Vocabulary
buhay
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living
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maalat
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salty
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maganda
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beautiful
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matalino
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intelligent
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berde
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green
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kotse
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car
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mayaman
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rich
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pagkain
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food
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lalaki
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boy; man
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mura
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cheap
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galit
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angry
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gamit
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used
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mainit
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hot
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Grammar
Adjectives are plentiful in Tagalog, and they can be single words or phrases. We will cover certain adjective phrases in later lessons.
Single word adjectives are either affixed or unaffixed. Please read Appendix B at this point if you aren’t familiar with Tagalog roots and affixes. Most affixed adjectives are ma-adjectives, so in this lesson we will cover unaffixed and ma-adjectives.
Unaffixed Adjectives
Unaffixed adjectives are merely roots with the appropriate stress and glottal stops. Note that they are pronounced differently from unaffixed nouns.
Ex: buhay
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= living (adj)
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Ex: buhay
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= life (noun)
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Ma-adjectives
To form these just add the affix ma to the root.
Ex: ma + alat(saltiness) = maalat (salty)
Ex: ma + ganda(beauty) = maganda (beautiful)
Ex: ma + talino(intelligence) = matalino (intelligent)
Usage
Adjectives have three main functions in Tagalog: 1) to make a statement about a subject 2) to modify a noun and 3) to be used as a noun. We’ll cover 3) in a later lesson.
Making Statements about the Subject
These statements are of the type “subject is adjective”.
Ex: Berde ang mga kotse.
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= The cars are green.
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Ex: Maganda ang babae.
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= The girl is beautiful.
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Ex: Matalino si Nick.
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= Nick is smart.
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Note Summary for Making Statements
word order is <adjective, subject>
subject takes ang-form
Modifying Nouns
These modifications are of the type “adjective noun”.
Ex: magandang babae
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= beautiful girl
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Ex: galit na estudyante
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= angry student
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Ex: maalat na pagkain
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= salty food
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Ex: mayamang lalaki
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= rich man
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word order is <adjective, linker, noun>. Please read Appendix C at this point if you aren’t familiar with the linker. But it’s common to reverse the order too.
Ex: babaeng maganda
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= beautiful girl
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Ex: estudyanteng galit
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= angry student
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Ex: pagkaing maalat
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= salty food
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Ex: lalaking mayaman
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= rich man
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To be consistent and reduce the number of cases I’d have to write about, I’ll use the adjective first from here on.
Plural Modified Nouns
To make unaffixed adjective modified nouns plural you just insert mga before the noun
Ex: berdeng mga kotse
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= green cars
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Ex: murang mga ospital
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= cheap hospitals
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Ex: galit na mga lalaki
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= angry men
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There are 3 ways to make ma-adjectives like magandang babae plural
method 1: magagandang babae
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= beautiful girls
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method 2: mga magandang babae
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= beautiful girls
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method 3: mga magagandang babae
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= beautiful girls
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The first one is most common so again, to be consistent and reduce my work load, I’ll use the first configuration from here on. Notice that you just repeat the first syllable of the root.
Ex: matatalinong estudyante
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= intelligent students
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Ex: maaalat na pagkain =
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= salty foods
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Note Summary for Modifying Nouns
word order is <adjective, linker, noun>
make plural by repeating first syllable of root
Chaining Adjectives
You can put adjectives together like this, one after the other.
Ex : malaking berdeng bahay
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= big green house
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Formed as <adj1 + linker, adj2 + linker,...,noun clause>
Sample Sentences
Q1
The drink is green.
Berde ang inumin.
Q2
cheap hot food
murang mainit na pagkain
Q3
The presidents are living men.
Mga buhay na lalaki ang mga presidente.
Q4
The teacher is angry.
Galit ang guro.
Q5
beautiful used car
magandang gamit na kotse
Q6
The hot pizza is salty.
Maalat ang mainit na pizza.
Q7
The beautiful students are Maria and Abby.
Sina Maria at Abby ang magagandang estudyante.
Q8
angry presidents
galit na mga presidente
Q9
The water is hot.
Mainit ang tubig.
Q10
Who are the rich intelligent women?
Sino ang mayayamang matatalinong babae?