YOU DON’T

NEED TO LEARN
TAGALOG
Everyone speaks English, anyway!

A Tagalog phrasebook

Philip Smithson, Leo Lallana, Kim Villanueva

www.learntagalogfast.com
Copyright © 2016 Philip Smithson, Leo Lallana, Kim Villanueva

All rights reserved.

Preview edition.

www.learntagalogfast.com
info@learntagalogfast.com
 Contents

You don’t need to learn Tagalog, everyone speaks english anyway! - 3

who this book is for -7

part 1 - quick lessons

Tagalog / Taglish hack #1 - Imperative Tense - 12

Liking / wanting - 14
Not liking / wanting - 16
Tagalog / Taglish hack #2 - Past Tense - 18
Useful modifiers + Conjunctions - 20

part 2 - useful phrases

Introducing yourself, -22

Giving instructions - 29
Directions - 33
In a meeting - 37
In a restaurant - 40
Have some fun! - 46

good luck, 34
You don’t need to
learn Tagalog
 [5]

You don’t need to learn

...but what a difference it
Tagalog. makes!

Most people here speak English? True. Before you ar-

rived in the Philippines, you were probably told this. I know I was
and it’s completely true: most Filipinos do speak English.

So of course, foreigners who speak Tagalog tend to often get

asked: “Why do you speak Tagalog?”.

Well…

…the answer seems obvious to me: “Why not?”.

If I were in France, I’d speak French. If I were in Germany, I’d speak

German. I’m in the Philippines so I speak Tagalog (ok: Filipino). If
nothing else, I think it’s just polite to make the effort to learn it.

But there is something else.

What I find much more important about speaking Tagalog (or any
language, for that matter) is the wider world of experiences and
connections it opens you up to.

Speaking the native language of the country you’re living in pro-

vides you with a few things:
[6] Email freetrial@learntagalogfast.com for a free class

1. A deeper understanding of what people value in life and what

motivates them.

For me, this has lead to a deeper understanding of co-workers,

friends and employees and has changed my stance on certain is-
sues. Having lived in one country my whole life I had a feeling of
how things were supposed to be, what
people were supposed to think and
what was supposed to be important.
Speaking Tagalog gives Coming to the Philippines, this was
you a headstart to more turned on its head and people did
meaningful connections things differently, thought differently,
with local speakers. valued different things and it made
me realize: “Things are one way back
home and things are another, different
way here and there’s no one right way
of doing things or thinking. And that’s
ok.”.

Realizing that and then extrapolating it to every country in the

world which has their own “way of doing things” helped me ac-
cept the differences between home and the Philippines and make
it easier to adjust to life on the other side of the planet.

2. More meaningful connections with the people you engage

with.

I enjoy interacting with people, learning about their families, what

they do, how they work, what they think about a particular topic
and so on. It’s nice being able to go the extra mile and have that
interaction with strangers, on a level deeper than just “where are
you from?”.

Outside of Manila in particular, speaking Tagalog helps people I

talk to relax and be comfortable enough to get past the common
“Oh no, this guy’s a foreigner, I’m going to struggle speaking Eng-
lish with him” feeling that Filipinos often complain of.
 www.learntagalogfast.com [7]

3. An “ease of use” quality that non-speakers aren’t privy to.

Whether I’m riding a taxi, renting a boat or looking for a guide in

the mountains, I’ve become incredibly comfortable engaging with
local service providers and making sure I can clearly discuss (not
just explain!) what I want, where I’m going, what I need, how long
it will take to get there, how much it will cost, asking for a better
price, stating whether or not something is acceptable and so on.
This makes it easy for me to go anywhere and do anything know-
ing that I’m unlikely to run into any serious language barriers.

To top it off, every day in my life here I hear, “Ah marunong ka pala
mag-Tagalog [wow, you know how to speak Tagalog]” from strang-
ers I interact with and you know what? It never gets boring. It’s
always accompanied with a big smile or a laugh and frankly works
as a great ice breaker for relieving the tension with strangers.

I often overhear people who see me approach say: “Naku, English-

speaking ito [Oh no, this guy speaks English]” or “Ow! mag-no-
nosebleed ako dito” [Oh no! This guy’s going to make my nose-
bleed by forcing me to speak English] or simply “*sees me, laughs,
points to co-worker* ikaw na nga [you talk to him instead]”.

It’s all part of the fun of feeling a part of this awesome country with
these awesome people.

I wouldn’t change a thing.

Who this book is for
 [9]

This book is for you.

...and anyone who wants
to learn Tagalog.

So many people struggle with Tagalog. I think there

are a lot of reasons why that might be and I don’t think any of them
are unique to Tagalog: fear of making mistakes, fear of being mis-
understood, fear of being laughed at. These are pretty common
reasons that hold people back.

I think understanding the wider picture of learning helps mitigate

those. You have to understand that to be good at something, the
first step is to try it, stumble, make mistakes and put yourself in
situations in which you don’t feel comfortable. It’s like learning to
walk again, you didn’t give up when you were a baby and fell over,
did you? No, the baby just carries on, picks himself up and tries
again.

As life-long learners, we need to constantly focus on rediscovering

that feeling of not even thinking about failure and jumping in at
the deep end and start making mistakes.

“The expert at anything was once a beginner” - Helen Hayes

The Philippines is an incredibly fun place to be, Filipinos are incred-

ibly welcoming and learning Tagalog only enhances these feelings.
[ 10 ] Email freetrial@learntagalogfast.com for a free class

This book is designed to help you take your first steps in inter-
acting with local Filipinos in a language they understand.

