Useful Filipino Words and Phrases

Tagalog speakers in the Philippines have many ways of greeting other people. It is common also to hear them say "Hi" or "Hello" as a form of greeting, especially among close friends. There are no Tagalog translation for these English greetings because they are basically borrowed terms, and any English-speaking person will be readily understood by Filipinos in general (English is widely spoken in the Philippines, a former colony of the US of A for nearly 50 years!). Below are a few Tagalog greetings that are important to learn if one wants to endear himself/herself to Filipinos.

Magandang umaga po. (formal/polite) - Good morning
Magandang umaga. (informal) - Good morning

Magandang tanghali po. (formal/polite) - Good noon
Magandang tanghali. (informal) - Good noon

Magandang hapon po. (formal/polite) - Good afternoon
Magandang hapon. (informal) - Good afternoon

Magandang gabi po. (formal/polite) - Good evening
Magandang gabi. (informal) - Good evening

Kumusta po kayo? (formal/polite) - How are you?
Kumusta ka? (informal) - How are you?

Mabuti po naman. (formal/polite) - I'm fine
Mabuti naman. (informal) - I'm fine

Tuloy po kayo. (formal/polite) - Please, come in
Tuloy. (informal) - Please, come in

Salamat po. (formal/polite) - Thank you
Salamat. (informal) - Thank you

Maraming salamat po. (formal/polite) - Thank you very much
Maraming salamat. (informal) - Thank you very much

Wala pong anuman. (formal/polite) - You are welcome
Walang anuman. (informal) - You are welcome

Opo/ oho. (formal/polite) - Yes
Oo (informal) - Yes

Hindi po/ho (formal/polite) - No
Hindi (informal) - No

Hindi ko po/ho alam. (formal/polite) - I don't know
Hindi ko alam. (informal) - I don't know

Anong oras na po? (formal/polite) - What time is it?
Anong oras na? (informal) - What time is it?

Saan po kayo papunta? (formal/polite) - Where are you going?
Saan ka papunta? (informal) - Where are you going?

Saan po kayo galing? (formal/polite) - Where did you come from?
Saan ka galing? (informal) - Where did you come from?

Ano po ang pangalan nila? (formal/polite) - What is your name?
Anong pangalan mo? (informal) - What is your name?

Ako po si ________ (formal/polite) - I am ______ (name).
Ako si _________ (informal) - I am ______ (name).

Ilang taon na po kayo? (formal/polite) - How old are you?
Ilang taon ka na? (informal) - How old are you?

Ako po ay _______ gulang na. (formal/polite) - I am _______ years old.
Ako ay _______ gulang na. (informal) - I am _______ years old.

Saan po kayo nakatira? (formal/polite) - Where do you live?
Saan ka nakatira? (informal) - Where do you live?

Taga saan po sila? (formal/polite) - Where are you from?
Taga saan ka? (informal) - Where are you from?

Kumain na po ba sila? (formal/polite) - Have you eaten yet?
Kumain ka na ba? (informal) - Have you eaten yet?

Directions
Below is a list of Tagalog words and phrases used in giving or asking for directions.
deretso - straight ahead
(sa) kanan - on the right
(sa) kaliwa - on the left
umikot - turn around
(sa) harap - infront
(sa) likod/likuran - at the back/behind
hilaga - north
silangan - east
kanluran - west
timog - south
(sa) itaas - on top
(sa) ibaba - below/at the bottom
(sa) ilalim - at the bottom
(sa) loob - inside
(sa) labas - outside

There are a number of Tagalog words and phrases which are rather vague in terms of specific distance but signify "nearness" or "farness" of a particular object, thing, or place from the speaker. These are:
doon - yonder (over there)
diyan lang po sa tabi - there, on that side
sa banda po doon - over on that side

Question Words
Below is a list of Tagalog question words with their corresponding meaning and examples in English.
Ano? - What?
Alin? - Which?
Sino? - Who?
Saan? - Where?
Bakit? - Why?
Kailan? - >When? Paano?/Papaano? - How?
Magkano? - How much? (money)
Nasaan? - Where? (to look for something/somebody)

