Learn Cebuano

Vocab:

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

Mokanon 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

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

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.

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.

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)

Revision:

Ako ( a-ko ) - FIRST CLASS for I

Nako ( na-ko ) - SECOND CLASS for I

Si - FIRST CLASS marker for proper noun

Ni - SECOND 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

 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

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

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

sa  - of / to / on / in / with / at  (common noun)

sa mga – same as above but plural

Using the same example from the lesson on SECOND CLASS personal pronouns:

Gamay ang balay niya - His or Her house is small

We will replace the personal pronoun with common noun

Gamay ang balay sa lalaki – The house of the man is small

Negosyo ( ne-gos-yo ) – business

Ug ( ug ) – and

Bata ( ba-ta ) - Child

Mo-adto (mo-ad-to) - Will go (future)

Mo-uban (mo-u-ban) - Will go with (future)

Libro (lib-ro) - book

Lamesa (la-me-sa) - Table

Here is another example:

Negosyo niya – His or Her business

Negosyo sa babaye – Business of the girl  (Girls buisness) 

If we want to refer to a group of girls:

Negosyo sa mga babaye – The business of the girls

The prefix MGA is used to pluralize a noun.

Or refer to a house belonging to multiple children.

Balay sa mga bata – The house of the children

More examples

Moadto ko sa Manila - I will go to manila

Mouban ako sa imo - I will go with you

Ang Libro sa lamesa - The book on the table

Ang libro sa balay - The book at/in the house

Second class MARKERS for use with proper nouns - ni / nila ni

ni ( ni ) – of (proper noun)

nila ni ( ni-la-ni ) - same as above but plural

Using the same example from the lesson on SECOND CLASS personal pronouns:

Gamay ang balay niya - His or Her house is small

We will replace the personal pronoun with proper noun

Gamay ang balay ni John – The house of John is small (John’s house is small)

Negosyo ( ne-gos-yo ) – business

Ug ( ug ) - and

Here is another example:

Negosyo niya – The business of him or her (His or Her business)

Negosyo ni John – The business of John (John’s business)

If we want to include John’s business partner:

Negosyo nila ni John ug nila ni Peter – The business of John and Peter

Or refer to a house belonging to John and his wife Mary.

Balay nila ni John ug nila ni Mary – The house of John and Mary

You should review the FIRST CLASS personal pronouns before moving to the SECOND CLASS.

Here are the SECOND CLASS personal pronouns:

nako ( na-ko ) – My
nimo ( ni-mo ) – Your
niya ( ni-ya ) – His or Her
nato ( na-to ) – Our (inclusive of the person being addressed)
namo ( na-mo ) – Our (exclusive of the person being addressed)
ninyo ( nin-yo ) – Your (plural)
nila ( ni-la ) - Thier

As stated with FIRST CLASS there can only be one used in a sentence but with SECOND CLASS there is no limit on how many you can use.
Gamay ang balay. (The house is small)

Now lets expand this sentence to denote ownership of the house.

Gamay ang balay nako  - My house is small

You can see we are using the SECOND CLASS personal pronoun.

Attaching SECOND CLASS personal pronouns to objects denotes ownership.

In a previous lesson we had:

Gamay ang balay ako / ko WOULD PROBABLY BE UNDERSTOOD BUT VERY WRONG GRAMMAR

Using the wrong CLASS of personal pronoun can often change the entire meaning of the sentence.

So here is the example for each SECOND CLASS personal pronoun expanding our description of a small house to denote ownership:

Gamay ang balay nako – My house is small
Gamay ang balay nimo – Your house is small
Gamay ang balay niya - His or Her house is small
Gamay ang balay nato – Our house is small (inclusive of the person being addressed)
Gamay ang balay namo – Our house is small (exclusive of the person being addressed)
Gamay ang balay ninyo – Your house is small (plural as in belongs to those being addressed)
Gamay ang balay nila – Their house is small

The MARKER ANG is FIRST CLASS and identifies the topic of the sentence which in this case is the house.

There are other ways to construct sentences with the same meaning but making other parts of the sentence the topic.

