Lesson 1: Pronunciations and Basic Greetings

[Music] Hello everyone, welcome to Go Filipino, your Tagalog learning companion with me, Kris and Dress. Recorded live from my apartment in Cason City Philippines, so expect a lot of background noises. This podcast is a hopefully easy way of learning the Filipino language or Tagalog. So while I learn Filipino, it is a language spoken by over 70 million people, it is spoken within the Philippines and within the Filipino communities all over the world, either as a native language or as a second language. It is the language spoken in Metropolitan Manila and is used to communicate with other Filipinos who natively speak other languages. You may also want to learn the language if you are married to a Filipino and would like to understand what your spouse is saying for laterally. You also would want to learn Filipino if your parents are Filipino migrants who did not teach you how to speak the language because they think it is not needed in a foreign country or because they are afraid that you might end up speaking with an accent, which is totally not true. And even though you have many Filipinos who can communicate in English, communicating in a much more familiar language like Filipino is greatly appreciated. For our first lesson, let's talk about the foundations. So before we dive into common phrases, which is often taught in other Filipino lessons, we should first lay out the foundations of the Filipino language, which is pronunciations. Imagine we're building a house, but before we build a house, which is the Filipino language, we have to lay down the foundations first and it has to be strong. Therefore, we should start with the pronunciations. Let's start with the vowel pronunciations. In the Filipino language, there are five vowels, A, E, I, O, and U. The vowels are pronounced very openly. For instance, for A, it is pronounced as A, A, A. An example is Bata, Bata, Bata means child, Bata, Bata, Bata. For the letter E, it's A, A, A. An example is Bente, Bente, Bente. It means 20, at least that's the Spanish-loan word. Bente, Bente, Bente, for the letter I, it's E, E, E. An example, Bente, Bente, Bente, Bente, which means leg, Bente, Bente, Bente. For the letter O, it's O. So it's rounded. O, O, O. An example, Boto, Boto, Boto. It means to vote. Boto, Boto, Boto. And finally, for the letter U, it's O. U, U. An example is Boto, Boto, Boto. Notice the Boto, which is the first syllable, Boto, which means bone, or seed, Boto, Boto, Boto. Let's now proceed to the consonant pronunciations. The consonants in Filipino are pretty much similar to English consonants, but there are emphasis on the following rules. All the stop consonants are aspirated. These stop consonants are namely P, B, T, D, K, G. And as I've said before, these consonants are aspirated, therefore they are pronounced as the following. pa pa pa so it's not pa it's pa pa pa for the letter B it's ba ba ba can ba not ba ba ba ba for the letter T it's ta ta it doesn't have that yet no no it's ta ta ta so notice when I pronounced the word for leg it's binti not binti again the unaspirated is ta ta ta for the letter D it's similar unaspirated again da da da and then for the k ka ka ka and for g ga ga the Filipino language also has a unique consonant called the ng consonant it's like the ng sound in sing so hmm hmm hmm so this consonant is pronounced prominently whatever it is spelled so when I spell that word I would specifically spell it as ng instead of ng just to emphasize that it is a single consonant and not two different sounds in one word so if you put the ng at the end of the word it's pronounced as ilong ilong ilong ilong is noose it is spelled as i l o and g again ilong ilong ilong the ng consonant can also be placed in the middle of a word for instance the Filipino word for jar banga banga it's banga not banga banga means crashing when it's when two cars are crashing it's banga but when you say banga it refers to jar and also banga has an additional g after the ng consonant so it is spelled as b a ng g a but if it's just b a ng a it's banga banga banga the ng consonant can also be placed at the start of the word this is the most challenging among foreign speakers they have a difficulty pronouncing the ng sound at the start of the word for instance the word for tooths nipin nipin nipin again nipin nipin nipin if you're having difficulty pronouncing the ng consonant let's try some exercise imagine saying the word