You will not be fluent (by a long shot!) after reading and learning
the material in this book. You will not speak perfect Tagalog. You
will not be able to read a book in Tagalog or understand the TV
news perfectly. (We do have lessons for
that though, check out www.learntaga-
logfast.com for more information.)

So what will you learn?

This book will not make
you fluent in Tagalog.
Our goal is to get you interacting with
locals. You should use this book as a
reference and dip in and out and skip
chapters as you need.

You’ll learn some Tagalog, you’ll learn

some Taglish (Tagalog + English is a very
common way of communicating, especially in Manila), you’ll
learn some slang and you’ll learn how to make people feel at
ease in Tagalog through basic conversations.

In this book, we focus on teaching what you need to know and re-
moving the things you (a beginner) don’t need to know right now.

It’s a streamlined way of learning, a streamlined way of getting you

to a point where you feel comfortable interacting with local speak-
ers.

This and this alone is the humble goal of this book. I hope it helps!

Good luck!

Phil, Leo & Kim.

December 2016
 Part 1
Quick lessons
[ 12 ] Email freetrial@learntagalogfast.com for a free class

Tagalog Hack #1 -
Imperative tense
The first thing you should know is that the goal of these short lessons is to build
your confidence and get you beginning to speak and converse with Filipinos.
The great thing about Tagalog is that generally any attempt to speak Tagalog is
met with great enthusiasm and a big smile from the recipient even if you make a
mistake and sound silly. You won’t be judged for making mistakes so relax and
start making some! On the next page, you’ll also find some basic words to get
you started.

T
he final thing you need to know Ready?
is that Filipinos very often speak
Taglish, a combination of Taga- Good! Let’s start with an example and
log and English. There are no for- break it down word by word:
mally defined rules for Taglish and some-
times Filipinos will use the English word Mag lunch tayo = Let’s do/have/go for
for something, sometimes they’ll use the lunch
Tagalog word for something, sometimes
they’ll use the Tagalog grammatical con- How to pronounce it:
struction but applied to the English word
and sometimes the opposite. “Mag” - just say it as you see it
“Lunch” - this is the English word (obvi-
You may also have seen Taglish listed as a
ously :P)
language option on ATM machines in the
“Tayo” - say “tie” like the English word
Philippines - often the choice is English or
and then “o” like in the word “go” so: “tie”
Taglish.
+ “o”

It can be quite confusing at first but keep

your ear out for it and you’ll get used to it
Let’s break it down:
and you’ll be practicing your own Taglish
in no time.
1. The word “mag” acts as a modifier
of the noun lunch and makes it into an
Taglish is widely spoken so that’s where
action. There is no need to translate
we’ll begin our journey.
the “have/do/go for” part that exists in
English.
 www.learntagalogfast.com [ 13 ]

Super basic words to get you started

Tagalog Meaning Pronunciation

Kumusta? How are you? kuh muh stah

Mabuti I’m fine mah boo tea

Salamat Thank you sah lah mat

Walang anuman You’re welcome wah lang ah nu man

Oo Yes oh oh

Hindi No hin dee

Tara Let’s go tah rah

‘di ba? Right? [Often used at dee bah

the end of sentences]
Sarap Delicious sah rap

Po Used to indicate polite- poh

ness
Hindi po No (polite) hin dee poh

Opo Yes (polite) oh poh

2. “Tayo” means “us” or “we” in English
So literally in English, we’d have: “Let’s
lunch” or “Let’s do lunch”.
The great thing is that you can reuse this
structure just by replacing the English
word, almost anything goes:
mag football tayo // Let’s play football
mag dinner tayo // Let’s eat dinner
mag beach tayo // Let’s go to the beach
mag beer tayo // Let’s have a beer
mag Starbucks tayo // Let’s do Starbucks
mag Ayala tayo // Let’s take Ayala (e.g.
when giving directions in a Taxi)
[ 14 ] Email freetrial@learntagalogfast.com for a free class

How to say I like some-

thing or I want to do
something
I hope you’ve practiced what was in the previous lesson as we’re going to build
on it in this lesson.

R
emember the format from the How do you think you’d say: I want to go
first lesson is mag + English verb/ for lunch
noun + tayo. We’re going to
expand on this here and instead Gusto ko mag lunch
of saying just “Let’s go for lunch”, you’re
going to say: “I want to go for lunch”. Easy!

Let’s start with “I want”:

Just copy + paste but change the English
verb/noun. See if you can understand
Gusto ko - I want / like
what each of these means:

How to pronounce it:

Gusto ko mag football
Gusto ko mag beach
Gusto = guss toh
Gusto ko mag tuna
ko = koh
So they translate as:
Put it all together and you get “guss toh
koh” = I want / like.
I want to play football
I want to go to the beach
“Ko” means “my” in English so the phrase
I want to eat tuna
translates literally as “My liking is for
lunch”.
But that’s enough about you. Let’s talk
about someone else. Remember we say
OK so let’s add in a bit of what we learned
“gusto ko” which is literally “my liking” so
in the previous lesson and make some full
to say “your liking”, we use “gusto mo”.
sentences.
 www.learntagalogfast.com [ 15 ]

