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At Last! Now you too can learn this vital language. If you are tossing up between learning FIlipino (Tagalog) or Visayan (Cebuano and other regional dialects in Negros, Bohol, Leyte, Mindanao, Suiquijor and of course Cebu) ask yourself two questions: 1. Where will I be living in the Philippines 2. What is my Filipina's first language? If she speaks Visayan or a Visayan dialect then the answer is easy... learn Visayan. If you will be living in a Visayan speaking region then you really should learn the local language. It will be well worth the effort and might even save your life!
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Dili Pa / Dili Na

Vocab:

Di-li – no (future tense) Ka-on – eat Pa-ni-ud-to – lunch pa – Still / yet na – Now / Already

Mokaon ka ba a imong paniudto? – Will you eat your lunch?

Explanation:

“mo” prefix in front of kanon marks it as future tense. “ka” personal pronoun for YOU “ba” is a question marker asking “imong” is YOUR

As with any yes or no question the respondent can provide more information.

Here are two possible answers:

Dili pa – No but but there is a possiblity that he/she will eat later Dili na – No and the person is expressing that he/she has no plan to eat

Wala Pa / Wala Na

Vocab:

Wa-la – nothing / absence of (used for past / progressive tense) Ka-on – eat Pa-ni-ud-to – lunch pa – Still / yet na – Now / Already

eg.

Mikaon ka ba sa imong paniudto? – Did you eat your lunch?

Explanation:

“mi” prefix in front of kanon marks it as past tense. “ka” personal pronoun for YOU “ba” is a question marker asking “imong” is YOUR

As with any yes or no question the respondent can provide more information.

Here are two possible answers:

Wala pa – Not yet but probably will later Wala na – No and the person is expressing that he/she has no plan to eat anymore

Wala / Dili

These are two of the most misunderstood and confused words in Cebuano for a student of the language.

 

If you look up the meaning of the words you will usually see it explained thus:

 

Wala – nothing / absence of

Dili – No

 

This simplistic translation will get you by most of the time and most Cebuano’s will not correct you if you use the wrong word.   If you pick up on the fact that this explanation does not fit the way the words are used then you will become very confused.  Try asking your average Cebuano or even many highly educated Cebuano’s why and they will be unable to tell you.

 

I have yet to find any book or reference that provides an explanation of the correct use of Wala and Dili.

 

Here it is

 

Wala – nothing / absence of (used for past / progressive tense)

Dili – no (future tense)

 

Eg.

 

In these examples we will assume a negative answer.

 

May kwarta ka ba? – Do you have money?

 

using the simplistic example you would expect to be able to answer with DILI

 

After all that means NO?

 

WRONG

 

The correct answer is WALA

 

Mokuha ka ba ug kwarta? – Will you get money?

 

If you had already learnt that the correct answer for the first question asking if you have money is WALA then be might be tempted to answer WALA.

 

WRONG

 

The correct answer is DILI

 

The above is a good example of why you really need access to a teacher when learning this language.

 

The next to lessons about PA and NA will provide more examples.

More practice asking YES or NO questions

As a general rule QUESTION MARKER “BA” will precede a personal pronoun

Amerikano ba ko – Am I an American?

Amerikano ka ba – Are you an American?   (note the placement of ba)

Amerikano ba siya  – Is he an American?

Amerikano ba kita – Are we American?   (inclusive of who you are talking to)

Americaon ba kami – Are we American? (exclusive of who you are talking to)

Amerikano ba kamo – Are you all American?

Amerikano ba sila  – Are they American?

The “BA” precedes the personal pronouns except for “you”

Amerikano ba ka sounds very bad to Filipino ears.

Compared to English Cebuano has very few such exceptions.

Asking a YES or NO question

Vocab:

Ba – Marker for a YES or NO question Mahal – expensive Balay – house Abang – rent (more common) Arkila – rent

You may have noticed Filipinos appending ba to English sometimes when they say something and expect a response that is either agreement or disagreement.

Mahal ang abang sa balay  -  The rent of the house is expensive

The addition of the ba question marker turns this statement into a question.

Mahal ba ang abang sa balay – Is the rent of the house expensive?

The ba question marker can only be used in YES or NO questions. Vocab:

Maot – ugly Salida – Show / Exit

The word maot translate to ugly but in Cebuano it can be used in a broader sense to describe something you did not like.

The word Salida is commonly used for show (TV or some live theater) but can also be used for exit.

So the following statement is a little ambiguous:

Maot ang salida

- The show was bad - The exit is ugly

Both are correct translations but the first translation would be the most commonly used and understood in the absence of some contextual reference.  If you were standing in front of an ugly exit then the second meaning would be understood.

