Tagalog language

Tagalog is one of the main or major local and regional languages in the Philippines, and it is "in practice" but not "according to the law", the basis, foundation or core of the current national language and one of the two official languages of the Philippines, which is named, declared, and called the Filipino language. More than 22 million people speak Tagalog as their first language.

Tagalog
Wikang Tagalogcode: tl is deprecated ᜏᜒᜃᜅ᜔ ᜆᜄᜎᜓᜄ᜔
Native to	Philippines
Region	Central to Southern Luzon; or in Metro Manila, Parts of Central Luzon, Most of Calabarzon, Parts of Mimaropa, and Northwestern Bicol
Ethnicity	Tagalog people
Native speakers	28 million  (2007) 96% of the Philippines can speak Tagalog (2000)
Language family	Austronesian Malayo-Polynesian Philippine Central Philippine Tagalog
Standard forms	Filipino
Dialects	Bataan Batangas Bulacan Lubang Standard Tagalog (Manila dialect) Marinduque Tanay–Paete Tayabas
Writing system	Latin (Filipino alphabet); Baybayin (Revitalizing)
Official status
Official language in	Philippines (in the form of Filipino)
Recognised minority language in	Philippines (as a regional language and an auxiliary official language in the predominantly Tagalog-speaking areas)
Regulated by	Komisyon sa Wikang Filipino
Language codes
ISO 639-1	tl
ISO 639-2	tgl
ISO 639-3	tgl
Linguasphere	31-CKA
Predominantly Tagalog-speaking regions in the Philippines. The color-schemes represent the 4 dialect zones of the language: Northern, Central, Southern, and Marinduque. In addition, Tagalog is used as a second language across the entire country, especially in the form of Filipino.

Tagalog was originally spoken by the Tagalog people in the Philippines, who were mainly in most of the central and southern parts of Luzon, the northern island chain of the Philippines.

Today, Tagalog is spoken nationwide and used by other Filipinos as a second language and by most Filipinos from different parts of the Philippines to understand one another.

Phonetics and characters

List of Alibata characters

Example of notation of characters with the same consonant

It once used the Indic-origin abugida called Baybayin and the Arabic script, but today it uses almost exclusively the Latin alphabet, also called Roman letters. There are five vowels: a, e, i, o, and u. There are 16 consonants: p, t, k, ' (the glottal stop), b, d, g, m, n, ng, s, h, l, r, w, and y. However, the letters c, f, j, q, v, x, and z are also used in proper names of Spanish or English origin.

The Latin alphabet used for Tagalog is called the Abakada, and it was established in 1987. The name Abakada comes from the fact that its first four letters are ABKD, pronounced a-ba-ka-da, instead of ABCD, pronounced ay-bee-see-dee in English. Spelling is generally close to pronunciation, but note that ng represents a single consonant. The marker ng is an exception: it is pronounced /nang/ or /naŋ/. The plural marker mga is pronounced /manga/ or /maˈŋa/. Proper names of Spanish or English origin may also be pronounced differently from the way they would be pronounced according to native Tagalog spelling rules.

Tagalog has different word accents, but these are usually not written except in dictionaries and similar sources. For example, aso means “dog” when the accent is placed on the first syllable, but “smoke” when the accent is placed on the final syllable. Spanish-derived proper names are also often written without the accent marks used in their original Spanish spelling. For example, San Jose comes from San José, and Corazon Aquino comes from Corazón Aquino.

Tagalog has one consonant that is not represented by an alphabet letter. The glottal stop can occur at the beginning, middle, or end of a word.

A glottal stop before a vowel at the beginning of a word, or between two vowels in the middle of a word, is not written. A glottal stop between a consonant and a vowel in the middle of a word is written with a hyphen (－). A glottal stop after a vowel at the end of a word is shown by placing a grave accent (｀) over the vowel. If that vowel already has an acute accent, the combination is written as a circumflex accent (^).

Vowels

• A
• E
• I
• O
• U

Double vowels

Double vowels in loanwords from Spanish have the following characteristics.

• If the weak vowel + strong vowel is stressed in the syllable, insert the semi-vowel characters "w" and "y". If there is no stress, change the weak vowel characters "i" and "u" to "y" and "w". The pronunciation also follows the Tagalog spelling. Therefore, if there is stress, there will be one more syllable than the original word.

