Tagalog grammar

Tagalog grammar is the body of rules that describe the structure of expressions in the Tagalog language, the language of the Tagalog region of the Philippines.

In Tagalog, there are eight basic parts of speech: verbs, nouns, adjectives, adverbs, prepositions, pronouns, conjunctions and particles. Tagalog is a slightly inflected language. Pronouns are inflected for number; and verbs, for focus, aspect and voice.

Verbs

Tagalog verbs are morphologically complex and are conjugated by taking on a variety of affixes reflecting focus/trigger, aspect, voice, and others. Below is a chart of the main verbal affixes, which consist of a variety of prefixes, suffixes, infixes, and circumfixes.

Conventions used in the chart:

• CV~ stands for the reduplicated first syllable of a root word, which is usually the first consonant and the first vowel of the word.
• N stands for a nasal consonant which assimilates to ng, n, or m depending on the consonant following it. ∅ means that the verb root is used, therefore no affixes are added.
• Punctuation marks indicate the type of affix a particular bound morpheme is; hyphens mark prefixes and suffixes, and ⟨um⟩ is an infix that is placed between the first consonant and the first vowel of a root word. The word sumulat (s⟨um⟩ulat) (actor focus and completed aspect or infinitive) is composed of the root word sulat and the infix ⟨um⟩. Its other conjugated forms are susulat (su~sulat) and sumusulat (s⟨um⟩u~sulat).

With object-focus verbs in the completed and progressive aspects, the infix -in- frequently becomes the infix -ni- or the prefix ni- if the root word begins with /l/, /r/, /w/, or /y/; e.g., linalapitan or nilalapitan and inilagay or ilinagay.

With the suffixes -in and -an, if the root word ends in a vowel, the suffixes insert an h at the beginning to become -hin and -han to make speaking more natural. This does not usually happen with root words ending in pseudo-vowels such as w and y. An example of this is basa which becomes basahin rather than basain.

The imperative affixes are not often used in Manila, but they do exist in other Tagalog speaking provinces.

Nouns

While Tagalog nouns are not inflected, they are usually preceded by case-marking particles. These follow an Austronesian alignment, also known as a trigger system, which is a distinct feature of Philippine languages. There are three basic cases: direct (or absolutive, often inaccurately labeled the nominative); indirect (which may function as an ergative, accusative, or genitive); and oblique.

The direct case is used for intransitive clauses. In transitive clauses using the default grammatical voice of Tagalog, the direct marks the patient (direct object) and the indirect marks the agent, corresponding to the subject in English. In the more marked voice the reverse occurs, with the direct marking the agent and the indirect marking the patient. Because the base form of the clause is superficially similar to the passive voice in English, this has led to a misconception that Tagalog is spoken primarily in the passive voice. It is also superficially similar to ergative languages such as those of Australia, so Tagalog has also been analyzed as an ergative language. However, the English passive clause is intransitive, and likewise in ergative languages one of the voices forms an intransitive clause, whereas in Tagalog both voices are transitive, and so align well with neither nominative–accusative languages such as English nor with ergative languages.

One of the functions of voice in Tagalog is to code definiteness, analogous to the use of definite and indefinite articles in English. When the patient is marked with the direct case particle, it is generally definite, whereas when it is marked with the indirect case it is generally indefinite.

The oblique particle and the locative derived from it are similar to prepositions in English, marking things such as location and direction.

The case particles fall into two classes: one used with names of people (proper) and one for everything else (common).

The common ergative marker is spelled ng and pronounced [naŋ]. Mgá, pronounced [maˈŋa], marks the common plural.

Pronouns

Like nouns, personal pronouns are categorized by case. As above, the indirect forms also function as the genitive.

Examples:
Sumulat ako.
"I wrote."

Sinulatan ako ng liham.
"He/She wrote me a letter."
Note: If "ng liham" is removed from the sentence, it becomes "I was written on"

Ibíbigay ko sa kaniyá.
"I will give it to him/her."

Genitive pronouns follow the word they modify. Oblique pronouns can take the place of the genitive pronoun but they precede the word they modify.