Occasional Greetings
Maligayang bati sa iyong kaarawan. - Happy birthday to you.
Nawa'y pagpalain ka ng Diyos ng marami pang kaarawan. - May God bless you with many more birthdays to come.
Maligayang bati sa iyong kasal - Congratulations/Best wishes on your wedding.
Maligayang bati sa iyong pagtatapos. - Congratulations on your graduation.
Maligayang Pasko. - Merry Christmas.
Manigong bagong taon. - Happy New Year.
Kami po ay nakikiramay sa inyong pagdadalamhati. - We'd like to express our condolences in your hour of sorrow.
Tanggapin po ninyo ang aming taos- pusong pakikiramay. - Please accept our sincerest condolences.
Sumalangit nawa ang kanyang kaluluwa. - How?May his/her soul rest in peace.
Ipagpaumanhin po ninyo ang aking pagkakamali. - Please accept my sincerest apologies.
Patawarin po ninyo ang aming mga pagkakamali. - Please forgive us for our mistakes.
Ako po ay taos-pusong nagpapasalamat. - I am sincerely thankful/grateful.
Nagpapasalamat po ako sa inyong napakalaking tulong sa amin. - I would like to thank you for your great help to us.
Hindi ko alam kung papaano ko po kayo mapapasalamatan sa inyong kabutihan. - I really can't (or don't know how to) thank you enough for your kindness

wow, this is hard to learn... even harder than japanese =o
thx for all these!!

wow, this is hard to learn... even harder than japanese =o

haha not that hard...i could also say that to your native language...and to the other languages..

so practice!

coz, practice makes perfect...but then again, nobody's perfect...so why practice?

errr...

wow, not many boards out there with a board for Tagalog I can contribute some too...

well aside from what masterjz already said, there are indeed varying levels of formality--polite words you would use in front of a state official, and then casual words you'd say to your friends.

example
formal: (from you to the president)
"Magandang umaga po, pangulong. Kumusta ba kayo?" (good morning [Mrs.] President. how are you?)

informal: (from you to your uncle)
"Magandang umaga tito. Kumusta ka?" (good morning, uncle. how are you?)

social: (from you to a friend)
"Umaga. 'musta na?" (morning. what's up?)

there are also honorifics. these don't come as a suffix at the end of a name (such as words like -kun, -san) and they don't come before (like Mr., Mrs.). they instead replace the person's name when you talk about them in this context. for example:

(formality level highest to lowest left to right)
Ama, tatay, itay/'tay = father
Ama, nanay, inay/'nay = mother
Ate = older sister or female cousin, or close older female friend
Kuya = same as above but applies to males
Lolo = grandfather
Lola = grandmother (you may also say nanay, that's what I call my nanay ). also, as women's children have children, it's common for them to adopt a nickname that is based on their original name. for example, Corina would become Coring, Dora would be Doring, Lolita would become Loling. do you see where I'm coming from here? but just don't call them by one if they don't--for example if her name is Patricia, she goes by Patricia, not "Pating" (because that's a shark LOL ).
Tito = uncle
Tita = aunt

and then there are others which don't have to refer to family:
Bosing = boss (used casually)
Itol / 'tol = younger male friend (kind of like a little brother, used by older boys to refer to younger friends)

like I said earlier, ate and kuya can also be used in this context when referring to older friends--tito and tita can be used to refer to your friend's parents if you are close. but watch out, some women may not like it, they might think you're referring to their age!

well that's all I've got for now, I hope I helped out and made a few more people aware of my language :B

keep the words coming..tnx Koda

Thanks! I'm Filipino too, BTW, but I moved to the US when I was 3 yrs old. Supposedly, I only spoke Tagalog when I moved here, but my parents switched us to English only. They felt bad when we became adults, but it was too late by then to teach us.

