Although most Filipinos speak English, especially those that work in the tourism industry, it never hurts to know a couple of Tagalog words and phrases. Many locals intermingle English and Tagalog words aka Taglish, and you’ll even hear this on Filipino tv channels.
Pronunciation
There are 5 vowel sounds in Tagalog, and if you speak Spanish or Italian, they should be familiar to you.
- a – ah sound like in father
- e – eh sound like in bed
- i – ee sound like in bee
- o – oh sound like in cold
- u – oo sound like in cool
The ng is considered a single letter in the Filipino alphabet, and is pronoucned nga, like in “sing-along” by excluding the “si” and “long.”
Useful Words and Phrases
- oo (oh oh)/opo (oh poh) – yes
- hindi/hindi po (heendee) – no
- kamusta – How are you?
- salamat/salamat po – thank you
- walang anuman – you’re welcome
- paki – please
- saan ang (sah-ahn-ahng) – Where is the….?
- meron – Do you have….?
- gusto ko – I want/I like
- Pakibaba ang metro – Please turn on the taxi meter.
- po (poh) – A term of respect, especially to elders, boss, customers, etc. You can finish sentences, even when speaking in English, with this word, and it’s a good idea to always use it. You may find that your restaurant check says, “Salamat (thank you) po!”
Locations
- CR – bathroom
- bangko – bank
- taksi – taxi
- paliparan – airport
- bapor – boat
- bangka – outrigger boat
- restawran – restaurant
Time
- ngayon – now
- mamaya – later
- kahapon – yesterday
- bukas – tomorrow
- nahuli – late (arrival or departure)
- maaga – early (arrival or departure)
Shopping
- pera – money
- magkano (po) – how much?
Food
- almusal/tanghalian/hapunan – breakfast/lunch/dinner
- merienda – snack
- tubig – water
- kape – coffee
- baboy – pig
- manok – chicken
- baka – beef
- isda – fish
- pagkaing-dagat – seafood
- gulay – vegetables
- itlog – egg
- masarap – delicious
- kumain – eat
*Filipinos say “take out” and not “to go” when taking food to go.
- kuya – Older brother, but it is a title often used to convey respect and address most males by Filipinos.
- ate (ah-teh) – Older sister, but it is a title often used to convey respect and address most females by Filipinos.
Other useful words
- turista – tourist
- maganda – beautiful
- ingles – English
- mas – more
- pwede – possible?
- maganda/masama – good/bad
- malaki/maliit – big/small
- ito/iyan – this/that
- dito/diyan – here/there