sing and then elongate that final sound so let's do that sing sing sing all right repeat that process five times sing sing sing sing sing sing all right now you're getting the hang of it try to pronounce that ng sound that final sound in sing alone on its own without the Si let's try it all right let's repeat it five times all over again and finally pronounce that ng sound followed by each of the five vowels so a e o o so attach the ng consonant with a e i o u so it's nga nye nye mo mo it should come out smoothly it shouldn't come out as mga or mga no it's nga nye nye no mo all right let's repeat that sequence two more times congratulations now you're getting the hang of it now let's proceed to common greetings and responses if you want to greet a stranger or a friend or your parents even you would like to greet them hello or how are you the Filipino phrase for it is kumustaka kumustaka kumustaka word for word is kumustaka kumustaka kumustaka kumustaka is spelled as k u m u s t a kumustaka is adapted from the Spanish phrase kumustaka which means how are you so kumustaka the second word is ka spelled as k a it means u again word for word kumustaka kumustaka kumustaka now let's bring it in a question intonation like let's bring it upwards towards the end so it's kumustaka kumustaka kumustaka when the other speaker would ask you kumustaka you will reply i'm fine how about you so in Filipino that would be mabuti ikau mabuti ikau mabuti ikau so there's two sentences the first sentence is mabuti spelled as m a d u t i it means good it means fine the second sentence is ikau spelled as i k a w it means u mabuti ikau mabuti ikau mabuti ikau now let's apply the intonations mabuti ikau mabuti ikau mabuti ikau if you want to ask a person about their name or what is your name you would say in Filipino anu ang pangalan mo anu ang pangalan mo anu ang pangalan mo word for word it's anu ang pangalan mo anu ang pangalan mo anu ang pangalan mo anu spelled as a n o it means what ang spelled as a ng a ng it means duh or a marker that would introduce to the focus of the sentence which is the name so the Filipino word for name would be pangalan spelled as p a ng a l a n pangalan pangalan and finally mo mo it means u or your name the yore in your name mo mo mo so again let's do it word for word anu ang pangalan mo anu ang pangalan mo anu ang pangalan mo now let's apply the intonations remember when you ask the question it ends with a rising intonation so anu ang pangalan mo anu ang pangalan mo anu ang pangalan mo and the way to reply to it so you would say my name is Chris how about you or I am Chris how about you so in Filipino you would reply as ako si Chris i kao ako si Chris i kao ako si Chris i kao word for word it's ako si your name i kao ako si Chris i kao ako si Chris i kao ako si Chris i kao ako is spelled as a k o it means i ako ako ako si is spelled as si si it's a marker that would introduce a proper name si si si is always followed by a proper name for instance in this sentence it's si Chris si Chris si Chris and then finally the second sentence is ikao which means you so again word for word ako si your name ikao ako si Chris i kao ako si Chris i kao now let's apply the intonations ako si Chris i kao ako si Chris i kao ako si Chris i kao in Filipino culture there's this unique greeting wherein we would ask other people where they are from or where are they going it may sound nosy for foreign speakers but it is actually an informal way of greeting each other in each face-to-face setting for instance when you see each other on the street or when you see each other in a in a meeting or what you bump into each other in a mall so you would greet them oh where are you from where did you go or where are you going it's not really in that noisy and with that when you ask another person where are you from you would say it in Filipino san ka galing san ka galing san ka galing word for word it's san ka galing san ka galing san is spelled as s-a-a and it means well san san san the second word is ka spelled as k-a it means you ka ka the third word is galing spelled as g-a-l-i and g galing it means the place where you are from galing galing galing again let's do it word for word san ka galing san ka galing san ka galing san ka galing now let's supply the intonations the question intonations san ka galing san ka galing san ka galing and when you reply that you would say like I'm from the house I just came from the house you would say galing a