Putting lesson 1 and 2 together

Tagalog Meaning Pronunciation

Gusto ko mag football I want to play football gus toh koh mag football

Gusto ko mag tuna I want to have tuna gus toh koh mag too nah

Gusto ko mag football I want us to play football gus toh koh mag football
tayo tie oh
Gusto ko mag Starbucks I want us to go to Star- gus toh koh mag star-
tayo bucks bucks tie oh
Gusto ko ng tuna I want [some] tuna gus toh koh nang too
nah
Gusto ko ng beer I want [a] beer gus toh koh nang beer

Since in most of your conversations, you’ll to Bohol

be asking people if they like, we’ll intro-
duce the question word “ba”. This magical
word can convert a statement into a ques-
tion, for example:
Gusto mo - you like
Gusto mo ba? - would you like?
We can put this into the “mag” examples
from above to get:
Gusto mo ba mag lunch? - do you want to
go for lunch?
Gusto mo ba mag Starbucks? - do you
want to go for Starbucks?
Remember the word for “we” in the previ-
ous lesson? Tayo (say: tie oh).
Let’s add that back in.
Mag works great for indicating you like
doing something. For indicating you like
something like an object then we can use
Ng.
There’s a subtle difference in the meaning
between:
Gusto ko mag tuna - I want to have/go for
tuna
and:
Gusto ko ng tuna - I want [some] tuna
Gusto ko ng beer - I want [a] beer
A lot to take in this lesson, make sure you
review it and practice it like crazy!

Gusto ko mag football tayo - I want us to

play football
Gusto ko mag Bohol tayo - I want us to go
[ 16 ] Email freetrial@learntagalogfast.com for a free class

How to say you don’t like

something or don’t want
to do something
A lot to take in in the last lesson perhaps but really only 4 words: gusto, ko, mo
and ba and a couple of structures for indicating liking: gusto ko mag/ng and for
asking people if they like something: gusto mo ba mag/ng.

T
oday we’ll look at the opposite
of this. Let’s jump in with an
example:
Ayoko mag beach - I don’t want to go to
the beach
Ayoko mag Starbucks - I don’t want to go
to Starbucks

Ayaw ko ng tuna = I don’t like/want tuna

Ayaw ko ng football = I don’t like football
And let’s not forget the ng version:

“Ayaw” is the opposite of “Gusto” so it

Ayoko ng tuna - I don’t want tuna
means “don’t like/want”.
Ayoko ng pizza - I don’t want pizza
Ayoko ng beer - I don’t want beer
How to pronounce it:
Now remember in the last lesson, we
Ayaw ko - eye ow koh - I don’t like/want
were asking people what they liked? Well
now we can ask people what they don’t
This is commonly abbreviated to:
like using the same formula.

Ayoko - eye oh koh

Can you have a guess at how to say, for
example, “Don’t you like tuna?”
We’ll use this abbreviation from now on.

Of course, we can use this with the style

from the previous lessons, e.g.:
[see next page for the answer]
Ayoko mag football - I don’t want to play
football
 www.learntagalogfast.com [ 17 ]

Liking and disliking

Tagalog Meaning Pronunciation

Gusto mo ba ng beer? Do you want beer? gus toh moh bah nang
beer?
Ayaw mo ba ng beer? Don’t you want beer? eye oh moh bah nang
beer?
Ayoko ng beer. I don’t want [any] beer. eye oh koh nang beer

Ayoko mag beer I don’t want to have a eye oh koh mag beer
beer.
Ayoko mag football I don’t want to play eye oh koh mag football
football
Ayaw mo mag football You don’t want to play eye oh moh mag foot-
football ball
Ayaw mo ba mag foot- Don’t you want to play eye oh moh bah mag
ball football? football?

Ayaw mo ba ng tuna? - Don’t you like
tuna?
Same structure for the rest:
Ayaw mo ba ng football - Don’t you like
football?
Ayaw mo ba mag beach - Don’t you want
to go to the beach?
Ayaw mo ba mag football - Don’t you
want to play football?
So you’ve only learned one new word in
this lesson “ayaw”, the rest should already
been familiar with.
Here are two small challenges for you:
1. Try to tell a friend that you don’t want
to go to Starbucks
2. Ask someone, “Don’t you want to go to
Bohol?”
[ 18 ] Email freetrial@learntagalogfast.com for a free class

Tagalog Hack #2 -
Past Tense
Now that you’ve mastered, the imperative tense, liking and not liking, let’s intro-
duce our second and final Tagalog hack for this mini-course: the past tense.

B
efore we begin, we’re going to nag basketball ako - I played basketball
talk a little about a couple of nag beer ako - I had/drank beer
pronouns as the only one you nag beach sila - they went to the beach
know so far is “tayo” which nag shopping ka - you went shopping
means “us” or “we” (but you remembered nag Bohol ako - I went to Bohol
that didn’t you?!)
You can see with this technique how
Let’s run through the whole list quickly:
many different ways there are in English
of describing a past action: played, had,
ako - me - ah koh
went to, went etc. With this Tagalog hack,
ikaw / ka - you (singular) - eeh kaw or kah
you don’t need to remember any of those
kayo - you (plural) - kah yoh
and you can just say “I basketball-ed”,“I
tayo - us / we (inclusive) - tie oh
beer-ed”,“I Bohol-ed”, which in English
kami - us / we (exclusive) - kah may
doesn’t make a lot of sense at all but in
sila - they - si lah
Taglish, it’s perfectly understood and
used frequently by native Tagalog speak-
OK, fairly straightforward apart from the
ers.
inclusive/exclusive thing with tayo and
kami which we’ll get to later.
Last thing for today is the exclusive/
inclusive versions of what in English,
First up, the past tense structure. Exactly
there is only one word for: “we”:
the same as the imperative tense but we
change the “m” to an “n” and we get, for
In Tagalog (and other languages), a useful
example:
differentiation is made between “we”
if you’re talking about something that
 www.learntagalogfast.com [ 19 ]

