An Actual Lesson on Tagalog Sentence Structure

Understanding sentence structure is a very important part of learning any language, including Tagalog. This language has about four very common sentence structures, and this entry will go on to explain all of them and provide some examples.

1. Identificational sentences

Identificational sentences use the following structures:

subject + predicate

subject pronoun + predicate

This type of sentence structure is very common in English, and you can see it being repeated in these sentences:

• The girl is a student.
• Rosa is a teacher.
• They are smart.
• Sam and Jen are studying.

In these sentences the girl, Rosa, “they”, and Sam and Jen are our subjects because they are the ones who are performing the actions. Things like being a student and being a teacher are the predicate phrases because they are the actions being done. If we wanted to say these in Tagalog, we would translate them like so:

• Ang batang babae ang estudyante.
• Si Rosa ang titser.
• Sila ang matalino.
• Sina Sam at Jen ay magaaral.

Notice how we use the word “ang” when referring to the girl instead of using “si” when referring to Rosa. This is because “ang” is used for common nouns (e.g., girl, person, book, building) and other proper nouns which are not people (e.g., The Little Prince, the Empire State building). “Si” is used when referencing a specific person’s name, and “sina” is used for several of these (e.g., Rosa, Sam, and Jen).

Another thing to pay close attention to is how the last sentence uses the word “ay” in the predicate phrase. This word is the Tagalog equivalent to the English word “is”, and is always placed before actions in identificational sentences. The other two sentences didn’t include this word because their actions are only states of being. It is acceptable to include them, but that’s not very common in Tagalog. Instead, it’s a lot more common to use “ay” before actions such as studying, eating, biking, helping, etc.

2. Predicational sentences

Predicational sentences are the opposite of identificational sentences. Instead of putting the subject in the beginning of the sentence, it’s now placed at the end and follows this structure:

predicate + subject.

predicate + subject pronoun

Saying these things in Tagalog is a bit like Yoda-talk because instead of saying things like “the girl is a student”, the literal English translation of Tagalog predicational sentences would sound a lot like this:

• Student the girl [is].
• Teacher Rosa [is].
• Smart they [are].
• Studying Sam and his friends [are].

It’s kinda weird since the predicate phrases in the first three sentences are just made up of nouns and adjectives without any type of linking verb, but this is actually acceptable in Tagalog. Remember that these phrases can include a single noun, adjective, or a verb, and the sentence will still be correct. Here are the Tagalog translations:

• Estudyante ang batang babae.
• Titser si Rosa.
• Matalino sila.
• Magaaral sina Sam at Jen.

As you can see, the word “ay” is omitted from the last sentence. This is because it is never used in predicational sentences where the actions are placed in the beginning.

The following are two types of predicational sentences.

1. Affirmative predicational statements

These statements confirm that a subject is being or doing something. A few examples were listed in the above section, but here’s a link to some more.

2. Negative predicational statements

Unlike the previous statements, negative predicational statements say that the subject is not being or doing something. The original sentence structure is maintained with the predicate preceding the subject, but the word “hindi” is added to the beginning to show negation. So now, the new structures and sentence examples would look like this:

“Hindi” + predicate + subject

“Hindi” + subject pronoun + predicate

If we were to make the previous sections’ sentences negative, they would look something like this:

• Hindi estudyante ang batang babae.
• Hindi titser si Rosa.
• Hindi sila matalino.
• Hindi magaaral sina Sam at Jen.

3. “Ba” questions

The word “ba” is used to show that a question can only be answered by a “yes” or “no.” Tagalog “ba” questions follow this sentence structure:

predicate + “ba” + subject?

predicate + “ba” + subject pronoun?

If we were to make “ba” questions out of our previous sentences, they would look a little something like this:

• Estudyante ba ang batang babae?
• Titser ba si Rosa?
• Matalino ba sila?
• Magaaral ba sina Sam at Jen?

In addition to these sentences, there are two more aspects to this sentence type, and the following subgroups will further explain each one.

4. “Sino” questions

While the previous questions focus on whether something is true or not, “sino” questions focus on who the subject is. When asking for singular subjects, these questions follow these two structures and can be applied to these sentences:

“Sino ang” + subject? “Sino” + subject pronoun? “Sino si? + name?

Sino ang estudyante? Sino ka? Sino si Rosa?

When asking for plural subjects, they use these structures and make these sentences:

“Sinu-sino ang mga” + subject? “Sino” + subject pronoun? “Sinu-sino sina” + names?

Sinu-sino ang mga estudyante? Sino sila? Sinu-sino sina Sam at Jen?

5. Summary

identificational sentences	subject + predicate subject pronoun + predicate
predicational sentences	predicate + subject. predicate + subject pronoun
negative predicational sentences	“Hindi” + predicate + subject “Hindi” + subject pronoun + predicate
“ba” questions	predicate + “ba” + subject? predicate + “ba” + subject pronoun?
“sino” questions	“Sino ang” + subject? “Sino” + subject pronoun? “Sinu-sino sina” + names?