Learn how to make questions and question tags in Filipino
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Intro |
|---|
| Alisha: How are questions made in Filipino? |
| Danilo: And what about question tags? |
| Alisha: At FilipinoPod101.com, we hear these questions often. In this scenario, Fely Flores is asking his neighbors whether they will join their party. Mark Lee wants to join but seeks confirmation from his wife. Fely says, "Are you coming to our party?" |
| Fely Flores: Pupunta ka ba sa aming salo-salo? |
| Dialogue |
| Fely Flores: Pupunta ka ba sa aming salo-salo? |
| Mark Lee: Pupunta tayo, hindi ba? |
| Alisha: Once more with the English translation. |
| Fely Flores: Pupunta ka ba sa aming salo-salo? |
| Alisha: "Are you coming to our party?" |
| Mark Lee: Pupunta tayo, hindi ba? |
| Alisha: "We are coming, aren't we?" |
Lesson focus |
| Alisha: One of the most important things to know in any language you learn is how to ask and answer questions. The first step is to know your basic question words vocabulary. That means words like who, what, where, when, and why. The Filipino word for ‘questions' is |
| Danilo: mga katanungan |
| Alisha: and, in this lesson, we will learn what the most common question words are, and how to use them! The first word you will hear and use often is |
| Danilo: [NORMAL] ano [SLOWLY] ano |
| [PAUSE 3 SEC] |
| Alisha: This word means ‘what' in English, as in ‘What is your name?' |
| Danilo: [NORMAL] Ano ang pangalan mo? [SLOWLY] Ano ang pangalan mo? |
| [PAUSE 3 SEC] |
| Alisha: The next word is |
| Danilo: [NORMAL] sino [SLOWLY] sino |
| [PAUSE 3 SEC] |
| Alisha: meaning ‘who'. In a sentence, we use it like this: |
| Danilo: [NORMAL] Sino ang gumawa nitó? [SLOWLY] Sino ang gumawa nitó? |
| [PAUSE 4 SEC] |
| Alisha: ‘Who did this?' After that, we have the word for ‘when' |
| Danilo: [NORMAL] kailan [SLOWLY] kailan |
| [PAUSE 3 SEC] |
| Alisha: In a sentence, it sounds like this |
| Danilo: [NORMAL] Kailán ang bakasyón? [SLOWLY] Kailán ang bakasyón? |
| [PAUSE 3 SEC] |
| Alisha: ‘When is the vacation?' Next, we have the word meaning ‘which' |
| Danilo: [NORMAL] alín [SLOWLY] alín |
| [PAUSE 3 SEC] |
| Alisha: For example, the question ‘Which is prettier?' |
| Danilo: [NORMAL] Alín ang mas magandá? [SLOWLY] Alín ang mas magandá? |
| [PAUSE 4 SEC] |
| Alisha: Good! Now, the following question word means ‘whose' |
| Danilo: [NORMAL] kanino [SLOWLY] kanino |
| [PAUSE 3 SEC] |
| Alisha: For example, if you want to ask ‘Whose bag is this?' you will say: |
| Danilo: [NORMAL] Kanino ang bag na itó? [SLOWLY] Kanino ang bag na itó? |
| [PAUSE 4 SEC] |
| Alisha: Remember that this word can also be used as a translation of ‘to whom', as in ‘To whom will you give this letter?' |
| Danilo: Kanino mo ibíbigáy ang sulat na itó? |
| Alisha: Now, the question word ‘where' can be translated into two different Filipino words, depending on the context. First is the word |
| Danilo: [NORMAL] násaan [SLOWLY] násaan |
| [PAUSE 3 SEC] |
| Alisah: You should use this one when you ask for the location of something—and it doesn't matter if it's a human, animal or object. For example, ‘Where are you?' will be |
| Danilo: [NORMAL] Násaán ka? [SLOWLY] Násaán ka? |
| [PAUSE 3 SEC] |
| Alisha: On the other hand, when you ask for the location of an action, you use the question word |
| Danilo: [NORMAL] saán [SLOWLY] saán |
| [PAUSE 3 SEC] |
| Alisha: For example, ‘Where are you going?' is |
| Danilo: [NORMAL] Saán ka pupunta? [SLOWLY] Saán ka pupunta? |
| [PAUSE 4 SEC] |
| Alisha: Another word that translates into two types of question words is ‘how'. First, we have |
| Danilo: [NORMAL] paano [SLOWLY] paano |
| [PAUSE 3 SEC] |
| Alisha: This word is used when asking how something is done. For instance, |
| Danilo: [NORMAL] Paano mo iluluto itó? [SLOWLY] Paano mo iluluto itó? |
| [PAUSE 4 SEC] |
| Alisha: meaning ‘How do you cook this?' The other word for ‘how' is |
| Danilo: [NORMAL] gaano [SLOWLY] gaano |
| [PAUSE 3 SEC] |
| Alisha: Yes—you just change the first letter! We use this version of ‘how' when we want to ask the size or quality of something. In other words, you might ask How big? How high? How warm? So, if you want to ask somebody ‘How deep is the sea?' you will say: |
| Danilo: [NORMAL] Gaano kalalim ang dagat? [SLOWLY] Gaano kalalim ang dagat? |
| [PAUSE 4 SEC] |
| Alisha: Now, if you've heard Filipinos expressing greetings, you've probably heard the Spanish-sounding word |
| Danilo: [NORMAL] kumusta [SLOWLY] kumusta |
| [PAUSE 3 SEC] |
| Alisha: This is, indeed, a loanword! We use this version of ‘how' to ask ‘How are you?' Remember to use the questioning tone of voice. |
| Alisha: Now, when it comes to price and quantity, Filipino has two specific words. The first is |
| Danilo: [NORMAL] ilán [SLOWLY] ilán |
| [PAUSE 3 SEC] |
| Alisha: This translates into ‘how many'. For instance |
| Danilo: [NORMAL] Ilan ang mga puno na nakikita mo? [SLOWLY] Ilan ang mga puno na nakikita mo? |
| [PAUSE 4 SEC] |
| Alisha: ‘How many trees do you see?' The second word is |
| Danilo: [NORMAL] magkano [SLOWLY] magkano |
