Learn how to ask "Can you speak English?"
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Hello and welcome to Filipino Survival Phrases brought to you by FilipinoPod101.com. This course is designed to equip you with the language skills and knowledge to enable you to get the most out of your visit to the Philippines. You will be surprised at how far a little Filipino will go. |
| Now, before we jump in, remember to stop by FilipinoPod101.com, and there, you will find the accompanying PDF and additional info in the post. If you stop by, be sure to leave us a comment. |
| GRAMMAR POINT |
| Filipino Survival Phrases Lesson 8 - Using English to your advantage in Filipino. |
| In today's lesson, we'll cover another extremely important survival phrase, "Can you speak English?" Using this phrase as opposed to speaking English at someone is important for many reasons. For one, if the party you're speaking to does not understand English, at least they'll be able to understand what you're asking. Furthermore, it shows a lot respect to show that you took the effort to learn even a little bit of the language. And for these reasons, and many more, we're |
| going to cover the phrase. |
| In Filipino, "Can you speak English" is Marunong ka ba mag English? |
| Marunong ka ba mag English? |
| Let's break it down by syllable: Marunong ka ba mag English? |
| Now, let's hear it once again: Marunong ka ba mag English? |
| The first word Marunong means "know" as in "understand." |
| Let's break down this word and hear it one more time: Marunong. |
| And Marunong. |
| This is followed by Ka, which in English is "you." |
| Ka. |
| Ka. |
| Followed by Ba, which makes the sentence a question. |
| Let's hear it one more time: Ba. |
| Next comes Mag, which has no English equivalent. |
| Let's hear it once again: Mag. |
| Finally, we have "English," which means "English." |
| So, all together, we have Marunong ka ba mag English? Literally, this means, "Do you know how to speak English?" |
| Now, let's try a different language. How about, "Can you speak Chinese" |
| Marunong ka ba mag Chinese? |
| Marunong ka ba mag Chinese? |
| Marunong ka ba mag Chinese? |
| The word for Chinese is also "Chinese." Here, just the word for the language changes. The rest is the same. |
| Nowadays, in the Philippines, English is studied at schools, so the number of speakers is increasing. However, there are still many people who don't speak English. The native Filipino word for "English" is Ingles. But not many Filipinos will use this word. English is more common. So, you will often find times where Filipinos prefer to use the English translation of the word instead of the native Filipino. |
Outro |
|---|
| Okay, to close out this lesson, we'd like for you to practice what you've just learned. I'll provide you with the English equivalent of the phrase and you're responsible for saying it aloud. You have a few seconds before I give you the answer, so good luck, that also means “good luck” in Filipino. Here we go! |
| "Can you speak English?" - Marunong ka ba mag Ingles? |
| Marunong ka ba mag Ingles? |
| Marunong ka ba mag Ingles? |
| Alright, that's going to do it for today. Remember to stop by FilipinoPod101.com and pick up the accompanying PDF. If you stop by, be sure to leave us a comment. |
Comments
HideHello Listeners, do you know how to ask "Can you speak [your language]" in Filipino?
Hi Fred!
You were in Bohol last week? That's amazing! Taglish can definitely be easier sometimes.
Enjoy your time and keep practicing Filipino with us! 😊
Eric
Team FilipinoPod101.com
Nasa Bohol ako noong linggo at mas madaling magtaglish lol.
Hi Therese,
Walang anuman 😉
Marivic
Team FilipinoPod101
This phrase will be very useful. Salamat!
Hi Mark,
You're right! You can say "marunong po ba kayong mag Prances?" In this case, you transformed the noun French/Prances into a verb by adding the affix mag. Instead of asking if they could speak - magsalita ng Prances, you asked mag Prances. I hope this helps!
Betsey
Team FilipinoPod101.com
To ask someone politely if they speak French would you say this ?
"Marunong ba po kayo mag Prances ?"
Also, what does the "mag" mean in this sentences ? Why isn't it "ng" ?
Hi Candice,
You can say "nagsasalita ka ba ng Tagalog?" if you mean to say "Are you talking in Tagalog?". In this case, it's still correct. Salamat!
Betsey
Team FilipinoPod101.com
Is it also correct to say “Nagsasalita ka ba ng Tagalog?”
Hi David,
The ng doesn't get dropped off of marunong. The audio just sounds this way in normal conversational speed. :) Thank you for your feedback.
Salamat!
Betsey
Team FilipinoPod101.com
When I listen to the full speed audio for "marunong ka ba mg (insert language here)" it sounds as if the "Ng" is dropped off of "marunong", i.e. I hear "marunokabamg inglis"... Is it just my ear, or does the "Ng" indeed get dropped when speaking the phrase at normal conversational speed?
Hi Carl,
There isn't a lesson like that but it would be helpful to use 'po' and 'opo' in your sentences to be extra respectful.
Example:
Maaari ko po bang hingiin ang kamay ng inyong anak sa kasal?
May I ask for your daughter's hand in marriage?
Feel free to ask if you have any questions!
Good luck!
Betsey
Team FilipinoPod101.com
Is there a lesson on asking a female to marry you and asking elder's permission ?
Hi UncleDako,
Thank you for spotting it!
We're working on uploading the correct audio soon!
Regards,
Paloma
Team FilipinoPod101
In the Expansion with audio section the phrase:
Pwedeng pakilakasan ang iyong boses?
has the wrong audio to it
Hi erik,
Thank you for answering our question in Filipino and you're correct! "Spanish" is translated as "Espanyol" in Filipino. Since the Filipino alphabet also has the letter "ñ", we can also say "Español" for "Spanish." We're glad that you're learning from our website. Keep up the good job!
Mayumi,
TeamFilipinoPod101.com
Marunong ka ba mag Espanyol/Spanish?