ko sabahai galing a ko sabahai galing a ko sabahai word for word it's galing a ko sa bahai galing spelled as g-a-l-i and g it means the place where you are from galing galing galing galing the second word is a ko spelled as a k-o it means i a ko a ko a ko sa is spelled as s-a-sa-sa-sa-sa-sa serves as an object marker that would introduce to that place where you are from that specific place where you are from and in this case it's bahai bahai bahai bahai is the philpino word for house bahai bahai bahai spelled as b-a-h-a-y again let's do it word for word galing a ko sa bahai galing a ko sa bahai galing a ko sa bahai now let's supply the intonations galing a ko sabahai galing a ko sabahai galing a ko sabahai now let's ask that other person where are you going where are you going so in philpino that would be saan kapupunta saan kapupunta saan kapupunta word for word is saan kapupunta saan kapupunta saan kapupunta saan is the word for where ka is the word for you pupunta is a word that would mean the place that where you are going to so it saan kapupunta saan kapupunta saan kapupunta saan kapupunta now let's apply the question is the nation saan kapupunta saan kapupunta saan kapupunta and then you would apply you really don't have to specify that exact place where you are going you could just simply say oh I'm just going over there I'm just going over there so you would say jannlang jannlang jannlang word for word it's jannlang jannlang jann is spelled as d i y a n so the d i y combination is often pronounced in philpino like the letter j similar to the letter j so it's jann jann jann if you want to make it more formally it you could say dian but let's make it more easy or more understandable to modern philpinos so it's jann jann jann the second word is lang spelled as l a n g lang lang lang it means oh just just lang lang lang so jann means there and then lang means just so when you say just over there it means jannlang jannlang jannlang so when you apply the intonations it's jannlang jannlang jannlang jannlang or if you want to make it a little bit dismissive like jannlang jannlang jannlang we now proceed to the greetings for the time of day so this would be the philpino versions of good morning good afternoon good night so let's start with the philpino phrase for good morning it's magandang umaga magandang umaga magandang umaga word for word it's magandang umaga magandang umaga magandang umaga magandang is the philpino word for beautiful or well or good it is spelled as m a g a n d a n g the root word of magandang is magandang but they add the n g to denote that it is an adjective that would link to the day and that day in philpino is umaga umaga umaga it is spelled as you m a g a again word for word magandang umaga magandang umaga magandang umaga so this sentence is formed by combining the adjective magandang the link or n g and then the noun umaga now we apply the intonations like make it a cherry tone like magandang umaga magandang umaga magandang umaga and when you reply you would say good morning to you as well or good morning as well you would say magandang umaga ren magandang umaga ren magandang umaga ren word for word it's magandang umaga ren magandang umaga ren magandang umaga ren so to return that favor you add that end-clhetic particle ren r i n ren to the previous sentence so you say magandang umaga ren that end-clhetic particle end-clhetic particles are normally optional in philpino but it provides emphasis to certain parts of the sentence so ren is used as an equivalent to as well or two so you two so we would say magandang umaga ren magandang umaga ren magandang umaga ren and then when you apply it in a cherry tone like which is useful in greetings like magandang umaga ren magandang umaga ren magandang umaga ren and then when you want to emphasize like good morning to you too so you would say magandang umaga ren sayo magandang umaga ren sayo magandang umaga ren sayo so to emphasize who you are greeting to you add the phrase sayo it means to you so word for word it's magandang umaga ren that end-clhetic particle sayo magandang umaga ren sayo magandang umaga ren sayo say serves as the marker that would introduce to the object of the greeting in this case it's io so the last word io it's spelled as yo it's a contraction of io io so it's sayo which means you to you i mean sayo it means to you so if you may have noticed i have already introduced three Filipino words that would mean you so we will discuss why