Go Filipino - 15. Let's Talk About Gender (Pronouns, Part 1)
A pseudo breakdown transcript of the podcast Go Filipino Lesson 15 by Kris Andres. For more information about Kris and his podcast check out his Patreon!
This episode brought to you today by the Tagalog word Amihan
.
Amihan
- The cold monsoon winds coming from the north or northeast.
Pronouns
What makes Tagalog pronouns different than their english counterparts is that it also indicates whether the noun being replaced is in focus, not in focus, or involved with directions.
Note: Lesson 5-7 go over focus markers. These markers go hand in hand with pronouns.
Focus Pronouns
Ako
ako
- I
- Singular first person focus pronoun, where the focus of the sentence is the speaker
magbabasa ako ng aklat
- I will read a book
basa
- Root Word - Readako
- Ing
- focus markeraklat
- Book
Ka
ka
- You
- The second person singular focus pronoun. Ka is used if the focus of the sentence is you.
Magluluto ka ba ng almusal?
- Are you going to cook breakfast?
Luto
- Root word - Cookka
- Youba
- Question markerng
- Object markeralmusal
- Breakfastagahan
- This is an alternate word for Breakfast, the native alternative translation
Ikaw
Ka
is always used in the middle of the sentence. If you were to use you at the start of a sentence you would use ikaw
.
Ikaw ay maglilinis ng kuwarto
- We will clean the room
ikaw
- you (as the focus)ay
- This is the inversion partical, which indicates the sentence is not in proper order.- This will be talked about more in a future episode
- Contrary to popular belief
ay
does not translate to is, are, or will be in English.
linis
- Root Word - Cleanng
- Object Markerkuwarto
- RoomSilid
- This is an alternate word for Room, another native alternative translation
There are some exceptions with the ikaw
rule being at the start of a sentence.
Kung ikaw ay magluluto ng almusal
- If you were to cook breakfast...
Kung
- In this instancekung
means "if".- This exception only applies if
ikaw
comes right afterkung
- This exception only applies if
But, if a predicate comes right inbetween kung
and ikaw
, it would revert back to ka
.
Kung magluluto ka ng almusal.
- If you were to cook breakfast...
This kung
plus ikaw
rule, also has a single exception. It is when another focus pronoun is inserted inbetween kung
and ikaw
.
Kung ako ikaw
- If I were you.
Siya
siya
- He or She
Matutulog na siya
- He/she is about to sleeptulog
- Root word - Sleepna
- Na has many uses like when linking an adjective to a noun.
- In this instance though, when
na
is placed after a verb it implies a sense of urgency to it. Like "this person is about to sleep now"
siya
- He or she (the focus of this sentence)
Tagalog originally was genderless/gender neutural language untill we adopted gendered nouns from Chinese, Spanish, and English. Desite that, the pronouns remained the same.
Ate
Ate
- Older Sister
Ate siya ni Jen
- She is Jen's older sister
Ate
- Older Sister
- We adopted this word from the Chinese word Atsi. Which is Hokian for oldest sister.
tsinoy
- A word used for people who are Filipino Chinese
siya
- he/she, but implied as she due to theate
ni
- Possesion marker- Indiciating that the name of the person after
ni
owns the older sister.
- Indiciating that the name of the person after
If this phrase was to be said with a more gender neutral tone it would be:
nakatatandang kapatid siya ni Jen
- This person is Jen's older sibling
Nakatatangdang kapatid
- Older sibling
Kami
Kami
- We, the exclusive first person plural focus pronoun - We (except you)
Pupunta kami sa mall mamaya
- We (except you) will go to the mall later
Pupunta
- Will goKami
- We (excluding you)sa
- Direction markermall
- Mallmamaya
- Later
Tayo
tayo
- We, the inclusive first person plural focus pronoun - We (including you)
Lalangoy tayo sa pool bukas
- We (including you) will swim in the pool tomorrow.
lalangoy
- SwimTayo
- We, including yousa
- Direction markerpool
- pool (swimming pool)bukas
- Tomorrow
Kayo
kayo
- You all, the second person plural focus pronoun - all of you (excluding the speaker).
Iinon ba kayo ng gatas?
- Are you guys going to drink milk?
iinom
- Will Drinkba
- Question particalkayo
-You allng
- direct object markergatas
- Milk
Sila
sila
- They, third person plural focus pronoun
Manonood sila ng basketball
- They will watch a basketball game.
Manonood
- Will watchsila
- Theyng
-Direct object markerbasketball
- Basketball
Kita
kita
- Direct second person with indirect first person pronoun. Short for Ko Ikaw. Or I to you.
Mahal Kita
- I love you
Mahal
- LoveKita
- I to you
In rural areas, kita
also works as a dual first person pronoun. Such as you and I just like the word tayo
.
Magkaibigan kita
- You and I are friends
Magkaibigan
- Friendskita
- You and I
Ito
ito
- it, but near me, or this. For sake of convenience, Tagalog speakers tend to shorten the use of ito
to just 'to
.
Nalaglag ang baso. Nabasag ito.
Nalaglag
- fellang
- Focus Markerbaso
- drinking glassNabasag
- brokeito
- it (refering to the drinking glass)
For plural nouns, the mga
marker is retained when it is replaced by ito
Nabasag ang mga ito
- They broke
Nabasag
- Brokeang
- Focus markermga
- Plural indicatorito
- it, this, they
Iyan
iyan
- It, or that, far from me but near you. For sake of convenience, Tagalog speakers tend to shorten this use of iyan
to just 'yan
.
Kumain ang ensalada. Masustansiya iyan
- Eat the salad. It's nutritious.
kumain
- Eatng
- Focus markerensalada
- Saladmasustansiya
- nutritiousiyan
- that, near you
Iyon
iyon
- It, or that, far from both of us. For sake of convenience, Tagalog speakers tend to shorten this to 'yon
.
Nasa cusina ang aso. Natutulog iyon
- The dog is in the kitchen. It is sleeping.
nasa
- Locatino adverbcusina
- Kitchenang
- Focus markeraso
- DogNatutulog
- Sleepingiyon
- It (far from you and me)
Outro
Tagalog Proverb
Ang kita sa bula, sa bula rin mawawala.
- What comes from bubbles will disappear in bubbles. Easy come, easy go.