Learn some common verb prefixes in Filipino
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Intro |
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| Alisha: What are some verb prefixes In Filipino? |
| Danilo: And why are they so useful to know? |
| Alisha: At FilipinoPod101.com, we hear these questions often. Imagine the following situation: Ben Lee hears a new word that sounds familiar, but he isn't sure about the meaning. He asks his friend, "What does ‘Ipagluto' mean?" |
| Ben Lee: Ano ibig sabihin ng "Ipagluto"? |
| Dialogue |
| Ben Lee: Ano ibig sabihin ng "Ipagluto"? |
| Victoria Villanueva: Ang ibig sabihin non ay "magluto para sa iba," |
| Alisha: Once more with the English translation. |
| Ben Lee: Ano ibig sabihin ng "Ipagluto"? |
| Alisha: "What does ‘Ipagluto' mean?" |
| Victoria Villanueva: Ang ibig sabihin non ay "magluto para sa iba," |
| Alisha: "It means ‘to cook for someone.'" |
Lesson focus |
| Alisha: In this lesson, we will be discussing some verb prefixes in Filipino and why they are useful to know. Filipino is a language very much dependent on affixes to convey the meaning of words. English, for instance, depends more on word order to assign different meanings to words. Affixes are small units of language which are attached to root words. They can be placed at the front of the word to become prefixes and if they are at the end of the word they are called suffixes. If they are in the middle of the word, then we call them infixes. In this lesson, we will be focusing on prefixes that attach to verbs and how those prefixes affect the meaning of the verbs. One of the most common verb prefixes is this one: |
| Danilo: mag |
| Alisha: Just in case it isn't clear, the prefix begins with the letter "m" as in "many," This prefix is what is called an actor-focused prefix, meaning that it is attached to verbs where the focus is on the "doer' of the action. It is combined with the verb to form the infinitive, the future tense, and the imperative. One can form both the infinitive and the imperative with this prefix. For instance, the infinitive, "to cook" is: |
| Danilo: magluto |
| Alisha: It is based on the root verb meaning "cook": |
| Danilo: luto |
| Alisha: On the other hand, if I want to use the imperative to tell someone to cook, I can say: |
| Danilo: Magluto ka. |
| Alisha: This is like saying: "You, cook!" As you can see, in both examples, we used the word: |
| Danilo: magluto |
| Alisha: Conjugating a verb into the future tense is quite simple with this prefix. Consider the word cook again: |
| Danilo: luto |
| Alisha: But this time, instead of just adding the prefix, one must also repeat the first syllable of the verb. In this case, the first syllable of the verb is: |
| Danilo: lu |
| Alisha: The conjugated verb is then: |
| Danilo: magluluto |
| Alisha: I am sure you could hear how the first syllable of the verb was repeated after adding the prefix: |
| Danilo: mag |
| Alisha: Let's hear it one more time: |
| Danilo: magluluto |
| Alisha: Another prefix that is related to this prefix is: |
| Danilo: nag |
| Alisha: Again, in case it isn't clear, this prefix begins with the letter "n" as in "none," It is used to form the present and past tenses. When forming the present tense, it is used in the same way that the |
| Danilo: mag |
| Alisha: prefix is used to form the future tense. The first syllable of the root verb is repeated. Listen to the present tense of the verb for "cook": |
| Danilo: nagluluto |
| Alisha: Once more, I am sure you heard the repeated syllable at the beginning of the verb. To form the past tense is even simpler: |
| Danilo: nagluto. |
| Alisha: Not difficult, right? There are still several other prefixes to look at. One of these is the prefix: |
| Danilo: ma |
| Alisha: For clarity, this begins with the sound "m" as in "many," Verbs with this prefix are also actor-focused, and they are also used to form the future tense. Just as with the prefix: |
| Danilo: mag |
| Alisha: when one wants to form the future tense with this prefix, all you have to do is repeat the first syllable of the root. The Filipino word for "bath" is: |
| Danilo: ligo |
| Alisha: to make this a future tense verb, add the prefix and repeat the first syllable of the root: |
| Danilo: maliligo |
| Alisha: To form the imperative, simply add the prefix but don't double the first syllable of the root: |
| Danilo: maligo |
| Alisha: Previously, the present and past tenses were formed with |
| Danilo: nag |
| Alisha: in this case, they are formed with: |
| Danilo: na |
| Alisha: Again, for clarity, this prefix begins with "n" for "none," Listen to the present tense of "bathe": |
| Danilo: naliligo |
| Alisha: Notice we doubled the first syllable of the root just as we did before. In past tense, there is no double initial root syllable. It is simply: |
| Danilo: naligo |
| Alisha: Fortunately, these four conjugations behave in a similar way so they should be easy to remember. Another prefix we should look at is: |
