Learn a few phrases you can use to understand the culture better
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Becky: Hi everyone, Becky here, and welcome back to FilipinoPod101.com. This is Basic Bootcamp Lesson 3 - Useful Phrases for Learning Filipino. This is the third lesson in a five-part series that will help you ease your way into Filipino. |
| Betsey: Kamusta! Hi, I’m Betsey. |
| Becky: In this lesson we will learn how to ask the meaning of something in Filipino. |
| Betsey: The conversation takes place at a classroom, and it’s between a teacher and a student. They will be using formal Filipino. |
| Becky: Let’s listen to the conversation! |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Becky: It’s well known that in the Philippines, the majority of people understand and can speak some English. |
| Betsey: That’s right. Schools in the Philippines use an English teaching system. So, everything is mainly taught in English except the “Filipino language” classes. |
| Becky: But how much do Filipinos actually speak English? |
| Betsey: This definitely depends on the school. Some apply an “English-only” speaking policy, but some are a bit more loose on these rules. |
| Becky: So in reality, not everyone is fluent in English, and this all depends on the type of environment a person grew up in, right? |
| Betsey: That’s right, but you can assume that they at least understand some English. |
| Becky: Okay, now onto the vocab. |
| Becky: Let's take a look at the vocabulary for this lesson. |
| The first word we shall see is: |
| KEY VOCAB AND PHRASES |
| Betsey: Let’s take a look a closer look at the usage of some of the words and phrases from this lesson. The first word we shall see is “Paano”. |
| Becky: It means “how”. |
| Betsey: One more time. “Paano.” |
| Becky: In English you can use the word “How” in the phrase “How are you?” |
| Betsey: But in Filipino, this would be “Kumusta”. You cannot use “Paano” for words that describe how someone’s feeling. “Paano” can only be used when you are asking about an action. Using this word, you can say “Paano tumakbo ng mabilis?” |
| Becky: That means “How fast can you run?” The next word is... |
| Betsey: Paki. |
| Becky: It means “please”,“can you” or “may you”. |
| Betsey: The next word is “Pwede”. |
| Becky: It means “it is possible”, or like “paki” it can also mean “can”. |
| Betsey: There isn’t a clear difference when using “paki” and “pwede”, but if “paki” means “please do it”, “pwede” would be “can you do it”. |
| Becky: Okay, now onto the grammar. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Becky: In this lesson, you’ll learn how to ask questions in Filipino. First, let’s take a look at... |
| Betsey: “Paano sabihin ang”. This phrase means “How do you say something..”. |
| Becky: Just by knowing this you can ask almost anything that crosses your mind. Can you please give us an example? |
| Betsey: Paano sabihin ang “Cheese” sa Pilipino? |
| Becky: It literally means“How to say ‘Cheese’ in Filipino?” That wasn’t very hard, right? It is almost identical to English grammar rules. Let’s break it down. |
| Betsey: First, you can put ‘Paano sabihin ang’, then the name of the object, then say ‘Sa Pilipino’ which means ‘in Filipino.’ |
| Betsey: Okay, let’s move on to the next phrase. When you want to ask someone to repeat something, you can say. “Paki ulit po”. |
| Becky: It means “Can you repeat it please”. Literally, “Can you repeat please”. |
| Betsey: If you compare our two phrases “Paki ulit po” and “Pano sabihin ang” with their English translations, you can see that only the word “you“ is missing in the Filipino sentences. |
| Becky: That’s right. Okay, let’s move on. How do you say “I don’t understand.” in Filipino? |
| Betsey: “Hindi ko naiintindihan” As you already know “ko” means “I”, so literally it means “Don’t I understand.” |
| Becky: And how do you ask somebody to speak slowly? |
| Betsey: “Pwede po mag salita kayo ng dahandahan?” This is the equivalent of the English “Can you please speak slowly?” |
| Becky: Let’s break this down. |
| Betsey: Ok, First is “pwede po” |
| Becky: It would be “can.” It is in polite form, since we added the word “po” after it. |
| Betsey: Than we have “magsalita” |
| Becky: meaning “to speak” |
| Betsey: Next is “kayo” |
| Becky: It normally means “you (plural).” But, when using formal Filipino, the plural form of the pronouns are used even when talking to only one person. |
| Betsey: And then we have “ng dahandahan” |
| Becky: Which means “slowly”. Can we hear the whole sentence one more time, please? |
| Betsey: “Pwede po mag salita kayo ng dahandahan?” |
| Becky: which means “Can you please speak slowly?” |
| Betsey: Next we have “Paki sulat po ‘yon sa papel sa Pilipino.” |
| Becky: In English, it means “Can you please write that in Filipino?” The literal translation is “Can you write please that on paper in Filipino” Let’s break this down! |
| Betsey: First we have “Paki sulat” |
| Becky: Which means “please write” |
| Betsey: The next is “po” |
| Becky: As you already know, adding the word “po” makes the sentence more polite and formal. What is the next? |
| Betsey: “‘yon” |
| Becky: This means “that” and is a shortened version of “iyon”. It is more common to use the shortened version in casual conversations, but you don’t use it in the written form. |
| Betsey: Next we have “sa papel”. |
| Becky: Which means “on paper.” In English, figuring out which preposition to use can be tricky but luckily, in Filipino, you just need to remember “sa.” This is the only preposition to substitute almost all other English prepositions! Isn’t that great? |
| Betsey: Definitely! Next we have “sa Pilipino” |
| Becky: meaning “in Filipino” |
| Betsey: Paki sulat po ‘yon sa papel sa Pilipino |
| Becky: “Can you please write that on paper in Filipino?” |
| Betsey: As you can see, “Paki”, “Pwede”, and “Paano” appear at the beginning of the sentence, just like in English. |
| Becky: We have also been using the word “po” a lot. This is just to show you a more formal or polite way of using the sentences. |
| Betsey: And even if you take out all the “po” in your sentences, it will still mean, and be said, the same way. |
Outro |
| Becky: Okay, that’s it for this lesson. See you next time. |
| Betsey: Thanks for listening. Paalam! |
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