Tagalog Grammar Guide

Start your Tagalog grammar knowledge building here! Learn about the mechanics of the language and how English words and phrases naturally integrate into sentences! This Tagalog grammar guide is structured so each lesson builds on the previous one. You will first learn how to make simple descriptive sentences, then incorporate action, then apply tenses to it to make simple action sentences. We then combine multiple sentences into coherent sentence, then we learn shortcuts on how to speak it in daily conversations.

This guide will teach you how to speak Tagalog spoken in daily conversations — Taglish! Filipinos use a lot of English words and phrases in casual speech, making it the de facto spoken language — at least in Manila and nearby areas. So, if you can read this, congratulations — you are at least 10% fluent in Taglish without even starting!

Basic Grammar

  • Describing Stuff — Simple Predicate-Subject Sentences
  • Action Sentences — Sentences with Verbs
  • Understanding Focus — The “Ang” and “Ng” Focus Markers
  • Understanding the Target — The “Sa” Target Marker
  • Intro to Verbs — the Root and the Affix
  • “Mag” Actor-Focus Verbs
  • “Ma” Actor-Focus Verbs
  • “Um” Actor-Focus Verbs
  • “In” Object-Focus Verbs
  • “I” Object-Focus Verbs
  • Conjugation English Words with “mag-” and “i-“
  • EXERCISES: Tagalog Action Sentences
  • Personal Pronouns — Ako at Ikaw
  • Participant Order — the pronouns and the divas that they are
  • Noun Basics — More Tagalog Affixes
  • Describing Nouns — Tagalog Adjectives part 1!

  • Possession and Existence – Tagalog Adjectives Part 2

  • Emphasizing the Description – Tagalog Adjectives Part 3

  • Describing Actions in a Particular Manner – Tagalog Adverbs Part 1

  • Other Words to Describe Actions – Tagalog Adverbs Part 2

  • The “Sa” Supplements – A Quick Detour to Tagalog Location Nouns and Prepositions

  • This, That, and That Over There – Demonstrative Pronouns!

  • Akin ‘Yan! – Tagalog Possessive Pronouns!

  • Asking Questions

Intermediate Grammar

  • Other Types of Focus (Location-Focus, Receiver-Focus, Tool-Focus, Reason-Focus)

  • “An” Target-focus Verbs

  • Demonstrative Pronouns Part 2 (Nasa, Heto, Gaya)

  • Sentences with Implied Participants!

  • Tagalog Conjunctions (Connecting Words)

  • The Use of na / -ng to Connect Phrases

  • Cleft Sentences

  • Expressing Your Wants and Needs

  • Other Expressions That Help Converse

Essential Grammar

  • Introduction to Other Affixes That Express Actions

  • Expressing an Activity That Just Finished

  • Expressing Tagging Someone to Do Something With You

  • Expressing Delegation of Tasks

  • Expressing Similarity and the Lack Thereof

  • Expressing Certainty and Doubt

  • Expressing a State or Condition You’re In

  • Expressions of Causality and Reasoning

  • Expressions of Apology and Frustration

  • Expressions of Degree and Intensity

  • Expressions of Contrast and Alternatives

  • Expressing Time and Sequence

  • Expressing Quantity

  • Expressions of Formality and Politeness

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