| [PAUSE 3 SEC] |
| Alisha: It is used to ask ‘how much', as in ‘How much does the bike cost?' |
| Danilo: [NORMAL] Magkano ang gastos ng bisikleta? [SLOWLY] Magkano ang gastos ng bisikleta? |
| [PAUSE 4 SEC] |
| Recall 1 |
| Alisha: Let's take a closer look at the dialogue. Do you remember how Fely asks, "Are you coming to our party?" |
| [PAUSE 4 SEC] |
| Danilo: Pupunta ka ba sa aming salo-salo? |
| Alisha: Literally, this says ‘Coming are you to our party?' Here, we have a new kind of question! It doesn't start with a question word because it's a yes/no question. In Filipino, yes or no questions are marked by the particle |
| Danilo: ba |
| Alisha: This word works kind of like a question mark, as it lets the speaker know that you are asking a question. If the sentence has the pronoun |
| Danilo: ka |
| Alisha: meaning ‘you', then the particle comes right after it. Together, the words |
| Danilo: ka ba |
| Alisha: translate as ‘are you?' and they come after the verb. Let's hear the question again. |
| Danilo: Pupunta ka ba sa aming salo-salo? |
| Recall 2 |
| Do you remember how Mark asks his wife, "We are going, aren't we?" |
| [PAUSE 4 SEC] |
| Danilo: Pupunta tayo, hindi ba? |
| Alisha: What is different about this sentence? It has a question tag at the end. That is, the words |
| Danilo: hindi ba? |
| Alisha: meaning ‘aren't we?' Tag questions can have many uses, among which are politeness, irony, or emphasis. Probably, the most common reason for using a question tag is just to seek consensus. So, in the dialogue, Mark is sure they are going to the party, but he wants to hear confirmation from his wife. |
| So, how do question tags work? A statement is turned into a question by adding a short interrogative phrase on the end, which is known as a tag. In written form, we write the tag after a comma. In the dialogue, Mark starts with the statement, "We are coming," and then turns it into a question by adding "aren't we?" |
| The important thing to remember is that, if the main clause is positive, the question tag must be negative, and if the main clause is negative, the question tag must be positive. To make question tags in Filipino, you can use one of two phrases. The first one is |
| Danilo: [NORMAL] hindi ba? [SLOWLY] hindi ba? |
| [PAUSE 3 SEC] |
| Alisha: which means ‘isn't it?' Since it has the negative word |
| Danilo: hindi, |
| Alisha: which means ‘no', it can only be used after a positive statement. Let's try an example! We will start with the positive sentence ‘Brando is tall.' |
| Danilo: Matangkad si Brando. |
| Alisha: To make it ‘Brando is tall, isn't he?' we add a negative tag, like this |
| Danilo: [NORMAL] Matangkad si Brando, hindi ba? [SLOWLY] Matangkad si Brando, hindi ba? |
| [PAUSE 4 SEC] |
| Alisha: The second question tag is a positive one, and this one is reserved for the end of negative statements. It sounds like this |
| Danilo: [NORMAL] ano? [SLOWLY] ano? |
| [PAUSE 3 SEC] |
| Alisha: Let's try an example. We will start with a negative sentence |
| Danilo: Hindi matangkad si Brando. |
| Alisha: ‘Brando is not tall'. If we add the positive question tag, it will sound like this |
| Danilo: [NORMAL] Hindi matangkad si Brando, ano? [SLOWLY] Hindi matangkad si Brando, ano? |
| [PAUSE 4 SEC] |
| Alisha: which means, ‘Brando isn't tall, is he?' |
| Summary |
| In this lesson, you learned the basic question words in Filipino, and how to form sentences with them. You also learned about question tags in Filipino, and how to use them. |
| Expansion |
| You should also practice asking questions using the plural form of each word you learned today. In Filipino, the plural forms may be used when a plural answer is expected. For example, if I ask ‘Where did you go during the summer?'I am expecting you to talk about different places you went, not just one place. So, in Filipino, I would ask |
| Danilo: [NORMAL] Saan-saan kayo pumunta noong tag-araw? |
| [SLOWLY] Saan-saan kayo pumunta noong tag-araw? |
| [PAUSE 4 SEC] |
| Alisha: The plural word for ‘where' |
| Danilo: saan-saan |
| Alisha: is just a double-up of the singular word, and it translates as ‘everywhere'. So, it's as if I'm asking, "Everywhere did you go in the summer?" So again, if more than one place is asked about, we use the plural form of ‘where'. The same rule applies to all other question words. You should have fun practicing them all! |
| Cultural Insight |
| Alisha: You will often hear Filipinos use the expression |
| Danilo: po |
| Alisha: when they talk. This is a way of showing respect. It is used when answering a basic question, or when answering a yes or no question from someone older than you. In the Philippines, it will be appreciated if you adopt this word and use it daily. It is simply added to the end of a sentence. For example, if an older person asks, ‘Have you seen my sister?' the younger one should answer like this |
| Danilo: Hindi, po. |
Outro |
| Alisha: Do you have any more questions? We're here to answer them! |
| Danilo: Paalam. |
| Alisha: See you soon! |
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