• [-i] is written as "-i" in Spanish and "-y" at the end of the word, but in Tagalog, it may also be spelled "-y" in words.

Consonants

Letters shown at the second indentation level are used only in loanwords.

• B /b/
  • C (+i, e /s/; +a, o, u /k/)
• D /d/
  • F /f/ (sometimes replaced with /p/)
• G /ɡ/: "ge" [ɡe], "gi" [ɡi]. In proper names of Spanish origin, however, "ge" is [he] and "gi" is [hi]; "gue" is [ɡe] and "gui" is [ɡi].
• H /h/: ha, hi, hu, he, ho
  • J /h/ in words of Spanish origin; /dʒ/ in words of English origin
• K /k/: ka, ki, ku, ke, ko
• L /l/: la, li, lu, le, lo
• M /m/: ma, mi, mu, me, mo
• N /n/: na, ni, nu, ne, no, and syllable-final /n/
• P /p/: pa, pi, pu, pe, po
  • Q: "que" [ke], "qui" [ki] in words of Spanish origin; "qu-" /kw-/ in words of English origin
• R /r/, realized as either an alveolar trill or an alveolar tap. Spanish pronunciation patterns are generally retained in borrowings from Spanish.
• S /s/
• T /t/; "ts" /tʃ/
  • v /b/: ba, bi, bu, be, bo. In words of English origin, it may also be pronounced /v/.
• W /w/
  • X /s/ in sa, si, su, se, so; /ks/; or /h/ in ha, hi, hu, he, ho
• Y /j/
  • Z /s/

Adaptation of Spanish orthography

• ca, co, cu → ka, ko, ku
• j → h
• que, qui → ke, ki
• v → b
• z → s
• ñ → ny
• ll → ly
• ch → ts

Grammar

Where basic English sentences are generally analyzed as consisting of a subject and a predicate, Tagalog sentences consist of a topic and a predication. The topic is the entity under discussion for the speaker and listener, and may be a noun, noun phrase, or adjective. The predication provides information about the topic and may be a verb, adjective, prepositional phrase, or similar constituent. Tagalog basic sentences are divided into three types:

• Unmarked predication + marked topic

Mataba ang nanay ko. “My mother is fat.”

• Marked topic + marked predication

Ang mga bata ang natutulog. “The children are sleeping.”

• Unmarked topic + marked predication

Mangga ang masarap. “Mangoes are delicious.”

Affixes

Tagalog has prefixes, which are attached before the root; infixes, which are inserted between the root's initial consonant and vowel; and suffixes, which are attached to the end of the root. Some affixes form verbs, nouns, adjectives, adverbs, numerals, and pronouns.

Nominal affixes

Most Tagalog nouns consist either of a root alone or of a root combined with one or more affixes. There are more than twenty affixes that can form nouns.

• -an/pa-..-an: places
• -an: reciprocal or simultaneous events; periods or occasions
• ka-..-an: abstractions or collectives
• ka-: relationships with another person
• mag-: reciprocal relationships
• taga-/tagapag-: occupations or duties
• taga-: place of origin
• pang-: instruments or means
• p-/pag-: nominalization of verbs

Adjectival affixes

• ma-: qualities or physical form
• pala-/mapag-: habitual behavior or tendencies
• -in/ma-..-in: character or disposition
• pinaka-: superlatives
• napaka-: expresses “very”
• kasing-: equality or similarity
• magkasing-: mutual equality or similarity
• naka-: states or conditions
• nakaka-: emotions or reactions
• maka-: preferences or tendencies

Basic expressions

The following are common Tagalog greetings and numerals. When speaking to someone older or of higher status, po is added at the end of the sentence. In polite speech using po, the second-person pronoun is obligatorily plural even when addressing only one person.