Ang bahay ko.
Ang aking bahay.
"My house."

The inclusive dual pronoun kata/kitá has largely disappeared from the Manila Dialect. It survives in other Tagalog dialects, particularly those spoken in the rural areas. However kitá is used to replace the pronoun sequence [verb] ko ikaw, (I [verb] you).

The 1st-2nd dual pronoun "kata/kitá" referring to "you and I" is traditionally used as follows:

Mágkaibigan kitá. (Manila Dialect: Mágkaibigan tayo.)
"You and I are friends." (Manila Dialect: “We are friends.")

As previously mentioned, the pronoun sequence [verb] ko ikáw, (I [verb] you) may be replaced by kitá.

Mahál kitá.
"I love you."

Bíbigyan kitá ng pera.
"I will give you money."

Nakita kitá sa tindahan kahapon.
"I saw you at the store yesterday."

Kaibigan kitá.
"You are my friend."

The inclusive pronoun tayo refers to the first and second persons. It may also refer to a third person(s).

The exclusive pronoun kamí refers to the first and third persons but excludes the second.

Walâ tayong bigás.
"We (you and me) have no rice."

Walâ kaming bigás.
"We (someone else and me, but not you) have no rice."

The second person singular has two forms. Ikáw is the non-enclitic form while ka is the enclitic which never begins a sentence. The plural form kayó is also used politely in the singular, similar to French vous.

Nouns are gender neutral, hence siyá means both he or she.

Demonstrative pronouns

Tagalog's demonstrative pronouns are as follows.

*For the most part, iré/aré has disappeared from the vocabulary of most Tagalog speakers. In its place, itó is used.

Examples:

Modifiers

Modifiers alter, qualify, clarify or limit other elements in a sentence structure. They are optional grammatical elements but they change the meaning of the element they are modifying in particular ways. Examples of modifiers are adjectives (modifies nouns), adjectival clauses, adverbs (modifies verbs) and adverbial clauses. Nouns can also modify other nouns. In Tagalog, word categories are fluid: a word can sometimes be an adverb or an adjective depending on the word it modifies. If the word being modified is a noun, then the modifier is an adjective, if the word being modified is a verb, then it is an adverb. For example, the word 'mabilis' means 'fast' in English. The Tagalog word 'mabilis' can be used to describe nouns like 'koneho' ('rabbit') in 'konehong mabilis' ('quick rabbit'). In that phrase, 'mabilis' was used as an adjective. The same word can be used to describe verbs, one can say 'tumakbong mabilis' which means 'quickly ran'. In that phrase, 'mabilis' was used as an adverb. The Tagalog word for 'rabbit' is 'koneho' and 'ran' is 'tumakbo' but they showed up in the phrases as 'koneho-ng' and 'tumakbo-ng'. Tagalog uses something called a "linker" that always surfaces in the context of modification.^[7] Modification only occurs when a linker is present. Tagalog has the linkers -ng and na. In the examples mentioned, the linker -ng was used because the word before the linker ends in a vowel. The second linker, na is used everywhere else (the na used in modification is not the same as the adverb na which means 'now' or 'already'). Seeing the enclitics -ng and na are good indications that there is modification in the clause. These linkers can appear before or after the modifier. The next sections discuss the distribution of linkers in different contexts (adjectival, adverbial, nominal and clausal modifiers).

Discussion of Syntactic Trees: For the creation of the syntactic trees, X-bar theory is applied and the addition of ModP as Scontras & Nicolae suggested.^[8] ModP stands for Modifier Phrase and it presents the unique distribution of linkers in Tagalog. It is an adjunct to an XP and requires a complement XP. It is an adjunct because modifiers are optional but adds meaning to a phrase. It needs a complement because by itself, it is no longer a modifier. It needs either the word being modified or the modifier as a complement.

