Tagalog -An Verbs Part 1: Conjugation

You thought you were done with conjugations. I must say that we’re only halfway through all the verb affixes! So far, we’ve discussed the basic mag-, ma-, um-, in-, and i- affixes, which deal mainly with actor and object participants. To complete the picture, we now turn to Tagalog -an verbs. You may have forgotten it by now, but we actually briefly discussed this idea way back in the first section.

Vocabulary

Nouns:

• Panginoón → the Lord
• kaibigan → friend
• isdâ → fish
• menudo → menudo (Filipino stew)
• prutas → fruit
• pagkain → food
• pera → money
• liham → letter
• lagarì → saw
• awit ng papurì → song of praise

Verbs:

• kain → eat
• inóm → drink
• kantá → sing
• sulat → write
• abot → reach / hand over
• dalá → bring
• bukás → open
• tingín → look / see / watch
• bilí → buy
• ngitî → smile
• lutò → cook
• tirá → leave / live (inside)

Tagalog -An Verbs

Tagalog -an verbs are verbs formed with the -an affix that place the grammatical focus on a target participant. This can be the person, place, or entity that the action is directed toward.

I’ve separated -an verbs because they have their own quirks, quirks that wouldn’t help you (and would probably confuse you) if you encountered them too early.

In this lesson, we’ll focus only on how -an verbs are conjugated. In the next lesson, we’ll explore the different reasons -an is used and why it isn’t limited to just one kind of meaning.

Base Form (Infinitive Form / Imperative Form)

To get the infinitive form / imperative form:

1. Take the root word. → sulat
2. Attach -an after the root word. → sulatan

For root words ending in vowels:

/a/

1. Take the root word. → kantá
2. Attach -han after the root word. → kantahán

/e/ and /i/

1. Take the root word. → ngitî
2. Attach -an after the root word. → ngitián

/o/ and /u/

1. Take the root word. → lutò
2. Change the last syllable of the root word to its corresponding /u/ sound. → lutu-
3. Attach -an after the root word. → lutuan

There are also some commonly used irregular verbs. They aren’t many, but they appear often in daily speech, so you really do need to memorize them.

1. Take the root word. → bukás, tirá
2. Remove the vowel of the last syllable. → buks-, tir-
3. Attach -an or -han after the root word, depending on if the root word ends with the vowel (-han) or not (-an). → buksán, tirhán

Root word	Affix	Result
kain (eat)	-an	kainan
kantá (sing)	-han	kantahán
bukás (open)	-an	buksán
tingín* (see)	-nan	tingnán*
bilí* (buy)	-han	bilhán*

Examples:

• Tirhán niyó si Jake ng pagkain. → [You guys] set aside food for Jake.
• Sulatan mo akó ng liham. → Write me a letter.
• Lutuan mo kamí ng menudo. → Cook menudo for us.

Completed Action

To express the completed action form:

1. Take the root word. → kain, inóm
2. For words beginning with a consonant, insert -in before the first vowel of the first syllable of the root word. → kinain
3. For words beginning with a vowel, attach -in as a prefix. → ininóm
4. Add -an or -han at the end, remember to turn the last /e/ or /o/ sound to its corresponding /i/ or /u/ sound. → kinainan, ininuman

For root words starting with /l/:

1. Take the root word. → lutò
2. Attach ni- before the root word. → nilutu-
3. Attach -an at the end → nilutuan

Root word	New affix	Modification	-An affix	Result
kain (eat)	-in-	k + in + ain	-an	kinainan
kantá (sing)	-in-	k + in + anta	-han	kinantahán
abot (reach, hand over)	in-	in + abot	-an	inabután
tingín (see)	-in-	t + in + ingin*	-an	tiningnán
dalá (bring)	-in-	d + in + ala*	-han	dinalhán

Examples:

• Kinantahán siyá ng Happy Birthday ng kanyáng mga kaibigan. → His/her friends sang Happy Birthday to him.
• Inabutan kamí ng closing time ng mall. → The mall’s closing time caught up with us.
• Dinalhán niná Jamie siná Adrian ng mga prutas. → Jamie and others brought Adrian some fruits.

