Grammar
Taglish, a mixture of Tagalog and English, can be both helpful and damaging to Tagalog learners. It can be helpful, especially to beginners, because it makes listening more comprehensible. However, if you only listen to speakers who use a lot of Taglish, you will miss out on the opportunity to fully develop your listening skills. The same is true if you often use Taglish in your speech. As a learner, it is strongly recommended that you avoid Taglish and use purer Tagalog resources whenever possible. That being said, it is impossible to avoid Taglish completely, so this final lesson is a brief summary of what you may encounter. Understand it, but do not use it yourself.
The following are the main forms of Taglish you will hear. Only a few examples are given for each, but there are many.
Code Switching
This is merely replacing Tagalog words with English.
Ex: Sino ang teacher?
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= Who is the teacher?
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Ex: Maglalaro si Maria ng basketbol sa school.
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= Maria will play basketball at school.
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Ex: Ang adobo is pagkain.
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= Adobo is food.
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English with Different Meaning
You may think you know what it means, but you actually do not.
Ex: As in?
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= Really?
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Ex: crocodile
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= corrupt politician
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Ex: gimmick
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= night on the town
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English with Different Pronunciation
These are easy to understand, but the pronunciation may surprise you.
Ex: “personnel”
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in English is often pronounced “personal” in Taglish (stress changes)
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Ex: “volleyball”
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is often pronounced “bolleyball” (v becomes b)
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Ex: “this”
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is often pronounced “dis” (th becomes d)
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Ex: “thick”
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is often pronounced “tick” (th becomes t)
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Ex: “confused”
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is often pronounced “conpuse” (f becomes p, d is dropped)
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Ex: “human”
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is often pronounced “yuman” (h becomes y)
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Ex: “backpack”
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is often pronounced “bockpock” (vowel changes)
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English Roots
Tagalog affixes are often added to English roots to form verbs and adjectives.
Namiss mo ba ako?
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= Do you miss me?
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Napaka-entitled niya.
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= He is very entitled.
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Hindi ako mag-dadrive bukas.
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= I will not drive tomorrow.
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Tinry kong magluto ng adobo.
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= I tried to cook adobo.
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Sample sentences
Read the Taglish sentence, then express the same meaning in pure Tagalog.
Q1
Hindi po siya naggive ng money kay Joe.
Hindi po siya nagbigay ng pera kay Joe.
Q2
As in? Let's leave na!
Talaga? Umalis na tayo!
Q3
Tinry kong magdrive papunta sa Manila.
Sinubukan kong magmaneho papunta sa Maynila.
Q4
Magmemake sila ng adobo.
Gagawa sila ng adobo.
Q5
Sino is the one that won a lechon sa store kahapon?
Sino ang nanalo ng lechon sa tindahan kahapon?
Q6
Igeget kita non.
Ikukuha kita non.
Q7
David worried about sa bahay niya.
Nag-alala si David tungkol sa bahay niya.
Q8
Bakit ka nakaka-annoying?
Bakit ka nakakainis?
Q9
Kinucook namin ang adobo para sa son namin.
Niluto namin ang adobo para sa anak namin.
Q10
He grew up sa Cebu, di ba?
Lumaki siya sa Cebu, di ba?
Drills - Lesson 71