Tagalog Linker

Adjectival modifiers

In Tagalog, when a noun composes with an adjective, adverb or another noun in attributive position, a linker is obligatory.^[9] In (1a), the linker na is used to connect the noun 'bahay' ('house') and the adjective 'maganda' ('beautiful') to create the noun phrase 'bahay na maganda' ('beautiful house'). The linker na demonstrates that the adjective 'maganda' ('beautiful') is modifying the noun 'bahay' ('house'). The linker na is used instead of -ng because the noun preceding the linker, 'bahay' ('house') ends with a consonant. Without the linker na, the phrase is ungrammatical as shown in (1b). There is no modification because the linker is missing: the adjective 'maganda' is not modifying 'bahay'. The asterisk ( * ) indicates the missing linker and the ungrammatical phrase. The tree shows the grammatical phrase in (1a). The highest XP is an NP (Noun Phrase) because the head of the phrase is a noun. ModP is an adjunct to NP because both the linker and the adjective are modifying NP. AP (adjectival phrase) 'maganda' is a complement to Mod (modifier) na because the linker needs the adjective to modify NP (noun phrase) 'bahay'.

(1a) (Scontras, 2014: 21 (9a)) Tagalog: bahay na maganda Gloss: house LK beautiful English: 'beautiful house'

(1a) Simplified syntax tree adapted from Scontras (2014) example 9a, made with http://mshang.ca/syntree/

(1b) Tagalog: bahay * maganda Gloss: house beautiful English: * 'beautiful house'

In (2a), the linker -ng connected the adjective ‘maganda’ (beautiful) and the noun ‘bahay’ (house) to create the grammatical phrase ‘magandang bahay’ ('beautiful house'). In the previous example, the noun came before the adjective. In this example, the adjective came before the noun. Despite the order being different, the meaning is the same. The linker -ng is still needed to show that there is modification, that 'maganda' (beautiful) is modifying 'bahay' (house). The linker -ng is used in this example because the word before the linker, 'maganda' ends with a vowel. Without the linker -ng, the phrase is ungrammatical as shown in (2b). In (2b), there is no modification because the linker is missing. It is just like listing the words 'house' and 'beautiful'. The symbol * represents the missing modifier and the ungrammatical phrase. The following tree shows the grammatical phrase in (2a). The tree is very similar to the tree in (1a) except that this time, NP 'bahay' is the complement and AP 'maganda' is in the specifier position of NP.

(2a) (Scontras, 2014: 21 (9a')) Tagalog: maganda -ng bahay Gloss: beautiful LK house English: 'beautiful house'

(2a) Simplified syntax tree adapted from Scontras (2014) example 9a', made with http://mshang.ca/syntree/

(2b) Tagalog: maganda * bahay Gloss beautiful house English: * 'beautiful house'

However, if the adjective appears in predicative position, linker is prohibited. It is when the property of being 'beautiful' is ascribed to the 'house' using a verb. In other words, when an adjective is a predicate. If you add a linker, it results into an ungrammatical sentence as shown in (3b). When the verb is assigning the adjective to the noun, a linker should not be placed. The symbol (!) represents the error when a linker is incorrectly placed. The tree shows the grammatical phrase in (3a). AP 'maganda' is assigned to 'bahay' by the verb 'ang' and ModP is not included.

(3a) (Scontras, 2014: 21 (9b) Tagalog: maganda ang bahay Gloss beautiful is house English: 'The house is beautiful.'

(3a) Simplified syntax tree adapted from Scontras (2014) example 9b, made with http://mshang.ca/syntree/

(3b) Tagalog: maganda -ng ang bahay Gloss: beautiful ! is bahay English: * 'The house is beautiful.'

→ In the examples, adjectives were used to show the distribution of linker. The distribution of the linker is similar in adverbs and modifier nouns. We can easily replace the adjective in the examples with an adverb and the noun with a verb to turn it into a context of adverbial modification. The examples can be replaced with the adverbial phrases 'tumakbong mabilis' or 'mabilis na tumakbo' which both means ('ran quickly'). If the adjective and the noun are replaced with two nouns, it will turn into nominal modification. The examples can be replaced with phrases that have nominal modifiers like 'babaeng doktor' ('woman, who is a doctor') and 'doktor na babae' ('woman-doctor'). The same linkers (na and -ng) are used and they pattern the same way in adverbial and nominal modification: linkers are obligatory in attributive position but are prohibited in predicate position.

