Tagalog for Beginners: Tayo na sa Lungsod (Let's go to the City)

This lesson is for beginners.  It pays to know local names for places.   Names for places in Tagalog are preceded by sa or ng when they are used as the object in the sentence.  However, they are preceded by 'ang' if they are used as the subject.

Study this simple conversation:

  A:  Saan ka pupunta?                                 Where are you going?

  B:  Pupunta ako sa/ng tindahan.                 I'm going to the store.

What precedes the word "tindahan?"   It's preceded by 'sa' because it's used as the object, and also 'sa' is a location/place marker.

Now, in this instance:

 Maliit ang tindahan.                              The store is small.                        

 (Small        store.)

 What precedes the word 'tindahan.'?   It is preceded by 'ang.'

 In this case, the word 'tindahan,' is used as the subject.   

 It is interesting to note that Tagalog or any language in the Philippines, does not have a 'be-verb'.  So that is one less worry for language learners.

Now, practice the underlined words with any of the vocabulary. 

Kita tayo sa susunod.  (See you next time.)

After doing this, you will start to gain mastery of some of the essential vocabularies in Tagalog. In some of the next blogs, we will be tackling what to do/activities that will help you increase your Tagalog vocabulary. Ingat po kayo...(you) take care! Kita tayo sa susunod. (Let's meet next time)