• Magandang umaga. — Good morning.
  • Magandang umaga po. — Good morning. (polite)
• Magandang tanghali. — Good afternoon. (around noon)
  • Magandang tanghali po. — Same as above, polite
• Magandang hapon. — Good afternoon. (in the afternoon)
  • Magandang hapon po. — Same as above, polite
• Magandang gabi. — Good evening.
  • Magandang gabi po. — Good evening. (polite)
• Kumusta ka? — How are you?
  • Kumusta po kayo? — How are you? (polite)
• Paalam. — Goodbye.
• Salamat. — Thank you.
  • Maraming salamat po. — Thank you very much.
• Walang anuman. — You're welcome.
  • Wala anuman po. — You're welcome. (polite)
• Pasensya ka na. — I'm sorry.
  • Pasensya na po kayo. — I'm very sorry. (polite)
• Sino po sila? — Who may I ask is speaking?Template:Efn2
• Tao po. — Excuse me. (used when calling at someone's door)
• Nandito na ako. — I'm home. / I'm back.
• Ako si Taro. — I am Taro.
• Ano ang pangalan mo? — What is your name?
• Ang pangalan ko ay Taro. — My name is Taro.
• Taga-saan ka? — Where are you from?
• Taga-Manila ako. — I am from Manila.

Numerals: the forms in parentheses are Spanish borrowings, used, among other contexts, when telling the time.

• isa (uno/una) — 1 (1:00 is ala una)
• dalawa (dos) — 2 (2:00 is alas dos)
• tatlo (tres) — 3 (3:00 is alas tres)
• apat (kuwatro) — 4 (4:00 is alas kuwatro)
• lima (singko) — 5 (5:00 is alas singko)
• anim (seis) — 6 (6:00 is alas seis)
• pito (siyete) — 7 (7:00 is alas siyete)
• walo (otso) — 8 (8:00 is alas otso)
• siyam (nuwebe) — 9 (9:00 is alas nuwebe)
• sampu (diyes) — 10 (10:00 is alas diyes)
• labing-isa (onse) — 11 (11:00 is alas onse)
• labindalawa (dose) — 12 (12:00 is alas dose)

Examples of time expressions:

• 5:00 a.m.: alas singko ng umaga
• 8:30 a.m.: alas otso y medya ng umaga (y medya means “half past”)Template:Efn2
• Noon: alas dose ng tanghali or alas dose en punto
• 3:00 p.m.: alas tres ng hapon
• 6:45 p.m.: alas seis kuwarenta y singko ng gabi (kuwarenta y singko means “forty-five”)Template:Efn2
• Midnight: alas dose ng hatinggabi
• 3:00 a.m.: alas tres ng madaling-araw (madaling-araw means “early morning”)

Other

As mentioned above, Tagalog has many loanwords from Spanish and English. However, their meanings may differ slightly from the original words.

For example, the words below have the following meanings in Tagalog. The original Spanish spelling and meaning are shown in parentheses.

• • siyempre (siempre): “of course!” (“always” or “forever”)
  • mismo (mismo): “〜itself” (“same” or “exactly”)
• Tagalog also contains words from other languages, including Arabic, Sanskrit, Chinese—especially Southern Min—Malay, and Japanese.
• Tagalog loanwords and expressions can also appear in names, brands, and products outside the Philippines, although this is relatively uncommon.

Tagalog Language Media

• A Tagalog speaker, recorded in South Africa.

• 

  The base consonants and vowels of the Baybayin script, the original writing system of Tagalog

• 

  Vocabulario de la lengua tagala, 1794.

• 

  Diariong Tagalog (Tagalog Newspaper), the first bilingual newspaper in the Philippines founded in 1882 written in both Tagalog and Spanish.

• 

  Map of the areas where Tagalog is the majority native language.

• 

  No dumping sign along the highway in the Laguna province, Philippines.

• 

  A landslide and rockslide-prone area sign at Indang, Cavite.

• 

  Welcome arch to Palayan, Nueva Ecija.

• 

       Countries with more than 500,000 speakers*     Countries with between 100,000–500,000 speakers*     Countries where it is spoken by minor communities

• 

  The Tagalog caption (bottom-left) about venom at the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco includes words that are uncommonly used in Metro Manila such as "hungkag" (hollow), "sinisila" (prey), "mapanila" (predator), "tibò" (stinger), and "kabatiran" (clue/knowledge/discernment).

Related pages

• Tagalog Wikipedia

Other websites

• Tagalog at Wikibooks
• Filipino phrasebook travel guide from Wikivoyage
• Media related to Tagalog language at Wikimedia Commons