| Danilo: pa |
| Alisha: This prefix has several uses. For one thing, it can be used to indicate that one wants a favour but in such a way as to not sound bossy or rude at all. Let's say I am at someone's house and I want to join a meal. I will say: |
| Danilo: pakain |
| Alisha: I could also tell someone that I'd like to use their phone to send a text message by saying: |
| Danilo: pateks |
| Alisha: Sometimes, this prefix can be used to indicate that an action is about to be performed or someone is about to perform an action. For instance, if someone is about to leave, they can say: |
| Danilo: paalis |
| Alisha: The root verb here is: |
| Danilo: alis |
| Alisha: Another example is the word: |
| Danilo: pasakay |
| Alisha: This means "about to ride," The root verb "ride" is: |
| Danilo: sakay |
| Alisha: Sometimes, the prefix is actually just a contracted form of: |
| Danilo: paki |
| Alisha: which means "please," For instance, if I want to ask someone to please read a message, I could say: |
| Danilo: Pabasa ng mensahe. |
| Alisha: The root verb meaning "read" is: |
| Danilo: basa |
| Alisha: However, this contraction should not be confused with the prefix we discussed earlier, which is: |
| Danilo: pa |
| Alisha: Another useful verb prefix to know is: |
| Danilo: na |
| Alisha: This prefix is often used to indicate that an action was unintended or accidental. For instance, the Filipino word for "broken" or "cracked" is: |
| Danilo: basag. |
| Alisha: If I wanted to indicate that I had broken something by accident, then I would use the word: |
| Danilo: nabasag |
| Alisha: I might also catch something by pure luck, in which case I could use the word: |
| Danilo: nasalo |
| Alisha: The root verb meaning "catch" is: |
| Danilo: salo |
| Alisha: Let's now look at the prefix: |
| Danilo: i |
| Alisha: As mentioned previously, some verbs can be action-focus verbs and others are object-focus verbs. Verbs beginning with the prefix: |
| Danilo: mag |
| Alisha: are action-focus verbs, but verbs beginning with the prefix: |
| Danilo: i |
| Alisha: are object-focus verbs. |
| Let's look at examples of sentences using both of these. The first sentence means "The woman will cook rice for dinner.": |
| Danilo: Magluluto ng bigas ang babae para sa hapunan. |
| Alisha: As you can hear, the prefix: |
| Danilo: mag |
| Alisha: and a doubled first syllable of the root are used before the root verb: |
| Danilo: luto |
| Alisha: This is because the focus of the sentence is on the woman who is performing the action. However, if the focus is shifted to the rice, then we say that the rice will be cooked by the woman for dinner: |
| Danilo: Iluluto ng babae ang kanin para sa hapunan. |
| Alisha: In this instance, you can hear the repeat of the initial syllable of the root verb because it is the future tense, but this time it is preceded by the prefix: |
| Danilo: i |
| Alisha: This prefix also precedes the root verb in the imperative but without any changes to the root verb. This means that, if the focus is on the object, a verb like "cook" becomes: |
| Danilo: iluto |
| Alisha: and a verb like "write": |
| Danilo: sulat |
| Alisha: becomes |
| Danilo: isulat |
| Fortunately, the patterns are quite consistent when it comes to verb prefixes in Filipino. Once you have internalized these, learning the other affixes should be much easier. |
| Practice Section |
| Alisha: Let's review what we heard in this lesson. I will say the target sentence in English, then you should respond by saying the sentence out loud in Filipino. Danilo will then model the correct answer. Listen to him carefully, with the focus on pronunciation, and then repeat. |
| The first sentence is "What does ‘Ipagluto' mean?" |
| [Beep. Pause 5 seconds.] |
| Danilo: Ano ibig sabihin ng "Ipagluto"? |
| Alisha: Did you get it right? Listen to Danilo again, and repeat. |
| Danilo: Ano ibig sabihin ng "Ipagluto"? |
| [Beep. Pause 5 seconds.] |
| Danilo: Ano ibig sabihin ng "Ipagluto"? |
| Alisha: The second sentence is "It means ‘to cook for someone.'" |
| [Beep. Pause 5 seconds.] |
| Danilo: Ang ibig sabihin non ay "magluto para sa iba," |
| Alisha: How did you do this time? Again, listen to Danilo and repeat. |
| Danilo: Ang ibig sabihin non ay "magluto para sa iba," |
| [Beep. Pause 5 seconds.] |
| Danilo: Ang ibig sabihin non ay "magluto para sa iba," |
| Cultural Insight |
| Alisha: Interestingly, people are often confused about the difference between the Filipino language and Tagalog. Many people think they are the same language, but this is not true. The fact is that the Filipino language, to a large extent, evolved from Tagalog. Filipino also uses language structures from a number of other languages such as Spanish, English, Sanskrit, Chinese, Arabic, and Malay. |
Outro |
| Alisha: Do you have any more questions? We're here to answer them! |
| Danilo: Paalam. |
| Alisha: See you soon! |
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