Clausal Modifier

Linker is also obligatory when a clause is modifying a word. In (1a), the linker -ng is needed for the clause 'binili ni Maria' to modify 'libro'. The linker -ng is used because 'libro' ends with a vowel. Similar to the other types of modifiers, a linker is needed to say that the clause is modifying the noun. There is no modification if the linker is not present. The only difference here is that the word doing the modifying is a series of words, a clause instead of a single word. If the linker -ng is not included, the phrase is ungrammatical as shown in (1b). In (1b), the phrase cannot mean 'the book that Maria bought' because there is no element that produces modification. The asterisk (*) represents the missing linker and the ungrammatical phrase.The following tree shows ModP (modifier phrase) as an adjunct to DP (determiner phrase) and the clause (TP) as a complement to Mod -ng.

(1a) (Scontras, 2014: 22 (14a)) Tagalog: libro -ng binili ni Maria Gloss: book LK bought by Maria English: 'the book that Maria bought'

(1a) Simplified syntax tree adapted from Scontras (2014) example 14a, made with http://mshang.ca/syntree/

(1b) Tagalog: libro * binili ni Maria Gloss: book bought by Maria English: * 'the book that Maria bought'

The relative order of the word being modified and the clause is flexible like the other modifiers. Example (2a) shows the clause 'binili ni Maria' before the noun 'libro' as opposed to the previous example where the noun came before the modifying clause. The linker -ng is still used because 'Maria' ends in a vowel as well. The order is different but the meaning of the two phrases is the same. The tree shows the grammatical phrase in (2a), ModP is again an adjunct to a higher XP and now DP 'libro' is the complement of Mod '-ng'. If there is no linker, the phrase is ungrammatical as shown in (2b).

(2a) (Scontras, 2014: 22 (14a')) Tagalog: binili ni Maria -ng libro Gloss: bought NS Maria LK book English: 'the book that Maria bought'

(2a) Simplified syntax tree adapted from Scontras (2014) example 14a', made with http://mshang.ca/syntree/

(2b) Tagalog: binili ni Maria * libro Gloss: bought NS Maria book English: * 'the book that Maria bought'

For adjectival, adverbial, nominal modifiers, linkers are prohibited in predicate position. For clausal modifiers, linkers are prohibited in matrix clauses. In a matrix clause, adding a linker results in an ungrammatical sentence as shown in (3b). The property of 'being seen' is ascribed to the noun 'house' using a verb. The sentence in (3a) is grammatical because the linker is not included in the sentence. The following tree shows the grammatical sentence without ModP. The example (3b) would be grammatical if -ng was not placed there. The symbol ( ! ) represents the error when a linker is incorrectly placed.

(3a) (Scontras, 2014: 22 (13a)) Tagalog: Nakita ko ang bahay Gloss: Saw I the house English: 'I saw the house.'

(3a) Simplified syntax tree adapted from Scontras (2014) example 13a, made with http://mshang.ca/syntree/

(3b) Tagalog: Nakita ko -ng ang bahay Gloss: Saw I ! the house English: * 'I saw the house.'

Summary of the distribution of linker:

The following table ^[10] summarizes the distribution of linker that has been discussed in this section.

Required	Prohibited
Attributive Adjective	Predicative Adjective
Adverbial modifier	Predicative Adverbial
Nominal Modifier	Predicative Nominal
Relative Clause	Matrix Clause

Enclitic particles

Tagalog has enclitic particles that have important information conveying different nuances in meaning. Below is a list of Tagalog's enclitic particles.

