Our sentences are starting to get a little longer. After the Tagalog nouns chapter, you might have realized that syllable-wise, some Tagalog words are typically longer than their English counterparts. Take a look at this: child (1 syllable) → bátà (2), man (1) → laláki (3), lawyer (2) → abogádo (4). So far, we’ve mostly built our sentences with nouns. Let’s start shortening them by replacing nouns with Tagalog pronouns! In this chapter, you will learn about how to say I, you, he, she, and other English pronouns in Tagalog!
Vocabulary
- bátà → child, kid
- laláki → man
- abogádo → lawyer
- pulís → police officer, cop
- katrabáho → colleague
- kaibígan → friend
- kalában → opponent, enemy
- magkakaibígan → group of friends
- itlóg → egg
- gúlay → vegetables
- súlat → letter
- reló → watch
- pinggán → plate
- baríl → gun
- báhay → house
- tagúmpay → victory, success
- akyát → climb
- lútò → cook
- bilí → buy
- línis → clean
- inóm → drink
- sáli → join
- káin → eat
- saúli → return
- tálo → defeat
- kúha → get, take, claim
- bigáy → give
- dalá → bring
- bilí → buy
- kúhà → take
- puntá → go
Tagalog Pronouns
All the conjugations in the previous section made you forget about the markers. I bet you didn’t — but let us still review the ang, ng, sa markers, and each of their variants:
Focus: “Ang” → ang pulís, ang mga bátà*, si John, sina James*
Non-focus: “Ng” → ng pulís, ng mga bátà*, ni John, nina James*
Non-focus: “Sa” → sa pulís, sa mga bátà*, kay John, kina James*
Pronouns, like verbs, also change forms based on focus. These pronouns also follow the ang, ng, and sa groupings to keep our sentences aligned. Unfortunately for you, you’ll have to learn a whole new set of grammar lol
“Ang” Pronouns
| Singular | Plural | |
|---|---|---|
| First-person | Akó (I) | Kamí / Táyo (We) |
| Second-person | Ikáw, Ka (You) | Kayó (Y’all) |
| Third-person | Siyá (He / She) | Silá (They) |
The ang pronoun replaces the focused participant of the sentence.
- Umakyát ang magkakaibígan sa Mt. Pulag. → The group of friends climbed Mt. Pulag.
- Umakyát silá sa Mt. Pulag. → They climbed Mt. Pulag.
Examples:
- Akó (ay) si Andy. → I am Andy.
- Maglulútò kamí ng noodles. → We will cook noodles.
- Bumilí ka ng itlóg. → You go buy eggs. (imperative)
- Maglínis kayó ng báhay. → Y’all go clean the house. (imperative)
- Íinom si Jessa ng beer. → Jessa will drink beer.
- Íinom siya ng beer. → She will drink beer.
Kamí and Táyo
Tagalog has two words for the English we.
- Kamí → exclusive we. It refers to us only, not including you.
- Táyo → inclusive we. It refers to us and you.
Examples:
- Kamí (ay) ang Power Rangers! → We‘re the Power Rangers! (The Power Rangers declaring their presence to you, the enemy.)
- Sasáli táyo sa sports fest. → We will join the sports fest. (The department head announcing to the group, including you, that the department will join the company sports fest.)
The Ikáw Pronoun
The use of ikáw warrants a different kind of sentence construction. We’ll give it the spotlight it deserves in Core Grammar II.
“Ng” Pronouns
The ng pronouns replace the non-focus actors or objects of the sentence. It is also used as possessive pronouns.
| Singular | Plural | |
|---|---|---|
| First-person | Ko (Me) | Námin / Nátin (Us) |
| Second-person | Mo (You) | Niyó (Your, plural) |
| Third-person | Niyá (His / Her) | Nilá (Them) |
- Inakyát ng magkakaibígan ang Mt. Pulag. → The group of friends climbed Mt. Pulag.
- Inakyát nilá ang Mt. Pulag. → They climbed Mt. Pulag.
Examples:
- Kináin ni Andy ang sandwich. → I ate the sandwich.
- Kináin ko ang sandwich. → I ate the sandwich.
- Bilhín mo ang itlóg. → You go buy eggs. (imperative)
- Linísin niyó ang báhay. → Y’all go clean the house. (imperative)
- Isinaúli ni Jessa ang pencil. → Jessa returned the pencil.
- Isinaúli niya ang pencil. → She returned the pencil.
Námin and Nátin
Like ang pronouns, ng pronouns have inclusive and exclusive counterparts.
- Námin → exclusive we. It refers to us only, not including you.
- Nátin → inclusive we. It refers to us and you.
Examples:
- Tatalúnin námin ang mga kalában! → We’ll defeat the enemies! (The Power Rangers announcing that they will defeat the enemy — implying you, the enemy.)
- Kukúnin nátin ang trophy! → We will claim the trophy! (The department head prepping up the whole department including you.)
“Sa” Pronouns
The sa pronouns replace the non-focus targets of the sentence. Unlike the ang and ng pronouns, sa pronouns require the sa marker. It can mean to or from, depending on the context of the sentence.
| Singular | Plural | |
|---|---|---|
| First-person | Ákin (to me, from me) | Ámin / Átin (to us, from us) |
| Second-person | Iyó (to you, from you) | Inyó (to you, from you) |
| Third-person | Kanyá (to him/her, from him/her) | Kanilá (to them, from them) |
- Binigáy ni Lorie ang reló sa katrabáho. → Lorie gave the watch to a colleague.
- Binigáy ni Lorie ang reló sa kanyá. → Lorie gave the watch to him/her.
Examples:
- Dádalhin ng laláki ang súlat kay Andy. → The man will bring the letter to Andy.
- Dádalhin ng laláki ang súlat sa ákin. → The man will bring the letter to me.
Remember, kay and kina are only used for names.
- Kukúnin ng waiter ang pinggán kay Kris. → The waiter will get the plate from Kris.
- Kukúnin ng waiter ang pinggán sa iyó. → The waiter will get the plate from you.
- Bíbili ng baríl si Máni sa kaibígan. → Máni will buy a gun from a friend.
- Bíbili ng baríl si Máni sa kanyá. → Máni will buy a gun from him/her.
- Kumúha si Francis ng gúlay kina Títa Susan. → Francis took some vegetables from Aunt Susan (and family).
- Kumúha si Francis ng gúlay sa kanila. → Francis took some vegetables from them.
Sa Ámin and Sa Átin
For sa pronouns:
- Ámin → exclusive we. It refers to us only, not including you.
- Átin → inclusive we. It refers to us and you.
Examples:
- Pupuntá ang tagúmpay sa ámin! → The victory will go to us! (The Power Rangers still announcing that they will defeat the enemy — implying you, the enemy.)
- Pupuntá ang tagúmpay sa átin! → The victory will go to us! (The department head still prepping up the whole department including you.)
Conclusion
So, there you go — you’ve just met the basic Tagalog pronouns. In future chapters, you’ll discover that Tagalog pronouns are such divas — they mess up word order. But before that, let’s sprinkle some flavor on our nouns. In the next chapter, you’ll learn how to describe people and things with Tagalog adjectives!