Tagalog (/təˈɡɑːlɒɡ/;^[6] Tagalog pronunciation: [tɐˈɡaːloɡ]) is an Austronesian language spoken as a first language by a quarter of the population of the Philippines and as a second language by the majority. Its standardized form, officially named Filipino, is the national language of the Philippines, and is one of two official languages alongside English.

It is 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. Tagalog is the predominant language used in the tanaga, the indigenous poetic art of the Tagalog people.

History

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

The first written record of Tagalog is the Laguna Copperplate Inscription, which dates to 900 CE and exhibits fragments of the language along with Sanskrit, Old Malay, Javanese and Old Tagalog. 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.

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.^[9] 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^[10] reedited, with the last edition being in 2013 in Manila.^[11]

Among others, Arte de la lengua tagala y manual tagalog para la administración de los Santos Sacramentos (1850) in addition to early studies^[12] of the language.

The indigenous poet Francisco Baltazar (1788–1862) is regarded as the foremost Tagalog writer, his most notable work being the early 19th-century epic Florante at Laura.^[13]

Historical changes

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.

Official status

Tagalog was declared the official language by the first revolutionary constitution in the Philippines, the Constitution of Biak-na-Bato in 1897.^[14]

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.^[15] 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.^[16][17] 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.^[16] In 1939, President Quezon renamed the proposed Tagalog-based national language as wikang pambansâ (national language).^[17] 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".^[17] Along with English, the national language has had official status under the 1973 constitution (as "Pilipino")^[18] and the present 1987 consitution (as Filipino).

Tagalog-based national language 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.^[16][19] 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.^[17]

The national language issue was revived once more during the 1971 Constitutional Convention. Majority of the delegates were even in favor of scrapping the idea of a "national language" altogether.^[20] 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.^[17] 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.

Use in education

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Article XIV, Section 7 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.

— ^[21]

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

— ^[21]

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.^[22] After pilot tests in selected schools, the MLE program was implemented nationwide from School Year (SY) 2012-2013.^[23][24]

It is the first language of a quarter of the population of the Philippines (particularly in Central Luzon) and a second language of the majority.^[25]

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).^[26] 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 Hiligaynon and Cebuano.^[26]

Dialects

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 Lubang, Manila, Marinduque, Bataan, Batangas, Bulacan, Tanay-Paete (Rizal-Laguna), and Tayabas 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.^[27] 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 siná 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.

Geographic distribution

According to the Philippine Statistics Authority, as of 2014 there were 100 million people living in the Philippines, where almost all of whom will 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, Marinduque, Mindoro, and Palawan. It is spoken by approximately 64 million Filipinos, 96% of the household population;^[28] 22 million, or 28% of the total Philippine population,^[29] speak it as a native language.

Tagalog speakers are found in other parts of the Philippines as well as throughout the world, though its use is usually limited to communication between Filipino ethnic groups. In^[update] 2010, the US Census bureau reported (based on data collected in 2007) that in the United States it was the fourth most-spoken language at home with almost 1.5 million speakers, behind Spanish or Spanish Creole, French (including Patois, Cajun, Creole), and Chinese. Tagalog ranked as the third most spoken language in metropolitan statistical areas, behind Spanish and Chinese but ahead of French.^[30]

Accents

The Tagalog language also boasts accentations unique to some parts of Tagalog-speaking regions. For example, in some parts of Manila, a strong pronunciation of i exists and vowel-switching of o and u exists so words like "gising" (to wake) is pronounced as "giseng" with a strong 'e' and the word "tagu-taguan" (hide-and-go-seek) is pronounced as "tago-tagoan" with a mild 'o'.

Batangas Tagalog boasts the most distinctive accent in Tagalog compared to the more Hispanized northern accents of the language.^{[citation needed][31]} The Batangas accent has been featured in film and television and Filipino actor Leo Martinez speaks with this accent. Martinez's accent, however, will quickly be recognized by native Batangueños as representative of the accent in western Batangas which is milder compared to that used in the eastern part of the province.^{[citation needed]}

Code-switching

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 outright code-switching, where the language changes 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, the highly educated, and people born around and after World War II 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

This article contains IPA phonetic symbols. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of Unicode characters. For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, see Help:IPA.

