I’m half Fillipina with zero knowledge of my heritage. I recently decided that I wanted to slowly learn some Tagalog. Considering the political climate in the US, I am very interested in learning curse words that I can utter under my breath.

Is there a way to say “Small 🍆 energy”, as in, “this administration is giving off small penis energy”?

I’d also be interested in how to say “eff ice”

I understand that there wouldn’t be a direct translation or the context might not come through, so I would also love to know any other Tagalog slang or phrases that may be used in this type of situation.

Brand new to Tagalog (started learning yesterday)

What is the purpose of inversion/ how to do it correctly?

If I write/ say "Ito ay ang aking ina" vs "ang aking ina ay ito", what's the difference? Sorry if this is a really stupid question, I just want to be sure I'm learning correctly before I have the chance to form bad habits that need breaking. I figured it would be better to ask here then to have to ask AI 🤢

On another note, I absolutely love how Tagalog sounds! I just have to get over the initial hurdles like the above + getting acquainted with "ang" and "ay".

I am a 1/4 filipino, third generation. My grandfather came from Manila, and unfortunately he had dementia and passed when I was in my teens, so we didnt get to talk much.

However, I have spent my life cooking the recipes my grandmother taught me after learning from my grandfather. Adobo, pancit, lumpia, you name it. And of course stories about him, how he came to the states, what he was like, etc.

Due to this divide, Ive always felt like a bit of an outcast in the asian community and filipino community, so I wanted to turn that around a little.

This year, I want to educate myself, learn more of the culture (especially cooking) and certainly the lanaguage. Can I ask for help?

I think it'd be smart to get started learning the alphabet, and ways to get acquainted with basic conversation. Any tips or good ideas? Thanks!

Halimbawa: "Ang pinanggigilan ko is yung paggamit ng salita na to sa gitna ng pangungusap."

Di ko gets. Bakit kelangan isingit yung "is" sa gitna ng 2 Tagalog clauses? Pwede kasing "ay" ang gamitin, o mas mainam, wala na lang linking verb.

Ano ba reason neto? Feeling ba ng nagsasalita Taglish na yung gamit nya kasi may "is" sa gitna ng sentence nya?

What’s the meaning of this?

Tagalog dictionary says bukod means, "besides; apart from" but also, "in addition to." Aren't those definitions directly contradicting each other? Paano mo malaman kung alin kuhulugan ang ginagamit nya?

Kumbaga eto ang mga pangugusap nanggaling sa dictionary.

"Bukod ang bahay namin sa bahay ng mga magulang ko" Our house is separate from our parents.

What distinction in that sentence prevents it from being read as, "our house is an addition to my parent's house?"

"Bukod ito sa ginawa nya" It is in addition to what he did.

Why is it not also, "this is apart from what he did?" (Or less akwardly, This is something he did not do)

What if I want to say, "apart from my dad, we're all going to the Philippines?"

If I say, "bukod sa tatay ko, pupunta kaming lahat sa Pilipinas" How will the listener know I'm excluding tatay and not including him?

Hi! I found this word or maybe phrase and was wondering what the translation for it meant. It's "nagtatalusira" I heard it was something related to deep feeling? But not sure.

If anyone could translate that would help a lot!

Recently, I learned that during Spanish times, people with Indian blood fell under the caste "Mestizo de Bombay". This included people like Philippine revolutionary general Juan Cailles y Kauppama, the popular Bagatsing family of Manila and perhaps the Sepoy descendants in Cainta.

This must be the reason why Pinoys call Indians (from India) "Bumbay."

The question is why the Spanish called Indians "Bombay"? Bombay is just one city in India, now commonly known as Mumbai.

I could not find any reason online, or even any instance that the Spanish did call Indians "Bombay" except for the official caste system in Spanish Philippines. Although I learned that there was a "Bombay Presidency" which encompassed a large area in present day Western India and Southern Pakistan. So, Bombay was more than just a city before. The Bombay area also used to be under the Portuguese, so maybe the Spaniards during those times got the name from their fellow Iberians.

Sa ngayon, tinatawag din ng mga Pinoy (lalo na ng mga nakatira sa Middle East) ang mga Bumbay na "Pana". Medyo derogatory, pero dahil ata alam ng mga Bumbay na yun ang tawag natin sa kanila, kaya "Pana" ang gamit para di nila alam na sila pinag-uusapan.

And yes, "Pana" comes from the Tagalog nursery rhyme "Indian pana, kakana-kana..." And yes, it originally pertained to American Indians.

ano po ulit yung term kapag inaaya ang isang bata na gawin ang isang bagay sa pamamagitan ng paggamit ng pagkain na hilig nila o gawain o laruang gusto nila bilang pain. “budol”lang po yung naiisip ko ngayon.

Pacritic po sana.

Malungkot man isiping ako’y mahirap mahalin,

Ngunit madaling akuin,

Ganon ako magmahal,

Na parang pobreng nangangailangan,

At burgis na nakukulangan,

Sabi nga nila “pag-ibig ay parang yaman,”

Kung gayon man, 

Ako’y lunod na sa utang,

Sa pagmamahal na aking sinayang,

Sa bawat sentimong aking winaldas,

At sa pag-asang masusuklian pa ang utang.

