Welcome to the fun part: making Tagalog sentences (or Taglish, I should say) not just with single English words, but with English verbs in Tagalog form! We’ll treat English verbs as a native Tagalog verb. If you’ve got basic sentence structure down and a growing Tagalog words reservoir, you’re already equipped to speak like a local!
Heads up: this guide isn’t official grammar. It’s a casual deep dive into patterns you’ll hear almost all the time in daily conversations. Ready? Let’s get you some vocabulary, annnnd some Spanish and Japanese too! ✨
Vocabulary
- ako / ko → I (pronoun)
- ka → you (pronoun)
- lalaki → man
- nanay → mother
- bata → child
- aso → dog
- mansanas → apple
- kanta → song
- relo → watch
- kama → bed
- dibujar → draw (Spanish)
- comprar → buy (Spanish)
- cantar → sing (Spanish)
- 勉強する [benkyou suru] → study (Japanese)
Conjugating English Verbs in Tagalog Actor-Focus Sentences
Most actor-focus sentences that have English words that you’ll hear in daily conversations use “mag-” as the go-to affix. To conjugate the English word, the same rules apply for “mag-” verbs:
Basic Form (Infinitive / Imperative)
- Take the root word. → memorize
- Attach “mag-” as a prefix. → magmemorize
Completed Action
- Take the root word. → memorize
- Attach “nag-” as a prefix. → nagmemorize
Ongoing Action
- Take the root word. → memorize
- Get the first syllable (without the last consonant, if any). → me
- Attach “nag-” to the syllable. → nagme
- Attach the new affix as a prefix. → nagmememorize
Upcoming Action
- Take the root word. → memorize
- Get the first syllable (without the last consonant, if any). → me
- Attach “mag-” to the syllable. → magme
- Attach the new affix as a prefix. → magmememorize
Single-Syllable English Verbs
For single-syllable English words or words that are pronounced differently than it is spelled:
- Take the root word. → paint /peynt/
- Determine the first consonant-vowel you will hear. → pe from /peynt/
- Attach this syllable to the affixes to create your desired form.
| Root word | Infinitive / Imperative | Completed | Ongoing | Upcoming |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| memorize | magmemorize | nagmemorize | nagmememorize | magmememorize |
| check | magcheck | nagcheck | nagchecheck | magchecheck |
| paint | magpaint | nagpaint | nagpepaint | magpepaint |
- Nagmememorize si Maki ng kanta. → Maki is memorizing a song. (Nagsaulo si Maki ng kanta.)
- Magchecheck ang teacher ng exam. → The teacher will check the exam.
- Nagpaint si Nanay ng bulaklak. → Mom painted a flower. (Nagpinta si Nanay ng bulaklak.)
The Use of Hyphens
Regarding the use of hyphens, it depends on whether you want to add it or not. But a rule of thumb to follow is if the first syllable of the English word is pronounced differently than spelled, use the hyphen.
- nag-paint /nag • peynt/
- nagpaint /nag • pa • int/
- nagda-drive /nag • da • drayv/
- nagdadrive /nag • da • dri • ve/
Omitting the hyphen might be confusing to others, especially to those who are still learning the language. They might pronounce it as /nag • pa • int/ or /nag • da • dri • ve/ and confuse them for a native Tagalog word.
Using “Ma” and “Um” Verb Conjugations
What about “um” and “ma” verbs? Since “um” verbs denote natural actions and “ma” verbs typically denote action words unto oneself, you should learn to say the native words for it.
- Natulog ang aso sa kama. → The dog slept on the bed.
- Kumain sina Micko at Francis ng french fries. → I ate french fries.
In cases however where you simply forgot the Tagalog verb for it during a conversation, you still can use “mag-” as backup plan to conjugate the English word.
- Nagsleep si Zoren sa kama. → I slept on the bed.
- Nag-eat si Kevin ng french fries. → I ate french fries.