Tagalog has 33 phonemes: 19 of them are consonants and 14 are vowels. Syllable structure is relatively simple, being maximally consonant-ar-vowel-consonant, where consonant-ar only occurs in borrowed words such as trak "truck" or sombréro "hat".^[32]

Vowels

Tagalog has ten simple vowels, five long and five short, and four diphthongs.^[32] Before appearing in the area north of Pasig river, Tagalog had three vowel qualities: /a/, /i/, and /u/. This was later expanded to five with the introduction of words from Northern Philippine languages like Kapampangan and Ilocano and 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⟩

• /a/ an open central unrounded vowel roughly similar to English "father"; in the middle of a word, a near-open central vowel similar to Received Pronunciation "cup"; or an open front unrounded vowel similar to Received Pronunciation or California English "hat"
• /ɛ/ an open-mid front unrounded vowel similar to General American English "bed"
• /i/ a close front unrounded vowel similar to English "machine"
• /o/ a mid back rounded vowel similar to General American English "soul" or Philippine English "forty"
• /u/ a close back rounded vowel similar to English "flute"

Nevertheless, simplification of pairs [o ~ u] and [ɛ ~ i] is likely to take place, especially in some Tagalog as second language, remote location and worker 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.^[32]

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^[32]

	Bilabial		Alveolar/Dental		Post-alveolar/Palatal		Velar		Glottal
Nasal		m ⟨m⟩		n ⟨n⟩		ɲ ⟨ny, niy⟩		ŋ ⟨ng⟩
Stop	p ⟨p⟩	b ⟨b⟩	t ⟨t⟩	d ⟨d⟩			k ⟨k⟩	g ⟨g⟩	ʔ
Affricate			(ts ⟨ts⟩)		tʃ ⟨ts, tiy, ty, ch⟩	dʒ ⟨diy, dy, j⟩
Fricative			s ⟨s⟩		ʃ ⟨siy, sy, sh⟩		x ⟨-k-⟩		h ⟨h, j⟩
Approximant				l ⟨l⟩		j ⟨y⟩		w ⟨w⟩ (ɰ ⟨-g-⟩)
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.^[32]
• A glottal stop that occurs in pausa (before a pause) is omitted when it is in the middle of a phrase,^[32] 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.^[32] 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)

Lexical stress

Lexical stress, coupled with glottalization, is a distinctive feature in Tagalog. Primary stress normally occurs on either the final or the penultimate syllable of a word. Long vowel accompany primary or secondary stress unless the stress occurs at the end of a word.

Tagalog words are often distinguished from one another by the position of the stress and the presence of the glottal stop. In general, there are four types of phonetic emphases, which, in formal or academic settings, are indicated with a diacritic (tuldík) above the vowel. The penultimate primary stress position (malumay) is the default stress type and so is left unwritten except in dictionaries. The name of each stress type has its corresponding diacritic in the final vowel.

Phonetic comparison of Tagalog homographs based on stress and glottalization

Lexicon	Stressed non-ultimate syllable	Stressed ultimate syllable	Unstressed ultimate syllable with glottal stop	Stressed ultimate syllable with glottal stop
baka	[ˈbaka] [ˈbaxa] ('cow')	[bɐˈka] [bɐˈxa] ('possible')
pito	[ˈpito] ('whistle')	[pɪˈto] ('seven')
kaibigan	[ˈkaɪbɪɡan] ('lover') / [kɐɪˈbiɡan] ('friend')
bayaran	[bɐˈjaran] ('pay [imperative]')	[bɐjɐˈran] ('for hire')
bata	[ˈbata] ('bath robe')	[bɐˈta] ('persevere')	[ˈbataʔ] ('child')
sala	[ˈsala] ('living room')		[ˈsalaʔ] ('sin')	[sɐˈlaʔ] ('filtered')
baba	[ˈbaba] ('father')	[baˈba] ('piggy back')	[ˈbabaʔ] ('chin')	[bɐˈbaʔ] ('descend [imperative]')
labi			[ˈlabɛʔ]/[ˈlabiʔ] ('lips')	[lɐˈbɛʔ]/[lɐˈbiʔ] ('remains')

Grammar

Writing system

This article contains Baybayin script. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of Baybayin characters.

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).^[33] 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.^[34][33] Pedro Laktaw, a schoolteacher, published the first Spanish-Tagalog dictionary using the new orthography in 1890.^[34]

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.^[34] The new orthography was however not broadly adopted initially and was used inconsistently in the bilingual periodicals of Manila until the early 20th century.^[34] 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.^[34]

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.^[35] 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

Tagalog was written in an abugida—or 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:

Baybayin is encoded in Unicode version 3.2 in the range 1700-171F under the name "Tagalog".