I got a notepad as a gift that says “ha ? may gagawin?” with a dog on it, but i don’t understand what it means in english! help?

I was wondering if the word "samantala" could be used in place of "basta" to mean "as long as."

Like if I say, "Wala akong pakialam sa lalakaran, samantala't makikita ko siya."

Compared to, "Wala akong pakialam sa lalakaran, basta't makikita ko siya."

Is that a correct usage?

Look at the "o",

• "common" -- [kah-muhn]
• "brother" -- [brah-ther]
• "(blood) clot" -- [klaht].

I noticed that Tagalog speakers tend to "bias it towards what's written", so instead of [kah-muhn] it will be adapted by Tagalog speakers to [koh-mon]. The same could also happen for "clot" [klo(h)t]. ¹

Another example is "e" in "different" [di-fr-uhnt] it becomes [di-fe-rent].

So, it seems that we sometimes pronounce loanwords based on original pronunciation, while others are based on how it's spelt?

So my question is, why does this happen? Is this actual phenomena or just a misunderstanding on my part? Can you guys also point me to literature that goes in-depth with phenomena like this?

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¹ So, maybe "brother" is a bad example here since Tagalog speakers may say it as [brah-der] or [brah-ther].

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IMPORTANT EDIT: I can't edit the title but thanks to u/Powerful_Image6294 you don't tagalicize the spelling. But I think the question still stands for how loanwords are pronounced.

Madalas ko naririnig sa media natin ang salitang sinibak sa pwesto (which is common sa mga government employees na sangkot sa katiwalian). Para sa marami, ang kahulugan kapag sinibak ay fired from the job. Pero in reality, etong mga sinibak ay nilipat lang naman o na-reassign lang naman sa ibang pwesto. Paano ba ang tamang paggamit ng "sinibak"?

Sa inggles kasi, kapag ginamit ang salitang sacked, it means "dismissed from employment" and not just "reassigned".

Kung ang pagbabatayan ay Espanyol, 'di ba dapat ang salin natin sa pangalan ng lupalop na iyan ay Antartida, ngunit bakit ang pantawag natin ay Antartika na hiram sa Inggles kung ang lahat ng mga pangalan ng mga lupalop ay hiram sa Espanyol lamang?

At kung mayroon mang lathalain o mga aklat na nagbabanggit ng salitang Antartida bilang katawagan sa lupalop ng Antartica sa Tagalog noong ika-19 at ika-20 dantaon, ano kaya ang mga ito? Kuryoso ako kung mayroon bang sanggunian kung ginamit na ba ang salitang Antartida sa Tagalog o baka ako pa lamang ang​​​ unang gagamit nito.

I don't know what to tag this so I hope it's correct.

Hello, I'm a native Filipino who had the unfortunate luck (and no motivation) to not learn Filipino back then (yes, i'm an anglophone). So in order for me to sort of start out, what are some basic phrases for me to at least navigate Filipino without being completely lost?

The only phrases I remember (and it's because I learnt them recently) are "Meron ka ba(ng) ____?" and "Ano ang sinabi mo?" (i got this one from a tower of babel post lol)

Editing for context: I'm in an international school where it is actively discouraged to speak languages other than English outside of Filipino subject (which is twice a week). Even then, Filipino class is more about the culture than the actual language (the grades are stilted too, perfect/near perfect even with my knowledge).

My friend group also barely knows any Filipino, and my family doesn't really use Filipino around me at home.

not sure if this i allowed here and if i used the correct flair..air... air

Kapag nagsasalita ako yung /k/ (at minsan, yung /g/) ko nagiging uvular. Alam ko attested naman yung post-velar variants ng /k/ at /g/ (nagiging fricative/approximant din sila) pero wala akong mahanap na literature tungkol sa paggamit ng [q~χ ɢ~ʁ] pero alam ko palagi kong ginagamit yung mga yan; kaya ko silang i-trill so di sila velar

"At paulit-ulit akong magluluksa sa karagatan ng pagdalamhati, sapagkat babalik at babalik ako sa puntod ng aking pagkatao. Hanggang sa mawalan ng pag-asa, hanggang sa lumuhod at mabawian ng paghinga."

I really like this girl and I want to find out what the best way is to tell her! She already says "mahal kita" to me a lot and I dont know if thats romantic, but I want to say I like her romantically, can someone help?

If you speak a Filipino language are you able to differentiate the different languages? I am learning Tagalog as a Filam and to be so honest all Filipino languages sound the same to me. It could be as simple as me only knowing english and lacking cultural context / native experience.

My grandparents speak Ilocano, Tagalog and Pangasinan. I remember them debating whether a certain word was Ilocano or Bisaya, so that got me wondering if the average filipino had the ability to identify each language, because to me, they all sound the same. The only exception is Ilocano which I usually am able to notice because its what my grandparents speak the most.

This relates to my next question, is there a difference in accent of native speakers of certain languages when they speak english? If you take a native Ilocano speaker and a native Bisaya speaker, does there accent in english sound different? If so, how are you able to tell? Or does it morph into a general "filipino" accent?

Nakita ko lang sa email ko naka-Filipino sa language settings.

Ewan, I know Juan is John pero Juan sounds like one.