c. Monosyllabic words often take on the stress of a preceding word, and the stress in that word is lost. The stress is thus “transferred” to the following single-syllable word.
| kumáin | Kumain ká. | Ku-ma-in KA. | You may eat. |
| hindî | Hindi pá. | Hin-di PA. | Not yet. |
| ganitó | Ganito bá? | Ga-ni-to BA? | Like this? |
| malápit | Malapit ná. | Ma-la-pit NA. | It is near. |
| hindî | Hindi pô. | Hin-di PO. | No, sir / madam. |
d. To avoid mispronunciation, a hyphen separates the prefix that ends in a consonant and with a glottal stop from the root that follows which starts with a vowel.
| pag-ása | pagQ-A-sa | hope |
| mag-alís | magQ-a-LIS | to remove |
| mag-isá | magQ-i-SA | alone |
| pag-íbig | pagQ-I-big | love |
Exercises
Practice pronouncing the following words by paying careful attention to the four types of stress and accent marks used to indicate them.
| anák | a-NA | child |
| amá | a-MA | father |
| iná | i-NA | mother |
| bulaklák | bu-lak-LAK | flower |
| malakás | ma-la-KAS | strong |
| babáe | ba-BA-e | woman |
| laláki | la-LA-ki | man |
| maínit | ma-I-nit | hot |
| táo | TA-o | person |
| punò | PU-noQ | tree |
| kandilà | kan-DI-laQ | candle |
| pusà | PU-saQ | cat |
| susì | SU-siQ | key |
| batà | BA-taQ | child |
| punô | pu-noQ | full |
| sampû | sam-puQ | ten |
| bakyâ | bak-yaQ | wooden shoes |
| masamâ | ma-sa-maQ | bad |
| gintô | gin-toQ | gold |
LESSON THREE
Greetings and Common Expressions
Aside from the borrowed Hi and Hello, Tagalogs have other forms of greetings—peppered with speech suffixes that define courtesy and deference.
I. POLITE FORMS OF ADDRESS— PÔ AND HÔ
Tagalog politeness is a trait worthy to be discussed and taught to learners of the language. Younger generations and junior employees include the terms pô or hô at the start or end of their greetings and responses to express respect for older people—parents, older relatives, and other senior individuals— or persons with honorific titles or authority—clergy, teachers, community leaders, employers, and policemen—regardless of age. Pô and hô approximately mean sir or madam in English and reflect the speaker’s good manners and his respect to the one spoken to.
Pô is not used by an older person when talking to a younger person such as a father talking to his son or daughter. Neither do equals, such as siblings or friends, use the term.
Short positive responses can be just oo or yes when speaking to a younger person or a peer in a familiar manner, but when speaking to an older person, you must use either o-pô or o-hô, both of which are the formal or polite versions of yes.
II. GREETINGS—GOOD DAY, ETC.
Greetings usually start with magandá, which means beautiful. The complete greeting is Magandá ang áraw —often shortened to Magandáng áraw —which literally means beautiful day. The most common greetings from morning to evening, in their polite forms, are:
| Magandáng áraw pô. | Good day, sir/madam. |
| Magandáng umága pô. | Good morning, sir/madam. |
| Magandáng tanghálì pô. | Good afternoon, sir/madam. |
| Magandáng hápon pô. | Good afternoon, sir/madam. |
| Magandáng gabí pô. | Good evening, sir/madam. |
Note that tanghálì is noon or midday. The period covers lunch time, from around 11 in the morning to 1 o’clock in the afternoon. This is the time when most Tagalog families prepare and have their lunch.
For equals, it is fine to drop pô and just say:
| Magandáng umága. | Good morning. |
| Magandáng hápon. | Good afternoon. |
In addition to the use of pô or hô, another polite way of greeting people is to address them in the plural form by adding