Ongoing Action

To express the ongoing action form, follow these steps:

1. Take the root word. → kain
2. Convert this to -in verb → kinakain-
3. Attach -an at the end. → kinakainan

For root words ending in vowels:

/a/

1. Take the root word. → kantá
2. Convert this to -in verb → kinakanta-
3. Attach -han after the root word. → kinakantahán

/e/ and /i/

1. Take the root word. → ngitî
2. Convert this to -in verb → nginingiti-
3. Attach -an after the root word. → nginingitián

/o/ and /u/

1. Take the root word. → lutò
2. Convert this to -in verb → nilulutu-
3. Attach -an after the root word. → nilulutuan

For irregulars:

1. Take the root word. → bukás, tirá
2. Conver to -in verb → binúbukas, tinitira
3. Remove the vowel of the last syllable. → binúbuks-, tinitir-
4. Attach -an or -han after the root word, depending on if the root word ends with the vowel (-han) or not (-an). → binúbuksan, tinitirhán

Root word	New affix	Modification	-An affix	Result
kain (eat)	-in-	k + in + akain	-an	kinakainan
kantá (sing)	-in-	k + in + akantá	-han	kinakantahán
abot (reach / hand over)	in-	in + aabot	-an	inaabután
tingín (see)	-in-	t + in + itingín*	-an	tinitingnán
dalá (bring)	-in-	d + in + adalá*	-han	dinadalhán

Examples:

• Kinakantáhan siyá ng Happy Birthday ng kanyáng mga kaibigan. → They are singing Happy Birthday to him.
• Inaabután kamí ni Lola ng pera. → Grandma is handing us money.
• Dinadalhan nilá siná Karen ng isdâ. → They are bringing Karen fish.

Upcoming Action (Future Tense)

To express the upcoming action form, follow these steps:

1. Take the root word. → kain
2. Take the first syllable. → ka-
3. Attach it before the root word. → kakain-
4. Lastly, attach -an after the newly formed word. → kakainan

For root words ending in vowels:

/a/

1. Take the root word. → kantá
2. Repeat the first syllable → kakantá-
3. Attach -han after the root word. → kakantahán

/e/ and /i/

1. Take the root word. → ngitî
2. Repeat the first syllable. → ngingiti-
3. Attach -an after the root word. → nginingitián

/o/ and /u/

1. Take the root word. → lutò
2. Repeat the first syllable and and convert the last /o/ to its corresponding /u/ sound → lulutu-
3. Attach -an after the root word. → lulutuan

For irregulars:

1. Take the root word. → bukás, tirá
2. Repeat the first syllable → bubukas-, titira-
3. Remove the vowel of the last syllable. → bubuks-, titir-
4. Attach -an or -han after the root word, depending on if the root word ends with the vowel (-han) or not (-an). → bubuksán, titirhán

Root word	Modification	-An affix	Result
kain (eat)	ka + kain	-an	kakainan
kantá (sing)	ka + kantá	-han	kakantahán
abot (reach, hand over)	a + abut	-an	aabután
tingín (see)	ti + tingín*	-an	títingnan
dalá (bring)	da + dalá*	-han	dádalhan

Examples:

• Kakantahán natin ang Panginoón ng awit ng papurì. → We will sing a song of praise to the Lord.
• Aabután ko silá ng pagkain. → I’ll hand them food.
• Dadalhan nilá akó ng lagarì. → They’ll bring me a saw.

Conclusion

Here’s your cheat sheet:

Root word	Base form (Infinitive)	Completed Action	Ongoing Action	Upcoming Action
kain	kainan	kinainan	kinakainan	kakainan
kantá	kantahán	kinantahán	kinakantahán	kakantahán
abot	abután	inabután	inaabután	aabután
tingín	tingnán	tiningnán	tinítingnan	títingnan
dalá	dalhán	dinalhán	dinádalhan	dádalhan

In this chapter, we focused purely on form, how Tagalog -an verbs are conjugated across aspects, including regular patterns, and common irregulars.

In the next chapter, we’ll tackle the bigger question: what -an verbs actually mean, and why they’re used for targets, recipients, locations, and more.