This is often done for emphases or continuation of a previous topic.

It can also be the personal choice of the speaker what form the like to use.

This is an advanced area we will look at in the future but for now I just wanted to touch on it here.

In our next lesson we will attach SECOND CLASS personal pronouns to VERBS.

Filipino Grammar is very different from English and any attempt to try to directly relate its structure to that of English will result in confusion.

My teacher uses a grammar method that classifies pronouns and markers into three different classes

Here are the FIRST CLASS personal pronouns:

ako ( a-ko ) / ko – I
ikaw ( i-kaw ) / ka – You
siya ( si-ya ) / s’ya – He or She
kita ( ki-ta ) / ta – We (inclusive of the person being addressed)
kami ( ka-mi ) / mi - We (exclusive of the person being addressed)
kamo ( ka-mo ) / mo – All of you (you plural)
sila ( si-la ) – They

There should only be one of these FIRST CLASS pronouns or markers (coming later) in a sentence.

They identify the topic or subject of the sentence and using more than one can be confusing as well as sounding bad to a Cebuano’s ears.

All of the above personal pronouns have a corresponding SECOND CLASS and THIRD CLASS variations.

In previous lessons we had the word balay which means house. You can not use the FIRST CLASS personal pronouns to denote ownership.  You need to use the SECOND CLASS personal pronouns.

This is the meaning when using the FIRST CLASS personal pronoun:

Balay ko – I am a house
Balay ka – You are a house
etc.

Lamesa kini – This is a table (close usualy within reach)
Lamese kana – That is table (futher away usualy out of reach)
Lamesa kadto – That over there is a table (far away)

The above examples of distance above are a guide only. 

Really the use is contextually based dependant on the distance relationship of one object to another.

If you were talking about the house you lived in you could use
…Kini nga balay (kining balay) – “this house”.

Kana can be used to describe an adjoining house
…kana nga balay (kanang balay) – “that house”.

Kadto could be used to refer to a house in another barangay
…kadto nga balay (kadtong balay) – “that house over there”

If for example you owned three houses and were referring to each as above you could use kini for the house where you are currently located while kana could be describing house in a different city and kadto could be describing a house in a different country.

How to specify a specific object

In the last lesson we had the example of how to say this is a table

Lamesa kini – This (here) is A table

To specify a specific table you can use the ANG marker.

Kini ang lamesa – This (here) is THE table (specific table that becomes the subject)

The ang marker makes the table the topic of the sentence.  There may be other tables in the Proximity but this sentence structure is pertaining to a particular table.

In a previous lesson we had the example of how to say she is beautiful.

Gwapa Siya – She is beautiful

We can se the ANG marker to specify a particular girl as being the beautiful one.

Siya ang gwapa – She is the beautiful (she is the beautiful one)

This specifies one girl as being beautiful and it is implied that is more attractive other girls that might be with her or part of a grouping.

In the previous lesson we saw the example of how to say She is the beautifl one.   This emphased the beautiful of one particluar girl over any other present or part of a grouping of girls.

There are actualy more direct ways of specifying comparisons using Mas, Kaayo and Pinaka.

Kaayo ( ka-a-yo ) – very
Mas ( mas ) (prefix + adjective) – more
Pinaka ( pi-na-ka ) (prefix + adjective) - most

If we want to say that a girl is very beautifuly then the instensifyer kaayo is used.

Gwapa kaayo siya – She is very beautiful

If we want to say one girl is more beautiful than others in comapirson then the prefix Mas is used.

Masgwapa siya – She is the more beautiful (the other girl or girls she is being directly compared to)

If we want to say that one girl is the most beautiful of all the girls in comparison then Pinaka is used.

Pinaka-gwapa siya – She is the most beautiful (of all the girls)

You can use these to make comparative descriptions about the size of a house.