1. na and pa
   • na: now, already
   • pa: still, else, in addition, yet
2. man, kahit: even, even if, even though
3. bagamán: although
4. ni (plural: niná): marks personal names that are not the focus of the sentence; indicates possession.
5. si (plural: siná): marks and introduces personal names
6. ngâ: indeed; used to affirm or to emphasise. Also softens imperatives.
7. din (after a vowel: rin): too, also
8. lamang (contracted as lang): limiting particle; only or just
9. daw (after a vowel: raw): a reporting particle that indicates the preceding information as secondhand; they say, he said, reportedly, supposedly, etc.
10. pô (less respectful form: hô): marker indicating politeness.
11. ba: used to end yes-and-no questions and optionally in other types of questions, similar to Japanese -ka and Chinese mā (嗎), but not entirely.
12. muna: for now, for a minute and yet (when answering in the negative).
13. namán: used in making contrasts; softens requests; emphasis
14. kasí: expresses cause; because
15. kayâ: expresses wonder; I wonder; perhaps (we should do something); also optionally used in yes-and-no questions and other forms of questions
16. palá: expresses that the speaker has realized or suddenly remembered something; realization particle; apparently
17. yatà: expresses uncertainty; probably, perhaps, seems
18. tulóy: used in cause and effect; as a result
19. sana: expresses hope, unrealized condition (with verb in completed aspect), used in conditional sentences.

The order listed above is the order in which the particles follow if they are used in conjunction with each other. A more concise list of the orders of monosyllabic particles from Rubino (2002) is given below.^[15]

1. na / pa
2. ngâ
3. din ~ rin
4. daw ~ raw
5. pô / hô
6. ba

The particles na and pa cannot be used in conjunction with each other as well as pô and hô.

• Dumatíng na raw palá ang lola mo.
  

"Oh yes, your grandmother has apparently arrived."

• Palitán mo na rin.
  

"Do change it as well."

Note for "daw/raw and rin/din": If preceding letter is a consonant except y and w, the letter d is used in any word, vice versa for r e.g., pagdárasal, instead of pagdádasal

Although in everyday speech, this rule is often ignored.

• Walâ pa yatang asawa ang kapatíd niyá.
  

"Perhaps his brother still hasn’t a wife."

• Itó lang kayâ ang ibibigáy nilá sa amin?
  

"I wonder, is the only thing that they'll be giving us?"

• Nag-aral ka na ba ng wikang Kastilà?
  

"Have you already studied the Spanish language?"

• Batà pa kasí.
  

"He's still young, is why."

• Pakisulat mo ngâ muna ang iyóng pangalan dito.
  

"Please, do write your name here first."

The words daw and raw, which mean “he said”/“she said”/“they said”, are sometimes joined to the real translations of “he said”/”she said”, which is sabi niyá, and “they said”, which is sabi nilá. They are also joined to the Tagalog of “you said”, which is sabi mo. But this time, both daw and raw mean “supposedly/reportedly”.

• Sabi raw niyá. / Sabi daw niyá.
  

"He/she supposedly said."

• Sabi raw nilá. / Sabi daw nilá.
  

"They supposedly said."

• Sabi mo raw. / Sabi mo daw.
  

"You supposedly said."

Although the word kasí is native Tagalog for “because” and not slang, it is still not used in formal writing. The Tagalog word for this is sapagká’t or sapagkát. Thus, the formal form of Batà pa kasí is Sapagká’t batà pa or Sapagkát batà pa. This is sometimes shortened to pagká’t or pagkát, so Sapagká’t batà pa is also written as Pagká’t batà pa or Pagkát batà pa. In both formal and everyday writing and speech, dahil sa (the oblique form of kasí; thus, its exact translation is “because of”) is also synonymous to sapagká’t (sapagkát), so the substitute of Sapagká’t batà pa for Batà pa kasí is Dahil sa batà pa. Most of the time in speech and writing (mostly everyday and sometimes formal), dahil sa as the Tagalog of “because” is reduced to dahil, so Dahil sa batà pa is spoken simply as Dahil batà pa.

Word order

Tagalog has a flexible word order compared to English. While the verb always remains in initial position, the order of noun phrase complements that follow is flexible. An example provided by Schacter and Otanes can be seen in (1).

The flexibility of Tagalog word order can be seen in (2). There are six different ways of saying 'The man gave the woman a book.' in Tagalog. The following five sentences, along with the sentence from (1), include the same grammatical components and are all grammatical and identical in meaning but have different orders.

