Vocabulary
magtaním
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to plant (AF(DO))
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mag-alalá
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to worry (about) (AF(I))
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maglakád
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to walk (AF(D))
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magbisikleta
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to ride a bicycle (AF(D))
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magmaneho
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to drive (AF(O) & AF(D))
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papuntá
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bound for, headed to
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bisikleta
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bicycle
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tungkól
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about
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*magpuntá
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to go (AF(D))
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*This word is used for demonstration only; no need to memorize.
Grammar
This lesson will cover mag- verb intransitive and directional variants, tungkol and papunta.
Overview of Variants
If you will recall:
Standard Sentence = Verb + Actor + Object + X
The standard sentence can take on several different forms, depending on what X is and if an object is allowed. In this book, we call these different forms “variants”. Here are all possible variants for AF and OF:
Double Object (DO) verbs can take two objects; X is IO:
Standard Sentence(DO) = Verb + Actor + Object + IO
Single Object (O) verbs only take one object; there is no X:
Standard Sentence(O) = Verb + Actor + Object
Intransitive (I) verbs have no objects, but may include a cause; X is the cause:
Standard Sentence(I) = Verb + Actor + cause
Directional (D) verbs have no objects, but may include a directional complement (dc); X is the dc:
Standard Sentence(D) = Verb + Actor + dc
Variants for AF Verbs
Here are those same standard sentences, for AF verbs, with the forms called out for the complement after the actor:
Standard Sentence(DO) = Verb + Actor + Object(ng form) + IO
Standard Sentence(O) = Verb + Actor + Object(ng form)
Standard Sentence(I) = Verb + Actor + cause(sa form)
Standard Sentence(D) = Verb + Actor + dc(sa form)
The most important thing to take away from variants is what form the object/cause/dc takes. And ng is by far the most common with mag- verbs. So, if you just memorize which AF verbs take sa when you encounter a new one, you can probably forget about variants for the time being.
That being said, understanding variants will clear some things up later, so for that reason and the sake of completeness, we include information about them.
AF(I) - Intransitive AF Verbs
You have seen mag- verbs that take objects, or “transitive” verbs. AF(I) verbs are “intransitive” actor focus verbs. Intransitive verbs do not take any objects. Here is a comparison:
Ex1: Nag-aral ako ng Tagalog.
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= I studied Tagalog. (AF(O))
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Ex2: Nagsapatos ako sa eskwelahan.
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= I wore shoes in school. (AF(I))
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Ex3: Nag-alala ako sa manok.
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= I worried about the chicken. (AF(I))
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Note that nag-alala ako ng manok is invalid because mag-alala does not take an object. It does not mean “I worried a chicken” or “I caused a chicken to worry”; that meaning is covered by a different verb in Tagalog.
An object is a noun or pronoun that is directly acted upon by a verb. In English, objects can immediately follow the verb without any prepositions.
In Ex1, “Tagalog” is the object because it follows the verb “studied” without prepositions, which means mag-aral is transitive.
In Ex2, “shoes” is the object of the English sentence, but it is contained within the Tagalog verb, so an object is not needed and magsapatos is intransitive.
In Ex3, “chicken” is not an object because it requires the preposition “about”, so mag-alala is intransitive.
All that being said, it may be easier for you just to memorize whether the complement after the Tagalog actor takes ng or sa form. Here is the AF version of the intransitive standard sentence derived above:
Standard Sentence(AF(I)) = Verb + Actor + cause
Notes: Actor takes ang form, cause takes sa form.
There are not too many mag- AF(I) verbs, and mag-alala is the only high frequency one.
Ex: Mag-aalala si Mrs. Cruz.
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= Mrs. Cruz will worry.
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Ex: Nag-aalala po ba kayo sa pera?
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= Do you worry about money? (resp.)
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Ex: Nag-alala ang anak niya.
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= Her child worried.
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Tungkol
Tungkol is a preposition that roughly means “about” as in “regarding”. It is followed by sa + noun. Compare these:
Ex: Nag-aalala po ba kayo sa eskwelahan?
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= Do you worry in school? (resp.)
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This can also mean “Do you worry about school”, so to keep it from being ambiguous we will use tungkol as shown:
Ex: Nag-aalala po ba kayo tungkol sa eskwelahan?