Dako kaayo ang balay – The house is very big

Masdako ang balay – The house is bigger (than the other house it is compared to)

Pinaka-dako ang balay – The house is the biggest (of all houses)

First class pronouns

Ako ( a-ko ) (ko) – I

Ikaw ( i-kaw ) (ka) – you

Siya ( si-ya  ) (s’ya) – he / she

Kita ( ki-ta ) (ta) – we (inclusive of who you are talking to)

Kami ( ka-mi ) (mi) - you (exclusive of who you are talking to)

Kamo ( ka-mo ) (mo) – you (plural)

Sila ( si-la ) – they

Filipinos love to abbreviate every word they possibly can. Therefore they will use the short form of a word almost every time and this becomes confusing when you discover that the same short abbreviation is used for other words also. You then need to understand the context it is being used in order to know what is meant. This is easy for a native speaker but very confusing for someone learning the language.

Another thing to take note of is there is no separate word for he and she. They are both SIYA. Have you noticed how often a Filipino speaker will use the wrong gender when saying he or she. Now you understand why.

One thing that this language does have that English does not is a distinction for the word WE. They have two different words for WE depending on if you are including the person you are talking to. In English we have only one and on occasion need to seek clarification as to if the person being talked to is included. Usually it’s understood in context.

Vocabulary

Negosyante ( ne-gos-yan-te ) - businessperson

Nindot ( nin-dot ) - nice

Kugihan ( ku-gi-han ) – energetic / industrious

Tapulan ( ta-pu-lan ) – lazy

Negosyante ko (I am a businessperson)

Negosyante ka (You are a businessperson)

Negosyante siya (He or She is a business person)

Negosyante kita (we are business people inclusive of the person being addressed)

Negosyante kami (we are business people exclusive of the person being addressed)

Negosyante kamo (you are all businesspeople)

Negosyante Sila (they are business people)

Nindot ko (I am nice)

Nindot ka (You are nice)

Nindot Siya (He or She is nice)

Nindot kita (we are nice inclusive of the person being addressed)

Nindot kami (we are nice exclusive of the person being addressed)

Nindot kamo (You are all nice)

Nindot Sila (They are nice)

Kugihan ko (I am energetic / industrious)

Kugihan ka (You are energetic / industrious)

Kugihan Siya (He or She is energetic / industrious)

Kugihan kita (we are energetic / industrious inclusive of the person being addressed)

Kugihan kami (we are energetic / industrious exclusive of the person being addressed)

Kugihan kamo (You are all energetic / industrious)

Kugihan Sila (They are energetic / industrious)

Tapulan ko (I am lazy)

Tapulan ka (You are lazy)

Tapulan Siya (He or She is lazy)

Tapulan kita (we are lazy inclusive of the person being addressed)

Tapulan kami (we are lazy exclusive of the person being addressed)

Tapulan kamo (You are all lazy)

Tapulan Sila (They are lazy)

Some more Vocabulary

Tabang ( ta-bang ) – help

Katabang ( ka-ta-bang ) - helper

Uban ( u-ban ) – to go with / accompany

Kauban ( ka-u-ban ) – companion

The above comes from a review of my own hand written notes.

We will continue with the same vocab and phrases but changing to the more common abbreviated form of NGA.  Using this abbrebiated form has exactly the same meaning as the previous form with the separate NGA.

If the word ends with a vowel then the A is dropped from the NGA and NG is appended to the proceeding word.

If the word ends with a constantanent then you need to use the un-abrebiated form with the following excpetions:

• For words ending with N you can append the G to the preceeding word.
• For words ending with Y or W you append NG to the preceeding word.

Magtutudlo  ( mag-tu-tud-lo ) – teacher
Lalaki  ( la-la-ki ) – male
Babaye  ( ba-ba-ye ) - female

Magtutudlong lalake  (male teacher - ends with vowel so append NG)
Magtutudlong babaye (female teacher - ends with vowel so append NG)

Dako ( da-ko ) – big
Gamay ( ga-may ) - small
Balay ( ba-lay ) – house

Dakong balay (big house - ends with vowel so append NG)
Gamayng balay (small house - ends with Y so append NG)

