Learn Cebuano

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.