Vocabulary
opò
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yes (respectful)
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ba
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question particle
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hindî
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no; not
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pô
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respectful particle
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*hô
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respectful particle
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oo
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yes
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* no need to memorize
Grammar
In this lesson, we will cover three very common words to broaden your ability to make sentences, and introduce enclitics.
Ba
The particle ba signals a question is being asked. Here is how to use it for simple “Is subject predicate?” type questions:
Q: Predicate + ba + subject? (Tag.) = Is subject predicate? (Eng.)
Note: Subject takes ang form.
Ex: Guro ba si Jasmine?
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= Is Jasmine a teacher?
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Ex: Maganda ba ang babae?
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= Is the woman beautiful?
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Ex: Puti ba ang sasakyan mo?
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= Is your car white?
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Here is how you answer in the affirmative:
A: Oo, predicate + subject. (Tag.) = Yes, subject is predicate. (Eng.)
Note: Subject takes ang form.
Ex: Oo, guro si Jasmine.
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= Yes, Jasmine is a teacher.
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Ex: Oo, maganda ang babae.
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= Yes, the woman is beautiful.
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Ex: Oo, puti ang sasakyan ko.
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= Yes, my car is white.
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Extra: Using Ba after a Question Word
You can insert ba after a question word to add emphasis:
Ex: Sino ba ang guro?
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= Who on earth is the teacher?
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Ex: Ano ba ang inuming yun?
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= What is that drink? (I really want to know!)
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Ex: Ano ba?
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= What the heck?
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This is less common than plain question words, so we will not show this structure again.
Hindi
You can negate a sentence using hindi, which roughly means “no” or “not”.
Hindi + sentence. (Tag.) = Negated sentence. (Eng.)
Ex: Hindi guro si Maria.
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= Maria is not a teacher.
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Ex: Hindi maganda ang gusali.
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= The building is not pretty.
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Ex: Hindi. Hindi puti ang sasakyan ko.
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= No. My car is not white.
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Po/Ho
You can make a sentence more respectful by using the particle po or ho. Po is more respectful and much more common, so we will not use ho from now on. Here is how to use it with some of the ba questions above:
Q: Predicate + po + ba + subject? (Tag.) = Is subject predicate? (resp.) (Eng.)
Note: Subject takes ang form.
Ex: Guro po ba si Jasmine?
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= Is Jasmine a teacher? (resp.)
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Ex: Maganda po ba ang babae?
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= Is the woman beautiful? (resp.)
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When you use po you must also use the respectful form of “you”, which is the same as the plural form:
Ex: Puti po ba ang sasakyan ninyo?
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= Is your car white? (resp.)
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And the respectful form of “yes” is opo:
Ex: Opo, guro po si Jasmine.
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= Yes, Jasmine is a teacher. (resp.)
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Ex: Opo, maganda po ang babae.
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= Yes, the woman beautiful. (resp.)
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Ex: Opo, puti po ang sasakyan ko.
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= Yes, my car is white. (resp.)
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Introduction to Enclitics
An enclitic is a word that must follow a certain word in the phrase. The word it follows is called the “host”. Ba and po are enclitic particles. In the examples above, they follow the predicate, meaning the predicate is the host. But in hindi phrases, hindi is the host:
Ex: Hindi po ba guro si Maria?
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= Isn’t Maria a teacher? (resp.)
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Ex: Hindi po ba maganda ang babae?
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= Isn’t the woman beautiful? (resp.)
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Ex: Hindi po. Hindi puti ang sasakyan ko.
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= No. (resp.) My car is not white.
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Enclitics are either a) enclitic particles or b) ang or ng form personal pronouns (excluding ikaw). When more than one enclitic appears in a phrase, they form a group after the host which we will call the “enclitic cluster”. Hosts and enclitic clusters are pronounced together as one word. Personal pronouns normally come after enclitic particles in the enclitic cluster:
Ex: Hindi po ba siya guro?
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= Isn’t she a teacher? (resp.)
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Ex: Hindi po ba sila maganda?
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= Aren’t they beautiful? (resp.)
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Ex: Hindi po ba kayo pagod?
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= Aren’t you tired? (resp.)
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But one-syllable personal pronouns, like ka, come before enclitic particles in the enclitic cluster:
Ex: Hindi ka ba guro?
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= Aren’t you a teacher?
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Ex: Hindi ka ba maganda?
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= Aren’t you beautiful?
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Ex: Hindi ka ba pagod?
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= Aren’t you tired?
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Notice that hindi po ba is pronounced hindipoba, and hindi ka ba is pronounced hindikaba.
enclitic cluster = (one-syllable pp’s) + (enclitic particles) + (two-syllable pp’s)
Notes: Po always comes before ba. The hosts are BOLD in the Structure Equations.
You can find all the Structure Equations in Appendix L, where hosts are shown in bold. Now you know why certain words were made bold in previous lessons. For example, the question words sino and ano are hosts in these examples:
Ex: Sino po ang guro?
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= Who is the teacher? (resp.)
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Ex: Ano po ang inuming yun?
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= What is that drink? (resp.)
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Usually the host is the first word in the phrase, but not always, so be sure to memorize what it is for each type of phrase.
Hindi behaves like a host for Ito and Yun
Ang form demonstrative pronouns ito and yun are technically not enclitics, but they can optionally be placed at the end of the enclitic cluster. Colloquially, in sentences that start with hindi, native speakers will normally do this, so we will too.
Ex: Hindi ito manok.
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= This is not a chicken.
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Ex: Hindi yun maganda.
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= That is not pretty.
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Ex: Hindi ito puti.
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= It is not white.
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This is not all for enclitics. We will continue to add to your knowledge until there is enough information for a lesson that covers them more thoroughly.
Sample sentences
Q1
Who is Mrs. Cruz's child? (resp.)
Sino po ang anak ni Mrs. Cruz?
Q2
Isn't your delicious food chicken?
Hindi po ba manok ang masarap ninyong pagkain?
Q3
What is this building? (resp.)
Ano po ang gusaling ito?
Q4
Aren't you a president?
Hindi ka ba pangulo?
Q5
Are our (incl.) pesos hot?
Mainit ba ang mga piso natin?
Q6
These are not our (incl.) pesos.
Hindi ito ang mga piso natin.
Q7
Isn't she a student? (resp.)
Hindi po ba siya estudyante?
Q8
Yes! Many beautiful, white schools.
Oo! Maraming magandang puting eskwelahan.
Q9
Yes, there (Lit they) are many. (resp.)
Opo, marami po sila.
Q10
Aren't you happy?
Hindi ka ba masaya?
Drills - Lesson 8