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

Latin alphabet

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"):^[36][37]

Majuscule	Minuscule	Majuscule	Minuscule
A	a	Ng	ng
B	b	Ñ	ñ
C	c	N͠g / Ñg	n͠g / ñg
Ch	ch	O	o
D	d	P	p
E	e	Q	q
F	f	R	r
G	g	Rr	rr
H	h	S	s
I	i	T	t
J	j	U	u
K	k	V	v
L	l	W	w
Ll	ll	X	x
M	m	Y	y
N	n	Z	z

Abakada

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:^[38][39][40]

Majuscule	Minuscule	Majuscule	Minuscule
A	a	N	n
B	b	Ng	ng
K	k	O	o
D	d	P	p
E	e	R	r
G	g	S	s
H	h	T	t
I	i	U	u
L	l	W	w
M	m	Y	y

Revised 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^[41][42] to make room for loans, especially family names from Spanish and English:^[43]

Majuscule	Minuscule	Majuscule	Minuscule
A	a	Ñ	ñ
B	b	Ng	ng
C	c	O	o
D	d	P	p
E	e	Q	q
F	f	R	r
G	g	S	s
H	h	T	t
I	i	U	u
J	j	V	v
K	k	W	w
L	l	X	x
M	m	Y	y
N	n	Z	z

ng and mga

The genitive marker ng and the plural marker mga 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. Mga (pronounced as "muh-NGA") denotes plurality as adding an s, es, or ies does in English (ex. Iyan ang mga damit ko. (Those are my clothes)).

• 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

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.

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

Due to trade with Mexico via the Manila galleons from the 16th to the 19th centuries, many words from Nahuatl were introduced to Tagalog, but some of them were replaced by Spanish loanwords in the latter part of the Spanish colonization in the islands.

The Philippines has long been a melting pot of nations. The islands have been subject to different influences and a meeting point of numerous migrations since the early prehistoric origins of trading activities, especially from the time of the Neolithic Period, Silk Road, Tang Dynasty, Ming Dynasty, Ryukyu Kingdom and Manila Galleon trading periods. This means that the evolution of the language is difficult to reconstruct (although many theories exist).

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

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

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 mispronounced 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

Cognates with other Philippine languages

Tagalog word	meaning	language of origin	original spelling
bakit	why	Kapampangan	obakit
akyat	climb/step up	Kapampangan	ukyát/mukyat
at	and	Kapampangan	at
bundok	mountain	Kapampangan	bunduk
huwag	don't	Pangasinan	ag
aso	dog	South Cordilleran or Ilocano (also Ilokano)	aso
tayo	we (inc.)	South Cordilleran or Ilocano	tayo
ito, nito	this, its	South Cordilleran or Ilocano	to
ng	of	Cebuano Hiligaynon Waray Kapampangan Pangasinan Ilocano	sa sg (pronounced as /sang/) han ning na nga
araw	sun; day	Visayan languages	adlaw
ang	definite article	Visayan languages Central Bikol	ang an

Austronesian comparison chart

Below is a chart of Tagalog and twenty 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	kalayo
Cebuano	usa/isa	duha	tulo	upat	tawo	balay	iro	lubi	adlaw	bag-o	kita	unsa	kalayo
Hiligaynon	isa	duha	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
Malaysian	satu	dua	tiga	empat	orang	rumah	anjing	kelapa/ nyior	hari	baru/ baharu	kita	apa	api
Indonesian	satu	dua	tiga	empat	orang	rumah/balai	anjing	kelapa/nyiur	hari	baru	kita	apa/anu	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
Lampungese	sai	khua	telu	pak	jelema	lamban	asu	nyiwi	khani	baru	kham	api	apui
Buginese	sedi	dua	tellu	eppa	tau	bola	asu	kaluku	esso	baru	idi'	aga	api
Bataknese	sada	dua	tolu	opat	halak	jabu	biang	harambiri	ari	baru	hita	aha	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	duwa	talu	ampat	urang	rūmah	hadupan	kǎlapa	hǎri	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

Religious literature remains one of the most dynamic contributors to Tagalog literature. The first Bible in Tagalog, then called Ang Biblia^[44] ("the Bible") and now called Ang Dating Biblia^[45] ("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

• the Magandang Balita Biblia (a parallel translation of the Good News Bible), which is the ecumenical version
• the Bibliya ng Sambayanang Pilipino
• the 1905 Ang Biblia is a more Protestant version
• the Bagong Sanlibutang Salin ng Banal na Kasulatan (New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures)

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^[46] 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.^[47]

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 exclusively 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.^[48]

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 "syete" (Spanish: siete).