Past tense

Tagalog Meaning Pronunciation

Nag beer ako I had [a/some] beer nag beer ako

Nag beach sila They went to the beach nag beach si lah

Nag Bohol kayo, ‘di ba? You (plural) went to nag bo hol kah yoh dee
Bohol, right? bah?
Nag lunch ako I had lunch nag lunch ah koh

Nag shopping ka, ‘di ba? You went shopping, nag shopping kah dee
right? bah?

involves the person you’re speaking to
vs talking about something that doesn’t
involve the person you’re speaking to.
The difference:
Tayo - us - me, you (and anyone else here)
- Mag lunch tayo means “let’s, me & you,
go for lunch”
ing to you, the reader, about something
that Leo (a co-author) did together. To
you, the reader, I would say “Nag lunch
kami” which means “Me and someone
else had lunch”. This is the exclusive ver-
sion of “we”; you use it to make the point
that the person you’re talking to was not
included in the action you performed.

Kami - us - me and one or more other

people. Let’s imagine that I (Phil) am talk-
[ 20 ] Email freetrial@learntagalogfast.com for a free class

Modifiers and
Conjunctions
We’re going to wrap up by combining everything you’ve learned up to this point
and giving you some extra conjunctions and modifiers which help give a little
extra meaning to what you’ve already learned.

We’re just going to jump right in in this Gusto ko lang ng chicken

lesson, so here we go: Chicken lang? Sure ka?
I only want chicken
Na lang - nah lang Only chicken? Are you sure?

This can be used to indicate the word The next modifier is Na - nah
“instead” in English.
One use of “na” is to indicate urgency or
E.g. recency, such as:

Q: Gusto mo ba ng pizza? Q: Gusto mo ba mag lunch?

A: Ayoko, mag chicken na lang tayo. A: Nag lunch na ako
Q: Do you want to have lunch?
In English, that’s: A: I already had lunch or I just had lunch

Q: Do you want to have pizza? Q: Gusto mo ba mag Bohol?

A: I don’t want to, let’s have chicken instead.
Not to be confused with:
lang - lang
On its own, it means “just” or “only”, e.g.:
A: Ayoko mag Bohol, nag Bohol na ako.
Q: Do you want to go to Bohol?
A: I don’t want to go to Bohol, I’ve already
been to Bohol.
In the beginners word list on page 13, we
have “tara” which means “Let’s go”. If we
say “tara na!” it still means “Let’s go” but
has more urgency. For sure, you’ll hear
 www.learntagalogfast.com [ 21 ]

Modifiers and Conjunctions

Tagalog Meaning Pronunciation

Mag KFC na lang tayo Let’s have KFC instead mag KFC nah lang tie oh

Gusto ko mag KFC pero I want to go to KFC but gus toh koh mag KFC
Ayoko mag chicken I don’t want to have pair oh eye oh koh mag
chicken chicken
Nag Bohol na ako I’ve already been to nag bo hol nah ah koh
Bohol
Chicken lang Just chicken chicken lang

KFC na lang kasi Ayoko KFC instead because KFC nah lang kah say
mag McDonald’s I don’t want to go to eye oh koh mag
McDonald’s McDonald’s

someone say “Tara naaaaa!” at some
point.
Next up is Pero. In Tagalog, we use the
Spanish word for “but”. Say: “pair oh”.
So now you can say things like:
Gusto ko mag beach pero Ayoko mag
Bohol, mag Boracay na lang tayo.
I want to go to the beach but I don’t want to
go to Bohol, let’s go to Boracay instead.
Last up is kasi, say: “kah say” which
means “because”, e.g.:

Gusto ko mag beach pero Ayoko mag Ayoko mag lunch kasi nag lunch na ako
Bohol I don’t want to go for lunch because I al-
I want to go to the beach but I don’t want to ready had lunch
go to Bohol
And with the na lang, you can extend
that even further to get:
 phrasebook:
Introducing yourself
 www.learntagalogfast.com [ 23 ]

BASIC INTRODUCTIONS
Introducing yourself

Tagalog Meaning Pronunciation

Ako si John I’m John Ah koh see John

Ikaw You i [as in “fit”] cow

Ano What Ah no

Pangalan Name pang ah lan

Anong pangalan mo? What’s your name? ah nong pang ah lan

moh
Ako si John, ikaw? I’m John, what about [as above]
you?
Ikaw si David, di ba? You’re David, right? [as above] + di bah

Ilang taon ka na? How old are you? ee lang tah on kah nah

25 na ako I’m 25 25 nah ah ko

Taga-saan ka? Where are you from? tah gah sah ahn kah

Taga-saan po kayo? Where are you from? tah gah sah ahn poh
(polite) kah yo
Taga-Manila ako I’m from Manila tah gah Mah nee lah
ah ko

And that’s the basics done!

Don’t forget you need to PRACTICE this out in the real world with
real people.