I can understand about 1/3 of any Tagalog being spoken and usually can follow any conversation. We learned this because my parents would talk about us kids only in Tagalog at the dinner table. When they found out we could understand, they switched to Ilocano!!

oh i never thought that you're Filipino cuz you didn't mention it to us before...but that is good to know...however its a bit sad that you weren't able to learn your native language until you reached that age...Well I guess your parents must have a good reason for doin' that...

Thanks for sharing!

Salamat!

Wow! I'm so glad our language are included in the forum!
Learning our language is easy! It's just like learning English cause it also follows the same format of English grammar, tenses,etc...

If I have time, I'll post some words here...
Again, thanks for this!

Wow! I'm so glad our language are included in the forum!

Yep 'cuz i requested Admin to add it...hehehe.

If I have time, I'll post some words here...

Sure we'll be waiting for that...

i love to watch tagalog dramas ...when i was "young" (old already) , i`m addicted to tagalog dramas and i never miss to watch it...my fav Filipino actor is Jerrico Rosales...He`s hot ...
I think, tagalog is not that hard, maybe because some of tagalog word are similar with Malay language...So, i think that it`s not so hard....

woah! i thought your filipino just after reading the first line of your statement...

so your Malaysian?...yeah i believed they broadcast tagalog soap operas across asia especially thailand and malaysia...

Good to know there are non-filipino people who like tagalog dramas...

Nice nice! Thanks for watching drama shows from our country...

to masterjz
i`m from Malaysia...yes, until now they still broadcasting tagalog & indonesia soap opera....i used to be tagalog drama "big fan"...i never missed even one episode of tagalog drama...hahaha...i`m so obsessed ....fyi, one of my fav tagalog drama is pangako sa yo...damn, i love the whole story....

to bosjef & pugee
Thanks....btw, nice to meet u guys....

"pangako sa yo" yeah i believed that soap made a big break in malaysia...no wonder why you know jericho rosales...he actually did a drama with Carmen Soo (not sure if she's Malaysian or Thai).

anyway nice knowing you too...and hope you'll enjoy your stay here!

to masterjz
Carmen soo is from Malaysia...ohh, i didn`t know that Filipino and Malaysia collaborate in the drama...and i think it`s great because we`re neighbor after all....
And, again, thanks for the warmth welcome... and for sure i will enjoy myself here.... we are here because of Ikimono Gakari....

it's nice to see a Filipino language section on this thread... i never expected that...

cool!

^Hehe i really requested Admin to have a Filipino language section here so that others may know our culture and learn some basic Tagalog/Filipino Words.

and so that we can have chit chat section too.

Yap, I think we can learn bout some language from other country,so nice,cos we can share about it here. .maybe one day,we will have some other language section,not only Japanesse,Korean,Spanish,Filipino,or Indonesian. .
so amazing,right?

^ i'm looking forward for that to happen too...let's see...

Yap,hope that it will be coming soon. .I'm so glad now I have some new friend from other country. Nice to meet you,master,violet_inggrid,marvin, bosjef,etc. .

violet_ingrid wrote:yes, until now they still broadcasting tagalog & indonesia soap opera....

are you serious about indonesian drama being aired on malaysia too???
on local channel???
i'm sorry to hear that..
i think we should not export that "garbage drama" abroad..

garbage drama

why is that? i haven't seen any indonesian drama yet...maybe a movie but im also not sure bout it...

I actually live in Cag. de Oro City.(its in the Phil.) Here's some words:

1=isa
2=dalawa
3=tatlo
4=apat
5=lima
6=anim
7=pito
8=walo
9=siyam
10=sampu


Sunday=Linggo
Monday=Lunes
Tuesday=Martes
Wednesday=Miyerkules
Thursday=Huwebes
Friday=Biyernes
Saturday=Sabado

January=Enero
February=Pebrero
March=Marso
April=Abril
May=Mayo
June=Hunyo
July=Hulyo
August=Agosto
September=Setyembre
October=Oktubre
November=Nobyembre
December=Disyembre

thanks for your contribution udeshi123