Number	Cardinal	Spanish loanword (Original Spanish)	Ordinal
0	sero / walâ (lit. "null") / bokyà	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 puo]	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 (sietecientos)	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 (dos cientos 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)
1,000,000,000,000	sang-ipaw / santrilyón	trilyón (un trillón)

Number	English	Ordinal Spanish	Cardinal
1st	first	primero/a	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	media	kalahatì
1/4	quarter	cuarta	kapat
3/5	three-fifths	tres quintas partes	tatlóng-kalimá
2/3	two-thirds	dos tercios	dalawáng-katló
1 1/2	one half	un medio	isá't kalahatì
2 2/3	two two-thirds	dos de dos tercios	dalawá't dalawáng-katló
0.5	zero point five	cero punto cinco	salapî / limá hinatì sa sampû
0.005	zero point zero zero five	cero punto cero cero cinco	bagól / limá hinatì sa sanlibo
1.25	one point twenty-five	uno punto veinticinco	isá't dalawampú't limá hinatì sa sampû
2.025	two point zero twenty-five	dos punto 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 quarter after 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	Tatlong-kapat makalipas ikatlo Apatnapu't-lima makalipas ikatlo Labinlima bago mag-ikaapat
4:25	four-twenty-five	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	Tatlumpu't-lima makalipas ikalima Dalawampu't-lima bago mag-ikaanim

Common phrases

English	Tagalog (with Pronunciation)
Filipino	Pilipino [ˌpiːliˈpiːno]
English	Inglés [ʔɪŋˈɡlɛs]
Tagalog	Tagalog [tɐˈɡaːloɡ]
Spanish	"Espanyol/Español"
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)
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-bye	paálam [pɐˈʔaːlam]
Please	Depending 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 you	Salamat [sɐˈlaːmat]
This one	ito [ʔiˈtoh], sometimes pronounced [ʔɛˈtoh] (literally—"it", "this")
That one	iyan [ʔiˈjan], When pointing to something at greater distances: iyun [ʔiˈjʊn] or iyon [ʔiˈjon]
Here	dito [dɪˈtoh], heto [hɛˈtoh] ("Here it is")
There	doon [dʒan], hayan [hɑˈjan] ("There it is")
How much?	Magkano? [mɐɡˈkaːno]
Yes	oo [ˈoːʔo] opô [ˈʔopoʔ] or ohô [ˈʔohoʔ] (formal/polite form)
No	hindî [hɪnˈdɛʔ], often shortened to dî [dɛʔ] hindî pô (formal/polite form)
I don't know	hindî ko álam [hɪnˈdɛʔ ko aːlam] Very informal: ewan [ʔɛˈʊɑn], archaic aywan [ɑjˈʊɑn] (closest English equivalent: colloquial dismissive 'Whatever')
Sorry	pasensya pô (literally from the word "patience") or paumanhin po [pɐˈsɛːnʃa poʔ] patawad po [pɐtaːwad poʔ] (literally—"asking your forgiveness")
Because	kasí [kɐˈsɛ] or dahil [dɑˈhɪl]
Hurry!	dalí! [dɐˈli], bilís! [bɪˈlis]
Again	mulí [muˈli], ulít [ʊˈlɛt]
I don't understand	Hindî 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 toast	Mabuhay! [mɐˈbuːhaɪ] (literally—"long live")
Do you speak English?	Marunong ka bang magsalitâ ng Ingglés? [mɐˈɾuːnoŋ ka baŋ mɐɡsaliˈtaː naŋ ʔɪŋˈɡlɛs] Marunong po ba kayong magsalitâ ng Ingglés? (polite version for elders and strangers) Marunong ka bang mag-Ingglés? (short form) Marunong po ba kayong mag-Ingglés? (short form, polite version for elders and strangers)
It is fun to live.	Masaya 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.

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 at magalíng, nakákahábol pa rin. (Hulí man raw at magalíng, nakákahabol 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 and 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 favoured by older generations, which often featured serenades and manual labour for the girl's parents; 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.)

Majority provinces

Northern Tagalog

Central Luzon Region

• Bataan
• Bulacan
• Nueva Ecija
• Zambales

Central Tagalog

National Capital Region

• Metro Manila (commonly, Taglish)
• (including Rizal)

Southern Tagalog

Southern Luzon

(mainly) Calabarzon and Mimaropa

• Batangas
• Cavite
• Laguna
• Marinduque
• Occidental Mindoro
• Oriental Mindoro
• Quezon
• Romblon
• (including Aurora)
• (including Palawan)

See also

• Abakada alphabet
• Komisyon sa Wikang Filipino
• Filipino alphabet
• Old Tagalog
• Filipino orthography
• Tagalog

References

External links

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

Tagalog edition of Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Wikibooks has a book on the topic of: Tagalog

Tagalog language repository of Wikisource, the free library

Wikivoyage has a travel guide for Filipino phrasebook.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Tagalog language.

• Tagalog Dictionary
• Tagalog verbs with conjugation
• Filipino Lessons Dictionary
• Tagalog Translate
• Kaipuleohone archive of Tagalog