By all means practice by yourself first but as soon as possible,

get out there and start making some mistakes (and connections!)
with real people.
[ 24 ] Email freetrial@learntagalogfast.com for a free class

ADVANCED INTRODUCTIONS
Introducing yourself

Tagalog Meaning Pronunciation

Sa Harvard ako nag-aral I studied at Harvard sah Harvard ah ko nag

ah ral
Sa London ako lumaki I grew up in London sah London ah ko lum
ah key
Doon ako natuto mag- That’s where I learned dun ah ko nah tu toh
swimming how to swim (literally: mag swimming
“Over there me learned
how to swim”)
Nagtrabaho ako sa Sili- I worked in Silicon Valley nag trah bah ho ah ko sa
con Valley Silicon Valley
Nagtatrabaho ako sa I am [currently] working nag tah trah bah ho ah
Google at Google ko sa Silicon Valley

Tip: In the “Doon ako natuto mag-swimming” example above,

you can replace the word “swim” with almost any other English
noun/verb,

e.g. “Doon ako natuto mag-marketing”, “Doon ako natuto mag-

football”, “Doon ako natuto mag-programming” etc.

This is the power of Taglish (Tagalog + English) which we’ll

touch on throughout this book.

Don’t forget to get out there and practice!

 www.learntagalogfast.com [ 25 ]

ADVANCED INTRODUCTIONS 2
Introducing yourself

Tagalog Meaning Pronunciation

Kailan ka nag-graduate? When did you graduate? kay lan ka nag-graduate?

Kailan ka natuto mag- When did you learn how kay lan ka nah tu toh
biking? to bike? mag biking
Saan ka nag-aral? Where did you study? sah an kah nag ah ral

Saan ka natuto mag Where did you learn how sah an kah nah tu toh
biking? to bike? mag biking
Nung 21 ako When I was 21 nung 21 ah ko

Nung 21 pa ako When I was only 21 ako nung 21 pah ah ko

(Literal translation:
When I was still 21)

Sometimes Filipinos like to use the Tagalog word for things,

sometimes they like to use the English word and sometimes, they
use both interchangably.
Struggling with pronoun-
ciations? Search “Learn Above, the English word graduate, is
Tagalog Fast” on YouTube the preferred term for graduating college/
to find our channel or
click here university/school while the Tagalog word
aral is preferred for the translation of “to
study”.

Also, note the powerful “Saan ka nag-” construction. In Ta-

glish, we can replace “aral” with any English verb or noun to get:

Saan ka nag-swimming? Saan ka nag-football? Saan ka nag-

shopping?

Where did you go swimming? Where did you play football?

Where did you go shopping?
[ 26 ] Email freetrial@learntagalogfast.com for a free class

ADVANCED INTRODUCTIONS 3
Hobbies
Tagalog Meaning Pronunciation

Mahilig ako sa basketball I enjoy playing basketball mah hee lig ah ko sa

basketball
Mahilig ako sa kape I enjoy coffee mah hee lig ah ko sa
coffee
Mahilig ako sa hiking I enjoy hiking mah hee lig ah ko sa
hiking

The literal translation of the “Mahilig ako sa” is “I enjoy/like/

love to”.

The word “sa” in Tagalog in fact can be translated as in, on, at,
to and into.

E.g.:

Saan ka nag-aral? Sa London or Sa London ako nag-aral.

Saan ka nag-kape? Sa Starbucks or Sa Starbucks ako nag-

kape.

Saan ka nag-swimming? Sa pool or Sa pool ako nag-swim-

ming.
 www.learntagalogfast.com [ 27 ]

ADVANCED INTRODUCTIONS 4
Asking further details

Tagalog Meaning Pronunciation

May anak ka na ba? Do you already have any may ah nak kah nah bah
children?
May anak ka ba? Do you have children? may ah nak kah bah

Nag-graduate ka na ba? Have you graduated? nag graduate kah nah

bah
May girlfriend/boyfriend Do you have a girl- may girlfriend kah nah
ka na ba? friend/boyfriend bah
already?
Oo Yes oh oh

Hindi No hin dee

Meron [Yes I] have meh ron

Wala [No I] don’t have wah lah

A couple of key points worth noting:

1. Nag-graduate - in Taglish, we can use the same structure

and swap with almost any English verb/noun e.g. Nag-football ka
ba? Nag-kape ka ba? Nag-breakfast ka ba? which literally trans-
late as “Have you footballed? Have you coffeed? Have you break-
fasted?” or you can also think of it as “Have you done football/
coffee/breakfast?”.

2. May X ka ba? - Do you have X? Questions like this which ask

if someone has (or doesn’t have) something cannot be answered
with a yes/no as in English. They have to be answered with Meron
or Wala which, literally translated, simply mean “Have” and “Don’t
have”, respectively.
[ 28 ] Email freetrial@learntagalogfast.com for a free class

ADVANCED INTRODUCTIONS 5
Asking further details

Tagalog Meaning Pronunciation

Mahilig ka ba mag bas- Do you like playing mah hee lig kah bah
ketball? basketball? mag basketball?
Ikaw ba si John? Are you John? ee cow bah si John

Nag-aral ka ba sa Har- Did you study at Har- nag ah ral kah bah sah
vard? vard? Harvard?
Bakit ka pumunta dito Why did you come here bah kit kah pum un tah
sa Pilipinas? to the Philippines? dee toh sa pee lee pee
nas
Kasi gusto ko mag-aral Because I want to study kah say gus toh ko mag
dito here ah ral dee toh

Some key points:

1. The word “ba” is used in Tagalog to make sentences into

questions, e.g.: The statement Ikaw si John. means you are John.
Insert ba there and we get, Ikaw ba si John? same words but it’s
now a question. The use of “ba” is sometimes dropped in com-
mon speech and speakers may rely on intonation instead to indi-
cate that what they’re saying is a question.