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= Do you worry about school? (resp.)
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Tungkol is needed here to differentiate between worrying in or about school. However, when it is obvious that sa means “about”, we will not use tungkol:
Ex: Nag-aalala po ba kayo sa pera?
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= Do you worry about money? (resp.)
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Although it is ok to include it, tungkol is not needed here because worrying “on” money, like you are standing on a 1000 peso note while worrying, sounds nonsensical.
There is more about tungkol in a later lesson.
AF(D) - Directional AF Verbs and Papunta
Sometimes a verb takes a directional complement (dc) instead of an object. Let’s compare:
Ex: Nagmaneho ako ng sasakyan.
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= I drove a car. (AF(O))
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Ex: Nagpunta ako sa Maynila.
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= I went to Manila. (AF(D))
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Applying the same rule of thumb used in intransitive verbs above to the English verbs here, “driving cars” is possible, so “cars” is an object. But “going Manila” does not work. The “to”, or something like it, that indicates direction/motion, is always needed. So “Manila” is not an object, and since magpunta has a strong nuance of direction or movement to it, we would correctly identify it as a directional verb. Now take a look at this example:
Ex: Nagmaneho ako sa Maynila.
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= I drove to Manila is possible here, but sa can mean many things, and “I drove in Manila” is the more common interpretation.
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It turns out that if you are using a directional verb that does not have punta as the root, you must use the phrase papunta sa to ensure that the meaning of “to” is captured.
Ex: Nagmaneho ako papunta sa Maynila.
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= I drove to Manila.
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Note that Nagpunta ako sa Maynila above did not require papunta, because the verb root was punta.
Here is the AF version of the directional standard sentence derived above:
Standard Sentence((AF(D)) = Verb + Actor + dc
Notes: Actor takes ang form, object takes ng form, dc takes sa form.
Ex: Magbibisikleta ka ba sa eskwelahan?
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= Will you ride your bicycle in school?
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Ex: Naglalakad si Maria sa gusaling yun.
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= Maria is walking in that building.
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Ex: Nagmaneho siya.
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= He drove.
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verb... papunta sa destination (Tag) = verb to destination (eng)
Note: Used only when the verb does not have punta as its root.
Ex: Magbibisikleta ka ba papunta sa eskwelahan?
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= Will you ride your bicycle to school?
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Ex: Naglalakad si Maria papunta sa gusaling yun.
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= Maria is walking to that building.
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Ex: Nagmaneho siya papunta sa bahay nila.
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= He drove to their house.
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More on Papunta
Papunta is a word that means roughly “bound for” or “headed to”. You saw it as part of the adverb phrase papunta sa above. Alone, it is an adjective:
Ex: ang bus na papuntang Maynila
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= the bus going to Maynila
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Ex: ang lalaking papuntang bahay mo
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= the man on the way to your house
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Ex: ang sasakyang papuntang eskwelahan
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= the car headed for school
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Sample sentences
(No infinitives; they will come next lesson.)
Q1
I did not plant a tree there.
Hindi ako nagtanim ng puno dun.
Q2
Angel and Maria worry about their bicycle.
Nag-aalala sina Angel at Maria sa bisikleta nila.
Q3
The woman will walk to that building at 2pm.
Maglalakad ang babae sa gusaling yun nang alas-dos ng hapon.
Q4
He did not ride his bike in the water.
Hindi siya nagbisikleta sa tubig.
Q5
Does Luis drive to Parañaque?
Nagmamaneho ba si Luis papunta sa Parañaque?
Q6
They will plant trees in Luzon.
Magtatanim sila ng mga puno sa Luzon.
Q7
The kid did not worry about them.
Hindi nag-alala ang bata tungkol sa kanila.
Q8
Jasmine is walking to her third school.
Naglalakad si Jasmine sa ikatlo niyang eskwelahan.
Q9
Will you bicycle to our (excl.) house? (resp.)
Magbibisikleta po ba kayo papunta sa bahay namin?
Q10
We (excl.) will drive a car around 10pm.
Magmamaneho kami ng sasakyan nang mga alas-diyes ng gabi.
Drills - Lesson 15