The principles in (3) help to determine the ordering of possible noun phrase complements.^[16] In a basic clause where the patient takes the nominative case, principles (i) and (ii) requires the actor the precede the patient. In example (4a), the patient, 'liham' (letter) takes the nominative case and satisfies principles (i) and (ii). The example in (4b) shows that the opposite ordering of the agent and patient does not result in an ungrammatical sentence but rather an unnatural one in Tagalog.

In example (5), the verb, 'binihag', (captivated) is marked for active voice and results in the actor ('Kuya Louis') to take the nominative case. Example (5) doesn't satisfy principles (i) and (ii). That is, principle (i) requires the Actor ('Kuya Louis') to precede all other arguments. However, since the Actor also takes the nominative case, principle (ii) requires the phrase 'Kuya Louis' to come last. The preferred order of agent and patient in Tagalog active clauses is still being debated. Therefore, we can assume that there are two "unmarked" word orders: VSO or VOS.

A change in word order and trigger generally corresponds to a change in definiteness ("the" vs "a") in English. Example (6) shows a change in word order, triggered by the indirect, "ng." Example (7) shows a change in word order, triggered by the direct, "ang."

Word order may be inverted (referred to in Tagalog grammar as Kabalikang Anyo) by way of the inversion marker 'ay ' ( ’y after vowels in informal speech, not usually used in writing). Contrary to popular belief, this is not the copula 'to be' as 'ay' does not behave as an existential marker in an SVO structure and an inverted form VSO does not require 'ay' since the existentiality is denoted by case marking. A slight, but optional, pause in speech or a comma in writing may replace the inversion marker. This construction is often viewed by native speakers as formal or literary.

In this construction (ay-inverson), the 'ay' appears between the fronted constituent and the remainder of the clause. The fronted constituent in the construction includes locations and adverbs. Example (8)- (11) shows the inverted form of the sentences in previous examples above.

In (8), and (11), the fronted constituent is the subject. On the other hand, in (9), the fronted constituent is the object. Another example of a fronted constituent in Tagalog is, wh-phrases. Wh-phrases include interrogative questions that begin with: who, what, where, when, why and how. In Tagalog, wh-phrases occur to the left of the clause. For example, in the sentence, 'Who are you?', which translates to, 'Sino ka?' occurs to the left of the clause. The syntactic tree of this sentence is found in (12a). As we can see in (12a), the complementizer position is null. However, in the case where an overt complementizer is present, Sabbagh (2014) proposes that the wh-phrase lowers from Spec, CP and adjoins to TP when C is overt (12b). The operation in (12b) is known as, WhP lowering.

(12a) Syntax tree, made with http://mshang.ca/syntree/

(12a), Syntax tree adapted from Sabbagh (2014), example 62, made with http://mshang.ca/syntree/

This operation of lowering can also be applied in sentences to account for the verb-initial word order in Tagalog. The subject-lowering analysis states that, "the subject lowers from Spec, TP and adjoins to a projection dominated by TP.".^[17] If we use the example from (2), Nagbigay ang lalaki ng libro sa babae. and applied subject lowering, we would see the syntax tree in (13a).If we lowered the subject, ang lalaki, to an intermediate position within VP, we would be able to achieve a VOS word order and still satisfy subject lowering.^[17] This can be seen in (13b).

(13a) Syntax tree, adapted from Sabbagh (2014), 70 (55), made with http://mshang.ca/syntree/

(13a) Syntax tree, adapted from Sabbagh (2014), 70 (55), made with http://mshang.ca/syntree/

Lowering is motivated by a prosodic constraint called, WeakStart.^[18] This constraint is largely based on the phonological hierarchy. This constraint requires phonological the first element within a phonological domain to be lower on the prosodic hierarchy than elements that follow it, within the same domain.^[19]

Negation

There are three negation words: hindî, walâ, and huwág.

Hindî negates verbs and equations. It is sometimes contracted to ‘dî.

• Hindî akó magtatrabaho bukas.
  

"I will not work tomorrow."

• Hindî mayaman ang babae.
  

