Now that you’ve met Tagalog markers “ang” and “ng”, it’s time to introduce another participant — the target! This chapter introduces the Tagalog “sa” marker, used for participants that serve as recipients, destinations, or reference points of an action. Ready to dive in? If that’s the case, you know the drill — vocabulary! If not, then let’s go back and review the “ang” and “ng” markers.
Vocabulary
- lalaki → man
- babae → woman
- guro → teacher
- estudyante → student
- libro → book
- regalo → gift
- papel → paper
- mukha → face
- balikat → shoulder
- eleksyon → election
- Pilipinas → the Philippines
- Pasko → Christmas
- at → and
- siya → he/she
- nagbigay → gave (root: bigay)
- binigay → gave (root: bigay)
- binigyan → gave (root: bigay)
- naglalakad → walking (root: lakad)
- maghahanda → will prepare (root: handa)
- kumakain -> eating (root: kain)
- boboto -> will vote (root: boto)
- binato -> threw (root: bato)
- kukunin -> will get (root: kuha) irregular
- nagsulat -> wrote (root: sulat)
- hinawakan -> held (root: hawak)
- sinuntok -> punched (root: suntok)
“Sa” Target Marker
The “sa” target marker is probably the most versatile marker in Tagalog. First off, the “sa” marker indicates the non-focus target participant of the sentence. It generally indicates the target (or recipient), direction, or location of an action. Aside from that, “sa” also functions as a catch-all preposition, standing in for several English prepositions depending on context.
- “sa” for common nouns, places, events, etc. → sa lalaki, sa babae, sa Pilipinas, sa Pasko
- “sa mga” for plurals → sa mga lalaki, sa mga babae
- “kay” for personal names. → kay John, kay Karla, kay Blackie, kay Teddy
- “kina” for personal names the imply plurality. → kina John (and company), kina Tom at Jerry
Use “sa” to indicate a place or event
Use “sa” on sentences with intransitive verbs (verbs without direct objects) to show where or when the action occurs. When translated to English, these are your “at the…”, “on the…”, “to the…”, etc.
- Naglalakad siya. → He/she is walking.
- Naglalakad siya sa mall. → He/she is walking at the mall.
- Maghahanda si Edward. → Edward will prepare.
- Maghahanda si Edward sa Pasko. → Edward will prepare [food] on Christmas.
- Kumakain si Michael. → Michael is eating.
- Kumakain si Michael sa canteen. → Michael is eating at the canteen.
- Boboto si Jane. → Jane will vote.
- Boboto si Jane sa eleksyon. → Jane will vote in the [upcoming] election.
In these cases, “sa” often implies something upcoming, especially when used with events.
Use “sa” to indicate the recipient
Use “sa” to when a sentence has a recipient. This is your “to” and “from” in English.
- Nagbigay ang lalaki ng regalo sa babae. → The man gave the woman a gift.
- Binato ni Jake ang bola sa kakampi. → Jake threw the ball to the teammate.
- Kukunin ng lalaki ang bayad kay Joshua. → The man will get the payment from Joshua.
Use “sa” to indicate the thing the action is acted upon
“Sa” can also be used when referring to the surface or part of something involved in the action.
- Nagsulat ang babae sa papel. → The woman wrote on a paper.
- Hinawakan ng lalaki ang babae sa balikat. → The man held the woman on the shoulder.
- Sinuntok ni Manny si Floyd sa mukha. → Manny punched Floyd in the face.
As you can see, “sa” in Tagalog replaces the prepositions you would normally have differently in English. “at the mall”? Use “sa” — “sa mall”. “on Christmas”? Use “sa” — “sa Pasko”. Here are the English prepositions that just equate to “sa” in Tagalog.
- in → sa
- on → sa
- at → sa / kay
- to → sa / kay
- from → sa / kay
Of course, there are counterpart Tagalog words for the each of these specific locations like “inside”, “outside”, “on top”, etc… when you want to express something in detail. You will learn that on a later chapter.
The Target as the Focus
Let’s align the targets with the concept of focus. For this exercise, let’s use the sentence above:
The man gave the woman a gift.
| Nagbigay | ang lalaki | ng regalo | sa babae. |
| Gave | the man | a gift | the woman. |
Here the focus of the sentence is “ang lalaki” — the actor, marked by the “ang” that precedes it. The “ng regalo” is the object, while the “sa babae” is the target.
If we are to change the focus of the sentence from the actor to the object, we shift around the markers and change the form of the verb to align with the new focus — the object.
| Binigay | ng lalaki | ang regalo | sa babae |
| Gave | the man | a gift | the woman. |
Now, let’s change the focus of the sentence to the target. First, replace the “sa” with “ang”. Then change the form of the verb to align with the new focus — the target.
| Binigyan | ng lalaki | ng regalo | ang babae. |
| Gave | the man | a gift | the woman. |
Here the focus of the sentence is “ang babae” — the beneficiary. The “ng lalaki” is still the actor, and “ng regalo” is still the goal.
All three sentences have participants that have the same roles; the only difference is that each sentence has focus on one participant. When focus shifts, the verb needs to adjust accordingly to match the new focus, ensuring clarity in meaning.
The “Sa” Target vs “Ng” Object
Can “sa” and “ng” be interchanged? Let’s take a look at this example to illustrate further the difference between “sa” and “ng”.
Nagbigay ang guro ng libro sa estudyante. → The teacher gave a book to the student.
- ng libro → the thing that was given.
- sa estudyante → the one who got what was given
If we are to interchange the two markers, it would result to this:
Nagbigay ang guro sa libro ng estudyante. → The teacher gave a student to the book.
- sa libro → the one who will receive the student
- ng estudyante → the one being given out by the teacher
This sentence is giving cartoon vibes. While the sentence is grammatically correct, the thought expressed does not quite translate well in real life.
Remember: “ng” is used for actors and objects; “sa” is used for targets.
Participant order
What about the arrangement of each participant? A general rule of thumb that you can easily follow for now:
Verb → the focus actor → the non-focus object → the non-focus target
Verb → the non-focus actor → the focus (goal / beneficiary) ↔ the non-focus (goal / beneficiary)
- The actor always immediately follows the verb.
- If the actor is the focus, the goal comes next, then the beneficiary.
- If the actor is a non-focus, the focused participant comes next, then the remaining non-focus participant.
That means that these two object-focus sentences are of the same meaning:
- Binigay ng lalaki ang regalo sa babae.
- Binigay ng lalaki sa babae ang regalo.
As well as these two target-focus sentences:
- Binigyan ng lalaki ng regalo ang babae.
- Binigyan ng lalaki ang babae ng regalo.
Conclusion
You now have an understanding of the three participants of Tagalog sentences, and how the “sa” target marker operates — whether you’re pinpointing a location or identifying a recipient. Also, with “sa” taking over the English prepositions, you’ve just cut your memorization list in half.
Next up: we’ll explore the affixes that make the Tagalog words — and how they morph depending on focus and aspect. Things get juicier from here. Onward!