2. Gusto ko mag-aral - This can be reused elsewhere knowing

what we know about Taglish and our ability to replace English
verbs/nouns so we can say things like Gusto ko mag-swimming,
gusto ko mag-basketball, gusto ko mag-breakfast etc.

Questions? Need help?

We’re happy to help :)
Email: info@learntagalogfast.com
Part 2 - Phrasebook:
Giving Instructions
[ 30 ] Email freetrial@learntagalogfast.com for a free class

GIVING INSTRUCTIONS
Telling people what you need them to do

Tagalog Meaning Pronunciation

Paki linis ang banyo Please clean the bath- pah kee lee niss ang
room bah nyo
Paki bili ng candy Please buy some candy pah kee bee lee nang
candy
Paki laba ang mga damit Please do the laundry pah kee lah bah ang
man gah dah mit
Paki linis ang kusina Please clean the kitchen pah kee lee niss ang
kuss ee nah
Paki plantsa ang mga Please iron the clothes pah kee plan cha ang
damit man gah dah mit
Paki laba ang mga damit Please do the laundry pah kee lah bah ang
ngayon now man gah dah mit ngah
yon
Paki luto ngayon Please cook now pah kee luh toh ngah
yon
Paki linis ang kwarto Please clean the bed- pah kee lee niss ang
room kwar toh
Paki linis ang sala Please clean the living pah kee lee niss ang
room sah lah
 www.learntagalogfast.com [ 31 ]

GIVING INSTRUCTIONS 2
Asking if it’s done yet

Tagalog Meaning Pronunciation

Tapos na ba ang laundry? Is the laundry finished? tah poss nah bah ang
laundry?
Tapos ka na ba mag Are you finished cook- tah poss kah nah bah
luto? ing? mag luh toh
Mag-laba ka mamaya Do the laundry later mag lah bah kah mam
eye ah (say like the
English word “eye”)
Mag-luto ka muna ng Cook lunch first mag luh toh kah moo
lunch nah nang lunch
Mag-luto ka muna ng Cook lunch before you mag luh toh kah moo
lunch bago mag-laba do the laundry nah nang lunch bah goh
mag lah bah

Four new words here: tapos, mamaya, muna and bago.

They can all be used with what we know already, such as:

Q: Nag-basketball ka ba? Q: Did you play basket- Q: nag basketball kah

A: Tapos na. ball? bah?
A: I’m done (literally: A: tah poss nah.
Done already.)
Nag-aral ako sa Harvard I studied at Harvard nag ah ral ah ko sah
bago ako pumunta dito before I came here to Harvard bah goh ah ko
sa Pilipinas the Philippines pum un tah dee toh sa
pee lee pee nas
Q: May boyfriend ka na Q: Do you have a boy- Q: May boyfriend kah
ba? friend? nah bah?
A: Wala. A: No [lit: Don’t have] A: Wah lah
Q: Bakit? Q: Why? Q: Bah kit?
A: Kasi gusto ko mag- A: Because I want to A: Kah say guss toh koh
aral muna. study first mag ah ral moo nah
[ 32 ] Email freetrial@learntagalogfast.com for a free class

GIVING INSTRUCTIONS 3
Asking questions and saying thank you

Tagalog Meaning Pronunciation

Marunong ka ba? Do you know how? mah roo nong kah bah

Marunong ka ba Do you know how to use mah roo nong kah bah
gumamit ng washing a washing machine? gum ah mit nang washing
machine? machine?
Marunong ka ba Do you know how to mah roo nong kah bah
mag-luto? cook? mag luh toh
Marunong ka ba mag- Do you know how to mah roo nong kah bah
English? speak English? mag english?
Marunong ako mag- I know how to speak mah roo nong ah koh
English English mag english
Marunong ako I know how mah roo nong ah koh

Halika Come here hah lee kah

Ipapakita ko sayo I’ll show you ih pah pah kee tah koh
sigh oh (say “sigh” like
the English word “sigh”)
Salamat! Thank you sah lah mat poh
Salamat po! Thank you (polite)
Salamat Ate Emily Thank you Ate Emily sah lah mat ah tay Emily

Salamat Kuya Paul Thank you Kuya Paul sah lah mat koo yah
Paul

It’s very common in the Philippines to refer to maids, helpers,

drivers etc as Kuya or Ate which mean Big brother and Big sister,
respectively.

Given what we’ve learned above and what you know how to
say from other lessons, you should know be able to say the fol-
lowing in Tagalog:

I know how to play football Don’t forget to try out

what you’re learning with
Do you know how to swim? real people!

Do you know how to do the laundry?

phrasebook:
Directions
[ 34 ] Email freetrial@learntagalogfast.com for a free class

DIRECTIONS
Basic directions

Tagalog Meaning Pronunciation

Kaliwa Left kah lee wah

Kanan Right kah nan

Diretso Straight ahead dee rets oh

Kumaliwa ka You go left kum ah lee wah kah

Kumanan ka You go right kum ah nan kah

Dumeretso ka You go straight ahead dum eh rets oh kah

Kakaliwa ka You’ll go left kah kah lee wah kah

Kakanan ka You’ll go right kah kah nan kah

Dederetso ka You’ll go straight ahead deh deh rets oh kah

Kumaliwa ka tapos Go left, then go straight kah lee wah kah taah
dumeretso ka poss dum eh rets oh kah
Kumanan ka tapos kum- Go right then go left kum ah nan ka taah
aliwa ka poss kum ah lee wah
kah

A note on “tapos”: this word has two meanings in Tagalog.