"The woman is not rich."

Walâ is the opposite of may and mayroón ("there is").

• Walâ akóng pera.
  
• Akó ay walang pera.
  

"I do not have money."

• Waláng libró sa loób ng bahay niyá.
  

"There are no books in his house."

Huwág is used in expressing negative commands. It can be used for the infinitive and the future aspect. It is contracted as ‘wag.

• Huwág kang umiyák.
  

"Do not cry."

• Huwág kayóng tatakbó rito.
  

"Do not run here."

There are two (or more) special negative forms for common verbs:

• Gustó/Ibig/Nais ko nang kumain.
  

"I would like to eat now." (Positive)

• Ayaw ko pang kumain.
  

"I don't want to eat yet." (Negative)

Conjunctions

Tagalog uses numerous conjunctions, and may belong to one of these possible functions:

1. separate non-contrasting ideas (e.g. at "and")
2. separate contrasting ideas (e.g. ngunit "but")
3. give explanations (e.g. kung "if")
4. provide circumstances (e.g. kapag "when")
5. indicate similarities (e.g. kung saan "where")
6. provide reasons (e.g dahil "because")
7. indicate endings (e.g. upang "[in order] to")

Interrogative words

Tagalog's interrogative words are: alín, anó, bákit, gaáno, ilán, kailán, kaníno, kumustá, magkáno, nakaníno, nasaán, níno, paáno, saán, and síno. With the exceptions of bakit, kamustá, and nasaán, all of the interrogative words have optional plural forms which are formed by reduplication. They are used when the person who is asking the question anticipates a plural answer and can be called wh-phrases. The syntactic position of these types of phrases can be seen in (12a).

Gaano (from ka- + anó) means how but is used in inquiring about the quality of an adjective or an adverb. The rootword of the modifier is prefixed with ka- in this construction (16a).Ilán means how many (16b). Kumustá is used to inquire how something is (are).(16c) It is frequently used as a greeting meaning How are you? It is derived from the Spanish ¿cómo está?. Magkano (from mag- + gaano) means how much and is usually used in inquiring the price of something (16d). Paano (from pa- + anó) is used in asking how something is done or happened (16e).

Nino (from ni + anó) means who, whose, and whom (18a). It is the indirect and genitive form of sino. Sino (from si + anó) means who and whom and it is in the direct form (18b). Kanino (from kay + anó) means whom or whose (18c). It is the oblique form of sino (who).

See also

• Abakada alphabet
• Commission on the Filipino Language
• Filipino alphabet
• Filipino orthography
• Tagalog phonology
• Old Tagalog

Notes

Bibliography

• Kroeger, P. R. (1991). Phrase structure and grammatical relations in Tagalog
• Ramos, T. (1971). Tagalog Structures. Honolulu, HI: University of Hawaii Press. p. 126.
• Rubino, C. (2002). Tagalog-English, English-Tagalog dictionary / Taláhuluganang Pilipino-Ingglés, Ingglés-Pilipino Taláhuluganang. Conshohocken, PA: Hippocrene Books.
• Sabbagh, J. (2014). Word order and Prosodic‐Structure constraints in Tagalog. Syntax, 17(1), 40-89. doi:10.1111/synt.12012
• Sabbagh, J. (2011). Adjectival passives and the structure of VP in Tagalog. Lingua, 121, 1424-1452. doi: 10.1016/j.lingua.2011.03.006
• Scontras, G. & Nicolae A. (2014). Saturating syntax: Linkers and modification in Tagalog. Lingua, 149, 17-33. doi: 10.1016/j.lingua.2014.05.005

External links

For a list of words relating to Tagalog grammar, see the Tagalog language category of words in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Tagalog language edition of Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Wikibooks has a book on the topic of: Tagalog

Tagalog grammar repository of Wikisource, the free library

Wikivoyage has a travel guide for Filipino phrasebook.

• Tagalog grammar Free and comprehensive Tagalog grammar reference
• Interactive Language and Filipino Culture Resources Part of the SEAsite Project at Northern Illinois University, DeKalb, Illinois, USA