Gwapa ( gwa-pa ) - beautiful for female
Gwapo ( gwa-po ) - handsome for male

Gwapang babaye (beautiful girl - ends with vowel so append NG)
Gwapong lalaki (handsome boy - ends with vowel so append NG)

Mahal ( ma-hal ) – expensive or precious (similar use to the English word dear)
Lami ( la-mi ) – delicious
Pagkaon ( pag-ka-on ) – food
Init  ( i-nit ) – hot (temperature)
Awto ( aw-to ) – car

Mahal nga awto (expensive car - ends with L so can not use abrebiated form)
Laming pagkaon (delicious food - ends with vowel so append NG)
Init nga buntag (hot morning - ends with T so can not use abrebiated form)

Buntag ( bun-tag ) – morning
Gabii ( ga-bi-i ) - night
Maayo ( ma-a-yo ) – good

Maayong gabii   (good night- ends with vowel so append NG  )
Maayong buntag  (good morning - ends with vowel so append NG)

The above comes from a review of my own hand written notes.

Using NGA creates a different meaning

Magtutudlo ( mag-tu-tud-lo ) – teacher
Lalaki ( la-la-ki ) – male
Babaye  ( ba-ba-ye ) - female

The connector NGA is used to join the two as in the description “male teacher”

Magtutudlo nga lalake  (male teacher)
Magtutudlo nga babaye (female teacher)

Dako ( da-ko ) – big
Gamay  (ga-may ) - small
Balay  ( ba-lay ) – house

Dako nga balay (big house)
Gamay nga balay (small house)

Gwapa  ( gwa-pa ) - beautiful for female
Gwapo  ( gwa-po ) - handsome for male

Gwapa nga babaye (beautiful girl)
Gwapo nga lalaki (handsome boy)

Mahal ( ma-hal ) – expensive or precious (similar use to the English word dear)
Lami ( la-mi ) – delicious
Pagkaon  ( pag-ka-on ) – food
Init  ( i-nit )  – hot (temperature)
Awto  ( aw-to ) – car

Mahal nga awto (expensive car)
Lami nga pagkaon (delicious food)
Init nga buntag (hot morning)

Buntag ( bun-tag ) – morning

Gabii ( ga-bi-i ) - night
Maayo  (ma-a-yo ) – good

Maayo nga gabii   (good night)
Maayo nga buntag  (good morning)

The above comes from a review of my own hand written notes.

Using ANG we can create a simple sentence using the following words:

Magtutudlo (mag-tu-tud-lo) – teacher
Lalaki (la-la-ki) – male
Babaye (ba-ba-ye)  female

The marker ANG is used to join the two as in the statement the teacher is a male

Magtutudlo ang lalake.  (The man is a teacher)
Magtutudlo ang babaye. (The women is a teacher)

Dako ( da-ko ) - big
Gamay ( ga-may ) - small
Balay ( ba-lay ) – house

Dako ang balay. (The house is big)
Gamay ang balay. (The house is small)

Gwapa  ( gwa-pa ) - beautiful for female
Gwapo  ( gwa-po ) - handsome for male

Gwapa ang babaye. (The girl is beautiful)
Gwapo ang lalaki. (The boy is handsome)

Mahal ( ma-hal ) – expensive or precious (similar use to the English word dear)
Lami ( la-mi ) – delicious
Pagkaon ( pag-ka-on )  – food
Init  ( i-nit )– hot (temperature)
Awto ( aw-to ) – car

Mahal ang awto. (The car is expensive)
Lami ang pagkaon. (The food is delicious)
Init ang buntag. (The morning is hot)

Buntag ( bun-tag ) – morning
Gabii ( ga-bi-i ) - night
Maayo ( ma-a-yo ) – good

Maayo ang gabii.   (The night is good)
Maayo ang buntag.  (The morning is good)

The above comes from a review of my own hand written notes.

Welcome to my Learn Cebuano blog. 

For the past few months I have had regular personal instruction with Sem P. Villar who is a Cebuano language expert with more than 20 years experience as a language consultant and private tutor providing language instruction and consultancy to foreigners, missionaries, tourists, expats, consuls etc…

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