Understanding Focus in Tagalog Sentences: The “Ang” and “Ng” Markers

You now know that Tagalog sentences typically have the verb and the participants — the actor, and the object. And to add more to that, the concept of focus. Let’s now dive deeper on Tagalog focus markers — learn how ang and ng works in Tagalog sentences.

Vocabulary

• mgá /ma • ngá/ → particle for pluralizing a noun
• at → and
• lalaki → man
• babae → woman
• lola → grandmother
• aso → dog
• isdâ → fish
• pagkain → food
• tubig → water
• damít → clothes
• kotse → car
• naglakád → walked (root word: lakad)
• natutulog → is/are sleeping (root word: tulog)
• ngumitî → smiled (root word: ngitî)
• maglálaba → will do laundry (root word: labá)
• kumakain → is/are eating (root word: kain)
• kinain → ate (root word: kain)
• bíbilhin → will buy (root word: bilí)
• nilabhán → washed (root word: labá)
• naglutò/nilutó → cooked (root word: lutò)
• naglilinis / nililinis → is/are cleaning (root word: linis)
• íinom / iinumín → will drink (root word: inóm)

Tagalog Focus Markers

Markers are elements that indicate grammatical functions within a sentence. These markers are placed before a noun to assign which words are the topic of the sentence or the target of the sentence.

“Ang” Marker

The ang marker indicates the focus of the sentence.

• use ang for common nouns, places, events, etc. → ang lalaki, ang babae, ang regalo, ang Pilipinas, ang Pasko, etc.
• use ang mgá (pronounced /ma • ngá/) for plurals → ang mgá lalaki, ang mgá babae, ang mgá regalo, etc.
• use si for personal names. → si John, si Karla, si Blackie (dog), si Teddy (stuffed toy)
• use siná for personal names that imply plurality. → siná John (and company), siná Tom at Jerry, etc.

Examples:

• Naglakád ang lalaki. → The man walked.
• Natutulog ang mgá aso. → The dogs are sleeping.
• Ngumitî si Jane. → Jane smiled.
• Maglálaba siná Juan at Michael. → Juan and Michael will do laundry.
• Kumakain si Blackie. → Blackie is eating.

Just like in English, intransitive verbs do not take a direct object. But remember that in Tagalog sentences, the verbs come first followed by the participants. Since there is only one participant (the actor), that participant becomes the focus.

“Ng” Marker

The ng marks the non-focus noun. It can mark both the object and the actor.

• use ng for common nouns, places, events, etc. → ng lalaki, ng babae, ng regalo, ng Pilipinas, ng Pasko, etc.
• use ng mgá for plurals → ng mgá lalaki, ng mgá babae, ng mgá regalo, etc.
• use ni for personal names. → ni John, ni Karla, ni Blackie, ni Teddy
• use niná for personal names that imply plurality. → nina John (and company), nina Tom at Jerry, etc.

Examples:

• Kinain ng aso ang pagkain. → The dog ate the food. (the dog is the non-focus actor while the food is the focus object)
• Kinain ng mgá aso ang pagkain. → The dogs ate the food.
• Bíbilhin ni Jake ang toothpaste. → Jake will buy a toothpaste. (Jake is the non-focus actor while toothpaste is the focus object)
• Nilabhán niná Juan at Michael ang mgá damít. → Juan and Michael washed the clothes.

Breaking it down

Naglutò ang lola ng isdâ. → The grandmother cooked the fish.

Naglutò	ang lola	ng isdâ.
Cooked	the grandmother	the fish.

This is an example of an actor-focus sentence.

The focus of this sentence is the actor. The grandmother (lola) is marked with ang.

The non-focus is the fish (isdâ) marked by ng.

The verb naglutò coming from the root word lutò was conjugated based on the focus, which is the actor (lola — grandmother).

Nilutò ng lola ang isdâ. → The grandmother cooked the fish.

Nilutò	ng lola	ang isdâ.
Cooked	the grandmother	the fish.

This is an example of an object-focus sentence.

The focus of this sentence is the fish (isdâ) marked with ang.

The non-focus is the grandmother (lola) marked by ng.

The verb nilutò, also coming from the root word lutò, was conjugated quite differently. This is because the focus of the sentence is not the actor (lola), but the object (isdâ).

I’ll show you more examples:

• Naglilinis ang lalaki ng kotse. → The man is cleaning a car.
• Nililinis ng lalaki ang kotse. → The man is cleaning the car.
• Íinom ang babae ng tubig. → The woman will drink water.
• Iinumín ng babae ang tubig. → The woman will drink the water.

Keep in mind, both actors and objects can exist in the same sentence but only one has to be the focus.

An Important Note on Focus

Take note that I used the same English translations for both the actor-focus and the object-focus sentences.

Naglutò ang lola ng isdâ.

This sentence naturally translates to “The grandmother cooked the fish.”.

Nilutò ng lola ang isdâ.

This sentence however does not quite translate to “The grandmother cooked the fish.” Instead, this sentence translates to “The fish was cooked by the grandmother.”

That’s because when Tagalog sentences get translated into English, the translated English words will always be arranged to fit its strict sentence order. Look how the entire sentence flipped to satisfy the SVO sentence order.

Now, you might be wondering, “Is this how Tagalog speakers think when constructing sentences?”. The answer is no.

I’m confused now.

It might be helpful to think it like this:

Think of any basic sentence depicting an action. Which is the first thing that comes to your mind? I bet you would say the actor, right? Then you next proceed with this thought, “What is the actor doing?”. After that comes the thought “To whom did the actor do it?”

So, the thought process went like this: Actor → Action → Receiver

The human mind, as fast as it is, did not once, think of the receiver as the first thought in making the sentence.

That’s why in English, you don’t naturally come up with sentences like “The fish was cooked by the grandmother”, or “The grass was pooped on by the dog.” in a snap. It’s always the actors first. “The grandmother cooked the fish.” and “The dog pooped on the grass.”

It is the same thought process for everyone

Similarly, Tagalog speakers share the same thought process when constructing their sentences.

Actor → Action → Receiver

However, English speakers and Tagalog speakers put the same thought into words quite differently.

In English, sentences rely on word order hence, the Subject → Verb → Object order.

In Tagalog, sentences have verbs that conjugate whether the actor (or the object) is the focus or not.

Conclusion

Now you have a better understanding of Tagalog focus markers ang and ng. In the next lesson, we will add another participant into the mix — the target.