Monday, May 23, 2016

An Actual Lesson on Telling Dates in Tagalog

In one of the earlier entries, we talked about telling time in Tagalog. So why not talk about time a little bit more and include some dates and months?

If you’re familiar with Spanish, you’ll probably notice that Tagalog days and months are very very close to Spanish. They’re just spelled in a bit differently. Hopefully this’ll make things easier instead of just confusing you. Just like how it confused me. Why, Tagalog, why?

Also, if you’d like to say that something will be on a certain day or a certain month, simply add the word “sa” before it. This word means “on” or “at” when concerning dates.

Days in Tagalog
Sunday
Linggo*
Monday
Lunes
Tuesday
Martes
Wednesday
Miyerkules
Thursday
Huwebes
Friday
Biyernes
Saturday
Sabado
*Note that “linggo” could either mean “Sunday” or “week.” The latter meaning is used when it’s not capitalized.

Months in Tagalog
January
Enero
February
Pebrero
March
Marso
April
Abril
May
Mayo
June
Hunyo
July
Hulyo
August
Agosto
September
Setyembre
October
Oktubre
November
Nobyembre
December
Disyembre
month
buwan**
**”Buwan” could also mean “moon” in Tagalog, but you should be able to determine its meaning based on the sentence’s context.

Telling the date formally
To tell the date formally in Tagalog, just use the following structure.

“Ika-” + Tagalog day number + “ng” + month + Tagalog year number

It’s already a lot to learn, so I’ll just list some examples to help you out. You’re welcome.
Ika-dalawampu’t anim ng Abril dalawang libo at labing anim
23 of April 2016
(Literal translation)
Ika-dalawampu’t isa ng Oktubre dalawang libo at labing lima
21 of October 2015
Ika-pito ng Hunyo dalawang libo at labing dalawa
7 of June 2012
Ika-labing siyam ng Pebrero dalawang libo at apat
19 of February 2014
Ika-labing apat ng Setyembre dalawang libo at labing apat
14 of September 2014


Telling the date informally
Telling the date informally is very similar to the previous structure. All that you have to do is replace the Tagalog numbers with Tagalog-Spanish numbers.

“A-” + Tagalog-Spanish day number + “ng” + month + Tagalog-Spanish year number

And yay more examples…
A-beinte-tres ng Abril dos mil disi-sais
23 of April 2016
(Literal translation)
A-beinte-uno ng Oktubre dos mil kinse
21 of October 2015
A-syete ng Hunyo dos mil dose
7 of June 2012
A-katorse ng Setyembre dos mil katorse
14 of September 2014

An Actual Lesson on Counting in Tagalog


In Tagalog, there are two number systems. One of them is made entirely out of Tagalog words, and the other is heavily influenced by Spanish. This entry will explain how to count using both systems as well as their individual uses.

Tagalog numbers
The numbers in this system are entirely made from Tagalog words and are commonly used for telling time and dates in formal situations. Here’s a little table to help you memorize it:
zero
wala/sero
one
isa
two
dalawa
three
tatlo
four
apat
five
lima
six
anim
seven
pito
eight
walo
nine
siyam
ten
sampu
eleven
labing-isa
twelve
labing-dalawa
thirteen
labing-tatlo
twenty
dalawampu
twenty-one
dalawampu’t isa
thirty
tatlumpu
thirty-one
tatlompu’t isa
forty
apatnapu
forty-one
apatnapu’t isa
fifty
limampu
fifty-one
limampu’t isa
sixty
animnapu
sixty-one
animnapu’t isa
seventy
pitumpu
seventy-one
pitumpu’t isa
eighty
walumpu
eighty-one
walumpu’t isa
ninety
siyamnapu
ninety-one
siyam na pu't isa
one hundred
isang daan
two hundred
dalawang daan
three hundred
tatlong daan
four hundred
apat na daan
five hundred
limang daan
six hundred
anim na daan
seven hundred
pitong daan
eight hundred
walong daan
nine hundred
siyam na daan
one thousand
isang libo
one million
isang milyon
Okay, I lied. It wasn’t a little table. Gah.

So now you understand how Tagalog numbers can be pretty long. I mean, just saying “one thousand twenty-four” already translates to “sampung libo dalawampu’t apat.” That’s ten freaking syllables. Nobody has time for that, and that’s why native Tagalog speakers tend to reserve these numbers for telling time in formal situations. Because, you know, nothing says you’re formal like a mouthful of numbers.

Other than that, they can also be used as ordinal numbers like when saying that something came first, second, etc. The only exception to this is using the Spanish word “una” when saying “first.” Tagalog numbers can also be used to describe someone’s age whether the situation is formal or informal, but they can still be replaced by Tagalog-Spanish numbers.


Tagalog-Spanish numbers
This number system is a lot more common than the previous one, and it repeats a lot of Spanish numbers. The only difference between this and the original Spanish numbers is that this system is spelled a bit differently. So if you’re good at counting in Spanish, then you’ll be good at counting this way. But just in case you’re not familiar with either, here’s another “little” table to help you remember:

zero
sero
one
uno
two
dos
three
tres
four
kwatro
five
sinko
six
sais
seven
siyete
eight
otso
nine
nuwebe
ten
diyes
eleven
onse
twelve
dose
thirteen
trese
twenty
beynte
twenty-one
beynteuno
thirty
trenta
thirty-one
trentauno
forty
kwarenta
forty-one
kwarentauno
fifty
singkwenta
fifty-one
singkwentauno
sixty
seisenta
sixty-one
seisentauno
seventy
setenta
seventy-one
setentauno
eighty
otsenta
eighty-one
otsentauno
ninety
nobenta
ninety-one
nobentauno
one hundred
siyento
two hundred
dos siyentos
three hundred
tres siyentos
four hundred
kwatro siyentos
five hundred
kinyentos
six hundred
sais siyentos
seven hundred
syete siyentos
eight hundred
otso siyentos
nine hundred
nuwebe siyentos
one thousand
mil
one million
milyon

Hopefully you’ve noticed that these numbers are a lot shorter than Tagalog ones. Going back to our example number of “one thousand twenty-four”, saying that number in the Tagalog-Spanish system would translate to “mil beyntekwatro.” See how easy that is? And that’s why this system is more commonly used, especially in telling time, dates, and ages in casual situations.

Summary
Tagalog numbers are generally are less common, and reserved for telling the time and dates in formal situations as well as being used in ordinal numbers. Tagalog-Spanish numbers are much more, and tell the time and date in informal situations. Additionally, both can be used to describe a person’s age whether the conversation is formal or not.