Learn some common Filipino phrases you may hear every day while traveling in the Philippines
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Betsey: Mabuhay! Hello everyone! Betsey: here. |
| Becky: Hello everyone, welcome back to FilipinoPod101.com. This is All-About, Lesson 5 - Top 5 Must-Know Phrases for Learning Filipino. I’m Becky. In this lesson, you will learn some useful phrases in Filipino. |
Lesson focus |
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| Betsey: These will help you get started on having conversations with others. In this lesson, we'll teach you five phrases. |
| Becky: Yes, phrases that you’ll be really glad you learned. |
| Betsey: What's more, we'll teach you not only the phrases, but when and where to use them. We’re going to give you the phrase, pause for you to repeat it, explain it, and then move on to the next phrase. |
| Becky: Remember to tell us if you like this format in the comments of this lesson! Ok, let’s get started. |
| Betsey: ‘Mabuhay.’ (Pause) |
| Becky: One of the first words you find out when you’re learning a new language is how to say “hello”. |
| Betsey: Now by definition, ‘Mabuhay’ does mean “Hello”, “Goodbye” or “Welcome”. It can also be translated literally as “Long life” in Filipino. |
| Becky: Yes. So as you can probably already tell by the association, Filipinos are warm and welcoming people. But using this in a casual greeting like a “hello!” and a “Hi” sounds a bit unnatural. |
| Betsey: So a more relaxed and casual way to say this is ‘Kumusta’ which is “Hi” or “Hello”. ‘Kumusta’. (slow) ‘Ku-mus-ta’. This is another useful phrase. Once more, ‘Kamusta’. If you think it sounds familiar, you're right. It comes from the Spanish phrase ‘Como estas?’ |
| Becky: It is indeed very similar. Unlike in Spanish, it’s just one word for “How are you?” and if you just use it on its own, it can be interpreted as very casual, just like saying “What’s up?” |
| Betsey: To add a more formal tone to it you can say ‘Kumusta po kayo?’ ‘po’ is used to indicate formality or to show respect. ‘Kayo’ means “you”. |
| Becky: Alright. What’s next? |
| Betsey: ‘Salamat.’ (slow) ‘Sa-la-mat’. Like in any language or situation, “Thank you” is a must-learn phrase. To say, “Thank you very much”, you add ‘Maraming’ before ‘Salamat’, which means “Many”. ‘Maraming Salamat’. (slow) ‘Ma-ra-ming Sa-la-mat’. |
| Becky: And what’s next? |
| Betsey: ‘Wag nalang.’ (slow) ‘Wag na-lang.’Of course, you also need to know how to say “No, thank you”. ‘Wag’ means “Do not” and ‘nalang’ comes from the word ‘lang’, which means “only”. Altogether, ‘Wag nalang’ indicates “No thank you”. You can also say ‘Salamat nalang’. (slow) ‘Sa-la-mat na-lang’. With ‘nalang’ it means “thank you only”. By adding ‘nalang’, it shows that you feel bad about declining the offer. |
| Becky: Good to know. What’s our next phrase? |
| Betsey: ‘Pasensya na.’ (slow) ‘Pasensya na.’ This “I’m sorry.” It’s also very helpful to know. ‘Pasensya’ means “Patience”. By adding ‘Na’ it indicates your need for the action. So for this phrase, it shows your need for “patience” or “forgiveness”. |
| Becky: Is there anything else we need to know about this phrase? |
| Betsey: ‘Na’ is also useful because it can be used in many phrases like ‘Halika na’ meaning “Come here” or “Let’s go”. |
| Becky: It can also give a friendlier tone to your phrases, so it can be very helpful. Betsey, what’s our last phrase? |
| Betsey: ‘Opo’ (slow) ‘Opo’. |
| Becky: Now, you may have heard this in phrases before and it means, “Yes”. But it’s used in formal situations, and usually towards someone you respect. It is often used to address people who are older than the actual speaker. |
| Betsey: Filipino culture very much treasures respect to the elderly, so this is a commonly used word. ‘Oo’ also means, “yes” but this one is only used for your peers and friends. ‘Oo’. ‘Po’ is used in the same way. It’s useful because you can use ‘po’ after any kind of sentence, to indicate formality or respect. |
| Becky: For example, using the phrase we learned earlier... |
| Betsey: ... ‘Kamusta’... |
| Becky: can easily be made into a formal phrase just by adding... |
| Betsey: ...‘po’... |
| Becky: ...to the end. |
| Betsey: Which gives us ‘Kamusta po’? The same goes for ‘salamat’. You can easily say ‘salamat po’ to get the same effect. |
| Becky: Ok, well I think these are all useful phrases to know. |
| Betsey: Yes, you will probably hear and use them every day! |
Outro |
| Becky: That’s all for this lesson. Please join us for the next one. Until then, bye everyone! |
| Betsey: Paalam! |
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