One, which we’ve covered means “finished” or “done”. The second,
which we’ve used above, means “and then”. They are differentiat-
ed based on their pronunciation: “Done” has the emphas is on the
“poss” sound; “and then” has the emphasis on the “Taah” sound.

Um verbs: The first set of verbs have had “um” added to the
basic direction word which transforms them into the command
tense e.g. kanan becomes kumanan.

The second set of verbs have had their first syllable doubled
which transforms them into the future tense e.g. kanan becomes
kakanan.
 www.learntagalogfast.com [ 35 ]

ADVANCED DIRECTIONS
Being more specific

Tagalog Meaning Pronunciation

Sa labas ng McDonald’s Outside McDonald’s sah lah bass nang Mc-

Donald’s
Sa harap ng KFC In front of KFC sah hah rap nang KFC

Sa likod ng Greenbelt Behind Greenbelt sah lih kod nang Green-

belt
Sa kanto On the corner sah kan toh

Unang kanto First corner ooh nang kan toh

Pangalawang kanto Second corner pang al ah wang kan toh

Pangatlong kanto Third corner pang at long kan toh

Pangapat na kanto Fourth corner pang ah pat na kan toh

Tawid ka Cross the street tah wid kah

Tatawid ka tapos ka- You will cross the street tah tah wid kah taah
kanan ka then you will turn right poss kah kah nan kah
Malayo siya It’s far mah lie oh sha

Malapit siya It’s nearby mah lah pit sha

If you haven’t already now is a good time to practice the direc-

tions you’ve learned already by giving someone directions some-
where. If you’re by yourself try giving yourself directions to the
nearest convenience store or mall.
[ 36 ] Email freetrial@learntagalogfast.com for a free class

ADVANCED DIRECTIONS 2
Being even more specific

Tagalog Meaning Pronunciation

Dito na! Here! dee toh nah

Dyan lang Just over there jan lang

Doon pa Further down [over dun pah

there]
Doon pa konti Just a little bit further dun pah kon tee
down
Pumunta ka sa... Go to... pum un tah kah sah

Pupunta ka sa... You’re going to go to... puh pun tah kah sah

Hanapin mo.... Look for... han ah pin moh...

Hahanapin mo... You’re going to look for... hah han ah pin moh...

Kakanan ba ako? I will go right? kah kah nan bah ah

koh?
Kakaliwa ba ako? I will go left? kah kal ee wah bah ah
koh?
Dederetso ba ako? I will go straight? deh deh rets oh bah ah
koh?
Tatawid ba ako? I will cross the street? tah tah wid bah ah koh?

Kumanan ka ba? Did you go right? kum ah nan kah bah?

Kumaliwa ka ba? Did you go left? kum ah lee wah kah

bah?
Dumeretso ka ba? Did you go straight? dum eh rets oh kah bah?

Tumawid ka ba? Did you cross the street? tum ah wid kah bah?

Note that with the “um” verbs, the imperative (command)

tense is the same as the past tense, e.g. tumawid ka! means cross
the street! and tumawid ka ba? means did you cross the street?

Don’t forget to try out what you’re learning with real

people!
phrasebook:
Meetings
[ 38 ] Email freetrial@learntagalogfast.com for a free class

MEETINGS
Basic useful phrases

Tagalog Meaning Pronunciation

Saan yung meeting? Where’s the meeting? sah an yung meeting?

Kailan yung meeting? When is the meeting? kay lan yung meeting?

Sa Starbucks tayo mag- Let’s have our meeting sah Starbucks tie oh mag
meeting at Starbucks meeting
Sa Monday tayo magkita Let’s see each other on sah Monday tie oh mag
Monday kee tah
Anong oras yung meet- What time is the meet- ah nong or ass yung
ing? ing? meeting?
Ala una At one o’clock ah lah ooh nah

Alas dos At two o’clock ah las dos

Alas tres At three o’clock ah las tres

Alas kwatro At four o’clock ah las kwatro

Alas singko At five o’clock ah las sing koh

Alas sais At six o’clock ah las sah iss

Alas siyete At seven o’clock ah las shyete

Alas otso At eight o’clock ah las ocho

Alas nwebe At nine o’clock ah las noowebe

Alas dyes At ten o’clock ah las dyes

Alas onse At eleven o’clock ah las ontsay

Alas dose At twelve o’clock ah las dosay

For referring to a time, Tagalog uses the Spanish numbers.

 www.learntagalogfast.com [ 39 ]

MEETINGS
Asking

Tagalog Meaning Pronunciation

Paki abot yung docu- Please pass the docu- pah kee ah bot yung
ments ments documents
Tapos mo na ba yung Have you finished the tah poss mo na ba yung
report? report? report
Tapos na po It’s done tah poss nah poh

Di pa po tapos It’s not done yet dee pah poh tah poss

Paki-photocopy mamaya Please photocopy the pah kee photocopy mah

yung documents documents later my ah yung documents
Saan si George? Where’s George? sah an see George?

