Vocabulary
sikát
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famous; popular
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putî
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white
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sasakyán
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car
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mura
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cheap
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pagód
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tired
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tunay
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genuine; real
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eskwelahán
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school
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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 C at this point if you are not familiar with Tagalog roots and affixes. In this lesson, we will cover unaffixed adjectives, which are just bare roots with the appropriate stress/glottal stops.
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 will cover 3) in a later lesson.
Making Statements about the Subject
Adj + Subject. (Tag.) = Subject is adj. (Eng.)
Note: Subject takes ang form.
Ex: Mura ang mga sasakyan.
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= The cars are cheap.
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Ex: Sikat ang pangulo.
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= The president is famous.
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Ex: Pagod ang lalaki.
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= The man is tired.
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Modifying Nouns
adj + linker + noun (Tag.) = adj noun (Eng.)
Ex: murang sasakyan
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= cheap car
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Ex: sikat na pangulo
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= famous president
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Ex: pagod na lalaki
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= tired man
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It is also ok to reverse the adjective and noun:
Ex: sasakyang mura
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= cheap car
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Ex: pangulong sikat
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= famous president
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Ex: lalaking pagod
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= tired man
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But to be consistent, we will use the adjective first from here on.
Plural Modified Nouns
To make unaffixed adjective modified nouns plural, you just put mga before the adjective.
mga + adj + linker + noun (Tag.) = adj nouns (Eng.)
Ex: mga murang sasakyan
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= cheap cars
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Ex: mga sikat na pangulo
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= famous presidents
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Ex: mga pagod na lalaki
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= tired men
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It is also ok to put mga after the adjective, but this changes the nuance a bit:
Ex: mga murang sasakyan
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= (a bunch of) cheap cars
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Ex: murang mga sasakyan
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= cheap (bunch of) cars
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This nuance usually does not matter, but it is less common, so we will put mga before the adjective with the exception of a certain adjective covered in the next lesson.
Multiple Adjectives
To use more than one adjective in the above constructions, you can replace the single adjective with adj1 at adj2 at adj3, etc. For example, for two adjectives:
adj1 at adj2 (Tag.) = adj1 and adj2 (Eng.)
Notes: When at follows a word that ends in a vowel it normally changes to ’t.
Ex: Mura’t puti ang sasakyan.
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= The car is cheap and white.
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Ex: mura’t puting sasakyan
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= cheap and white car
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Ex: mga mura’t puting sasakyan
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= cheap and white cars
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When modifying a noun, another option is to replace the single adjective with adj1 linker adj2 linker adj3, etc. For example, for two adjectives:
adj1 + linker + adj2 + linker + noun (Tag.) = adj1, adj2 noun(Eng.)
Ex: pagod na sikat na pangulo
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= tired, famous president
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Ex: murang puting sasakyan
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= cheap, white car
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Ex: mga murang puting sasakyan
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= cheap, white cars
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Sample sentences
Q1
The car is famous..
Sikat ang sasakyan.
Q2
Who is the tired teacher?
Sino ang pagod na guro?
Q3
Adobo is cheap and popular.
Mura't sikat ang adobo.
Q4
That is a famous white school.
Sikat na puting eskwelahan yun.
Q5
The cars are real.
Tunay ang mga sasakyan.
Q6
Mother is a famous president.
Sikat na pangulo si nanay.
Q7
This water is white!
Puti ang tubig na ito!
Q8
What are those cheap foods?
Ano ang mga murang pagkaing yun?
Q9
The student is tired.
Pagod ang estudyante.
Q10
These are the real schools.
Ito ang mga tunay na eskwelahan.
Drills - Lesson 4