! sabi ko sayo eh!” (”Hah! I told you so!”)

“Geh”

not to be confused with the meme, although..they are pronounced the same;; its equivalent to “whatever”. 

Ng - is used as a marker to indicate possession, to mark the direct object of a verb, or to show the topic or subject of a sentence. It is used in linking phrases and prepositional phrases.

example:

- Damit ng kapatid ko. - Bahay ng kapitbahay.

Other usages:

Direct object. - Huni ng ibon. Used for time and date. - Alas tres ng hapon. - Ika-7 ng mayo. Answer to the question 'ano'. - Gusto ko ang halimuyak ng sampaguita.

Nang- used as a conjunction or adverb to indicate how an action is done, to express manner, or to provide additional information about the verb. It is commonly used with verbs in the past tense.

example:

- Tumakbo siya nang matulin. - Naglakad siya nang naka-paa.

Other usages:

1. Repeated action. Gala nang gala. 2. Replacement for 'para', 'noong', at 'upang'. Para - Maaga akong matutulog, nang magising ako nang maaga bukas. Noong - Nang makita ko siya kanina. Upang - Aalis ako nang maaga, nang hindi ako ma-late sa trabaho. 3. Answer to the question 'paano'. Nakalabas ako nang walang kahirap-hirap.

Hello everyone, Is today your day-off? in the Philippines it is Linggo today (day this is posted) so everyone might be taking a break~

what about you? Ano gawa mo? (what are you up to)? [informal])

heres one of my pronunciation guide to help you out for this topic, besides that, remember,pronounce it the same way its spelled lets start~!

Lunes [Loo-ne-s] Monday

-Dont read it as “Loons” or “Tunes”. Try, Loo(As in Lunatic), Nes(in Nest)

Martes [Mar-Te-s] (Tuesday)

-Dont read as “Marties”. try Mar(in Mark), Tes(in Test)

Miyerkules [Mee-Yer-Koo-les] (Wednesday)

Try, Me(as in “It was Me”) then, Yer(Player is the closest I could find, but the “E” in Player is still too soft it almost sounds like “Ple-yur” right?, we need the “E” to sound hard, like how it sounds in “Yeah”, or “Elephant”. “Ku (as in kUMbAYaaa Mah lOrD  or Coo as in the sound or Cookie.) Les(as in Less)

Huwebes [Who-Weh-Bes] (Thursday)

Hu (Sounds like Who). Weh(Sounds like Weather), Bes (Sounds like Best)

Biyernes [Bee-Yer-Nes] (Friday)

Bi(as in Bee, or Bean), Yer (Read above xD), Nes (As in Nest)

Sabado [Sa-Ba-Do] (Saturday)

this should be easy right? Sa and Ba really emphasize the letter A, Like how the Minions from Despicable Me would do (Im sorry), or WAHluig. Im trying to be funny but i’m not joking its literally how its sounds xD. Do is read as in Do-re-Mi really form your lips into a circle. (/ * 0*)/ SAAAABAAAADOOOOOO-

Linggo [Lee-ng-goh] (Sunday)

Li is read like Leave or Lee, connect it with the n sound, it should sound like Snorkling. then Goh should sound similar to Goku (Dragonball Z). note, this word is also how you say week. as in “Days of the Week” is Mga Araw sa/ng Linggo (Irregular) or Weekly/Every week would be Kada-Linggo or Linggo-Linggo

Heres some Example sentences for you, add which ever day you want (INFORMAL):

“Sa susunod na ____ pa ata yung exam” (I think the exam isn't until Next ____ )

“Magikikita kami ni (Name) ngayong ____”  (Me and (Name) will meet up this ___)

“_____ Ba ngayon?” (Is it ____ Today?)