Bakit wala si George? Why isn’t George here? bah kit wah lah see
George?
Bakit wala siya? Why isn’t he/she/it bah kit wala sha?
here?
Kailan babalik si George? When is George coming kay lan bah bah lik si
back? George?
Anong oras ka babalik? What time are you com- ah nong oras ka bah
ing back? bah lik?
Siya ang secretary ko She’s/He’s my secretary sha ang secretary koh

Siya si George She/He is George sha see George

Yan ang boss ko That’s my boss yan ang boss koh

Make sure you try this out in a real meeting!

 phrasebook:
In a restaurant
 www.learntagalogfast.com [ 41 ]

IN A RESTAURANT
Navigating the dining room

Tagalog Meaning Pronunciation

Penge... Give me... pengy

Penge ng tubig Give me water pengy nang too big

Penge ng tissue Give me tissue/napkin pengy nang tissue

Penge ng menu Give me a menu pengy nang menu

Kuya, penge ng tubig Kuya , give me water koo yah pengy nang too
big
Ate Waitress (Literally: big ah tay
sister)
May coke ba kayo? Do you (plural) have may coke bah kah yoh?
coke?
Anong bestseller nyo? What is your best selling ah nong best seller nyo
item? (A very common
question in Filipino
restaurants!)
Paki balot Please wrap this up pah key bah lot

Paki abot yung salt Please pass the salt pah key ah bot yung salt

In the Philippines, it’s very common to refer to waiters as

“Kuya” and waitresses as “Ate”. It literally translates as “Big broth-
er” or “Big sister”. Other alternatives include “Boss” for a male
and “Ma’am” or “Miss” for a female.
[ 42 ] Email freetrial@learntagalogfast.com for a free class

IN A RESTAURANT
That’s mine!

Tagalog Meaning Pronunciation

Sa akin yan That’s mine sah ah kin yan

Sa kanya yan That’s hers/his sah kan yah yan

Sa iyo yan That’s yours sah yo yan

Sa akin ito This is mine sah ah kin ih toh

Sa iyo ito This is yours sah yoh ih toh

Sa kanya ito This is hers/his sah kan yah ih toh

Hindi sa akin ito This is not mine hindi sah ah kin ih toh

Sa akin ito, di ba? This is mine, right? sah ah kin ito, dee bah?

Yata I think so yah tah

Hindi yata I don’t think so hin dee yah tah

Kanino ba ‘to? Whose is this? kay nee noh bah toh?

Commonly you’ll hear the “i” from “ito” pronounced as an “e”

sound, like “eh toh” and sometimes, the “i” or “e” will be dropped
completely and you’ll only here “toh” e.g. “sah yoh toh”.

Try to listen out for it as you start to train your Tagalog ear.
 www.learntagalogfast.com [ 43 ]

IN A RESTAURANT
Useful questions

Tagalog Meaning Pronunciation

Pwede bang walang nuts? Is it possible to do it pwe deh bah wah lang
without nuts? nuts?
Saan yung CR? Where is the toilet? sah an yung CR?
[C.R. stands for Comfort
Room and is commonly
used in the Philippines]
Pero isang extra egg But [also] one extra egg peh roh ih sang extra egg

At isang extra egg And one extra egg at ih sang extra egg

Dalawang extra egg Two extra eggs dal ah wang extra egg

Tatlong extra egg Three extra eggs tat long extra egg

Apat na extra egg Four extra eggs ah pat na extra egg

Bill out Can I have the bill bill out

please?
Wala kaming... We don’t have any... wah lah kam ing

Wala tayong... We don’t have any... wah lah tie ong

Wala pa yung order Our order isn’t here yet wah lah pah yung order
namin nah min

Pick a couple of easy to remember phrases and try

them out next time you’re in a restaurant!
 phrasebook:
Have some fun!
 www.learntagalogfast.com [ 45 ]

HAVE SOME FUN

Helping you help yourself

Tagalog Meaning Pronunciation

Anong Tagalog ng X? What is the Tagalog of X? ah nong tagalog nang X?

Ano ba yan?! What’s that about?! // ah noh bah yan

What’s going on?
Magkano yan pre / ‘te? How much is that, dude? Mag kah noh yan pray
/ tay
Grabe! Ang mahal! Wow! That’s expensive! grah bay ang mah hal

Hay naku! [Used to express hi nah koh

exasperation]
Jus ko po! [Used to express jus koh poh
exasperation]

The first phrase on the list will help you out when you get
stuck and will make sure you keep learning.

The other five phrases are guaranteed to make people smile

when they hear you say them. Try them and see!

Have fun!
[ 46 ] Email freetrial@learntagalogfast.com for a free class

30 minute free trial

info@learntagalogfast.com
www.learntagalogfast.com

If you’d like to arrange a 30 minute,

one on one session with an instructor
via Skype or face to face, get in touch!

W
ell that’s it for the
quick introduction!
Now it’s over to you.
You’ve hopefully
learned a few useful phrases in
this book that I hope will start
your Tagalog journey off on the
right foot. Now you have to go
out into the world and use what
you’ve learned!
You’ll no doubt find, as I have,
that speaking Tagalog is fan-
tastic fun and that by knowing
even just a few phrases, you’ll
make people smile even when
you make mistakes!
Making mistakes is, after all, the
first step towards mastery. Know
that if you’re out there, making
mistakes, then you’ve started the
learning process.
I’d love to hear back from you if
you have suggestions for more
content areas we could add to
the book.
What do you think was missing
that should have been includ-
ed? Did you spot any mistakes?
Were any parts not clear?
You can email me directly on:
phil@learntagalogfast.com
Good luck!
www.learntagalogfast.com