We can easily turn it into a question by adding ba

Maot ba ang salida – Is the show bad (ugly)

Building sentences with FIRST & SECOND markers for PROPER NOUNS

Revision:

 

Ako ( a-ko )FIRST CLASS for I

Nako ( na-ko )SECOND CLASS for I

 

SiFIRST CLASS marker for proper noun

NiSECOND CLASS marker for proper noun

 

We will now add the FIRST & SECOND CLASS markers

 

Higala nako si John – John is my friend

 

Nako is a SECOND CLASS personal pronoun that denotes possession

 

Si is a FIRST CLASS marker for a proper noun.

 

As you can see the rule of one FIRST CLASS per sentence still applies.

 

The meaning changes if we change around the FIRST & SECOND CLASS

 

Higala Ako ni John – I am a friend of John

 

Here is an example using FIRST & SECOND CLASS markers for proper nouns

 

Asawa ni Joseph si Mary – Mary is Joseph’s wife

 

Change them around and the meaning changes

 

Asawa si Joseph ni Mary – Joseph is the wife of Mary ( because asawa in Cebuano is wife)

 

To make the above sentence correct we would also need to change asawa to bana (husband)

 

Bana si Joseph ni Mary – Joseph is the husband of Mary

 

 

 

 

 

Building sentences with FIRST & SECOND CLASS PERSONAL PRONOUNS

 You need to learn about FIRST CLASS and SECOND CLASS PERSONAL PRONOUNS before commencing to this lesson.

 Vocab:

Asawa ( a-sa-wa ) – wife Bata ( ba-ta ) – child 

Rules:

- Remember there can only be one first class personal pronoun per sentence. - If more than one pronoun then the shorter one must come first.

Asawa ako (ko) nimo – I am your wife ako is FIRST CLASS for I nimo is SECOND CLASS for YOU

The literal translation is WIFE I YOU

The FIRST CLASS PERSONAL PRONOUN denotes the topic of the sentence while the SECOND CLASS PERSONAL PRONOUN is possessive. 

As the rules states you can not put to FIRST CLASS PERSONAL PRONOUNS in the same sentence.   Not only would it be confusing but sounds totally wrong to a Cebuano listener.

Without a FIRST CLASS PERSONAL PRONOUN the sentence is incomplete.

If you reverse the order of the FIRST and SECOND CLASS PERSONAL PRONOUNS then the meaning of the sentence will change.

Asawa nako ikaw – You are my wife

Note: In Cebuano they have a separate word for husband as we do in English.  In Tagalog Asawa is used for both and translates to spouse.

 Here are some more examples.

Asawa nako siya – She is my wife

Nako is SECOND CLASS for I Siya is FIRST CLASS for he/she

Mga bata nako sila – They are my children 

Remember the rule about the shorter PERSONAL PRONOUN always coming first.

 Higala nako ikaw – You are my friend

 If we want to use the abbreviated form of ikaw which is ka then it will precede nako.

 Higala ka nako – You are my friend

 

 

FIRST CLASS MARKERS for use with proper nouns – si / sila si

 

si ( si ) – for proper noun

 

sila si ( si-la-si ) – same as above but plural

There is no direct English translation for the Marker Si / Sila Si 

 

In the lesson on the Use of Ang we learn how to say

 

Gwapa ang babaye. (The girl is beautiful)

Gwapo ang lalaki. (The boy is handsome)

 

In this lesson we replace girl and boy with a proper noun (name)

 

Gwapa si Mary. (Mary is beautiful)

Gwapo si John. (John is handsome)

 

Another example from the Use of Ang was

 

Magtutudlo ang lalaki.  - The man is a teacher

Magtutudlo ang babaye. – The women is a teacher

 

We can say

 

Magtutudlo si Mary. – Mary is a teacher

Magtutudlo si John. – John is a teacher

 

If we to say that Mary and John are teachers

 

Magtutudlo sila si Mary ug si John – Mary and John are teachers

 

You may have noticed in this and previous examples that when you pluralize a word in Cebuano the root word does not change as it does in English.  Instead a special word is used to signify that it is plural.  In the above example the special word is SILA.

 

To specify more than two people you just keep adding UG SI

 

Magtutudlo sila si Mary ug si John ug si Tony ug si Greg

 

Mary and John and Tony and Greg are Teachers

As in English we would simplify it to: 

Magtutudlo sila si Mary, John, Tony ug si Greg 

 

Mary, John, Tony and Greg are Teachers

 

 

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