that is so why there are three different words that would mean you in a future lesson now let's start with the greeting for good noon time We have a different time period for noon, for high noon and afternoon. So let's start with high noon. So we would say, "Magandang tanghali", "Magandang tanghali", "Magandang tanghali". Word for word, it's "Magandang tanghali". "Magandang tanghali". So, like I've said before in "Magandang", "Magandang", it's "Magandang". Together with the linker ng, that would make it an adjective to describe the time of day, which is tanghali. "Tanghali", "Tanghali" means high noon. It is spelled as "T", "A", "NG", "H", "A", "L", "I". So, tanghali, it's high noon. It is when the sun is at its peak, so it's between 12 noon to 1 pm. So, in response, it would say, "Magandang tanghali Rin", "Magandang tanghali Rin", "Magandang tanghali Rin", so, word for word, it's "Magandang tanghali Rin". "Magandang tanghali Rin". And then, when you want to emphasize who you're referring that greeting to, you would say, "Magandang tanghali Rin sayo". "Magandang tanghali Rin sayo". So, it's "Magandang tanghali Rin sayo". So, after that high noon, it's afternoon. So, you would say, "happon". That's the Filipino word for afternoon. And when you greet a person good afternoon, you would say, "Magandanghappon". "Magandanghappon". "Magandanghappon". Word for word, it's "Magandanghappon". "Magandanghappon". "Magandanghappon". "Hapon" is spelled as H-A-P-O-N. It means afternoon. That time between 1 p.m. to 6 p.m. "Magandanghappon". "Magandanghappon". "Magandanghappon". And then when you reply back, "Magandanghappon Rin". "Magandanghappon Rin". So, instead of the inclectic particle Rin, you replace it with "Din", because the word before it, "Hapon", ends with a consonant. So, if the inclectic particle Rin begins with a word that ends with a consonant, in this case, it's "Hapon". You would replace it with "Din". So, you would say, "Magandanghappon Rin". And when you want to emphasize who you are greeting to, you would say, "Magandanghappon Rin Sayo". "Magandanghappon Rin Sayo". Word for word that's "Magandanghappon Rin Sayo". And then finally, good evening. The Philippine phrase, "For good evening, it's "Magandanghappon Rin Sayo". Word for word, it's "Magandanghappon Rin Sayo". Gabi spelled as G-A-B-I. It means evening. That's from 6pm right up until the break of dawn. "Magandang Gabi". "Magandang Gabi". "Magandang Gabi". So with "Internation" this time. "Magandang Gabi". "Magandang Gabi". "Magandang Gabi". And then when you return the favor, "Magandang Gabi Rin". "Magandang Gabi Rin". Word for word, it's "Magandang Gabi Rin". And then when you want to emphasize, you would say, "Good evening to you too", you would say, "Magandang Gabi Rin Sayo". "Magandang Gabi Rin Sayo". Word for word, it's "Magandang Gabi Rin Sayo". Again, we switched back the Rin from "Din". We went back to Rin because the word before it, "Gabi" ends with a vowel. And then when you start with that conversation, then we go along with it and it's time to depart, it's time to end that conversation. You say, "Goodbye", or you do your leaf takings, you would say, "Sige", which means, "Okay". "Sige", "Sige", "Sige". It's spelled as S-I-G-E. It means, "Okay". And then when you say, "Goodbye", you would say in Filipino, "Pahalam", "Pahalam", "Pahalam". It is spelled as P-A-A-L-A-M. You may notice, "Pahalam" features a double vowel, after two is at the first part of the sentence. In Filipino, we do not combine double vowels. Each vowel is pronounced separately. So it's "Pahalam", not "Pahalam". Again, "Pahalam", "Pahalam", "Pahalam". We also have like a Filipino word for like "Chao". Like "Chao". The Filipino word would be, "Babai", "Babai". It is spelled as B-A-D-A-Y. So it's kind of like our version of "Pah" or "Chao". Again, "Babai", "Babai", "Babai". With an intonation, "Babai", "Babai", "Babai". And that ends lesson number one. Tune in next week for another lesson that would make you go Filipino. If you like this podcast, please leave five stars and apple podcasts and leave a review. I really love to hear from you. You can also email me at [email protected]. That's "G-O-F-I-L-I-P-I-N-O-P-O-D" at gmail.com. This has been GoPhilipino, your Tagalog learning companion with me. Chris and Dress. Until next time. Bye-bye. Special thanks to Kevin McLeod of incompetent.com for the theme song "Rainbows". Licensed under Creative Commons by Attribution 3.0 Licensed. [Music]