For “um”, there are also a small number of words where “um” is used. A good example is the word “tumbling”. Tumbling is the collective word Filipinos use for doing anything acrobatic.
- Tumambling ang bata. → The kid did a cartwheel. (lit. The kid cartwheeled.)
Notice how tumbling changed its spelling to tambling after conjugation, as if that is its actual spelling. The only reason for this change is due to pronunciation. If it’s spelled as “tumumbling”, people might pronounce it intuitively as /too • moom • bling/ and not /too • mam • bling/
Another weird entry: “join” made its way to using “um” aside from the usual “mag” conjugation.
- Mag-join ka na! → Join us! (lit. You go join already)
- Jumoin ka na! → Join us! (lit. You go join already)
The first time I heard of “jumoin” was on TV, spoken by Anne Curtis, a famous actress here in the Philippines. Soon enough, I hear people incorporating that specific conjugation into their daily speech.
Conjugating English Verbs in Tagalog Object-Focus Sentences
If “mag-” is the affix commonly used for conjugating English words in actor-focus sentences, “i-” is your affix for conjugating in object-focus sentences.
Basic Form (Infinitive / Imperative)
- Take the root word. → memorize
- Attach “i-” as a prefix. → imemorize
Completed Action
- Take the root word. → memorize
- Get the first syllable (without the last consonant, if any) → me
- Insert “in” before the first vowel of the first syllable of the root word. → m(in)emorize
- Add the “i-” in front of the word. → iminemorize
Since this is casual, the “i-” is often removed, so you end up saying “minemorize”.
Ongoing Action
- Take the root word. → memorize
- Get the first syllable (without the last consonant, if any). → me
- Attach “in” before the vowel. → m(in)e
- Attach the new affix as a prefix. → minememorize
Same goes here, you can say it as “iminememorize”, but it’s casual and a bit of a tongue twister so stick with “minememorize”.
Upcoming Action
- Take the root word. → memorize
- Get the first syllable (without the last consonant, if any). → me
- Attach “in” before the syllable. → ime
- Attach the new affix as a prefix. → imememorize
For the upcoming action form, people often add the “i-”, so you should too.
| Root word | Infinitive / Imperative | Completed | Ongoing | Upcoming |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| memorize | imemorize | minemorize /mi • ne • me • mo • raiz/ | minememorize /mi • ne • me • mo • raiz/ | imememorize /i • me • me • mo • raiz/ |
| check | icheck | chineck /chi • nek/ | chinecheck /chi • ne • chek/ | ichecheck /i • che • chek/ |
| paint | ipaint | pinaint /pi • neynt/ | pinepaint /pi • ne • peynt/ | ipepaint /i • pe • peynt/ |
Use the English base form
Note: To conjugate any English word, always use the base form. A lot of Filipinos use English words in past tense as the base for conjugation, but using the base form is already enough.
- Minemorized ni Maki ang kanta. → Maki memorizeded the song.
- Minemorize ni Maki ang kanta. → Maki memorized the song.
I hear one Taglish speaker say “nagmemorized”, but I won’t hear the same person say “nagsubmitted”. It’s always “nagsubmit”. So, to keep the consistency, use the English base form when conjugating. Besides, why re-conjugate an already conjugated verb.
Conjugating Verbs from Any Language
Want to go Taglish with some words outside English? Go for it, it’s super fun — but be warned, you’ll need a conversation partner that can speak the same language as you and is interested in Tagalog!
- Nag-dibujar ang lalaki ng mansanas. → The man drew an apple.
- Nag-comprar ako ng relo. → I bought a watch. (Spanish, “mag-”)
- Binenkyou suru ko ang Taglish. → I studied Taglish. (Japanese, “i-”)
- Cacantar si Pedro. → Pedro will sing. (Spanish, “um” since)
Conclusion
How fun Tagalog would be if we mix it in with other languages 😄 Next up — we’ll summarize what we’ve learned so far, along with some drills. So, prepare yourself! 😄