6 common ways Filipinos speak and write Tagalog sloppily

Have you ever been dumbfounded by a Tagalog text message or Facebook post?

Maybe it’s not your knowledge of Tagalog grammar that’s at fault.

There are 6 common ways Filipinos deviate from textbook Tagalog that you should know about.

And they are…

• Sloppiness #1: Taglish
• Sloppiness #2: Dropping affixes
• Sloppiness #3: Yung instead of ang
• Sloppiness #4: Dropping ang
• Sloppiness #5: Si instead of ang
• Sloppiness #6: Textspeak

Very few people speak their native language perfectly.

Actually, almost any language today has influences from English.

But in the case of Tagalog, the English influence is massive!

Almost nobody speaks pure Tagalog anymore.

In fact, this goes far beyond English influence.

There is a kind of deliberate laziness or sloppiness in the way Filipinos speak Tagalog nowadays. It’s as though speaking proper grammatical Tagalog is seen as old-school.

What is our own stance on this at Learning Tagalog?

In our materials, we’ve tried to stay as close as possible to the way people really speak, without using sloppy language.

This means that both in terms of grammar and in terms of spelling, we’ve followed convention.

You’ll find that we often use English words in our course instead of native Tagalog words.

That’s because those words are more common in “standard” Manila Tagalog than the native word.

We haven’t tried to make the lessons easier on purpose by using English.

That said, let’s have a look at the ways commonly spoken and written Tagalog differs from textbook Tagalog.

You need some basic or intermediate level to follow along here.

Sloppiness #1: Taglish

Taglish is switching between English and Tagalog phrases in the same sentence, or combining English and Tagalog constructions.

For example:

• Let’s go na! — instead of Tara na!
  — Let’s go!
• Nag-thank you sila. — instead of Nagpasalamat sila.
  — They said thanks.
• Wait lang. — instead of Teka lang.
  — Wait a sec.

Sloppiness #2: Dropping affixes

Filipinos often drop affixes when speaking Tagalog. The meaning can be guessed from the context.

For example:

• Punta tayo sa Cebu. — instead of Pumunta tayo sa Cebu.
  — Let’s go to Cebu.

~~~

The next 3 examples of sloppiness are about the word ang.

Ang is surely the most common word in authentic Tagalog, but guess what:

It’s slowly disappearing in spoken language!

Sloppiness #3: Yung instead of ang

The demonstrative pronoun iyong (includes the linker -ng), or yung, for short, is very often used instead of the marker ang.

For example:

• yung lalaki — instead of ang lalaki
  — the guy

Sloppiness #4: Dropping ang

As you may know, ang can be an Ang marker or an intensifier.

Ang is often dropped in both cases.

An example with the marker ang:

• San punta mo? — instead of Saan ang punta mo?
  — Where are you going? Lit. Where the going your?

Let’s have a look at an example with the intensifier ang followed by the adjective root, meaning so… or how…

The adjective in the example is magaling meaning good (at). It is composed of the affix ma- and the root galing:

• Galing! — instead of Ang galing!
  — Well done! Lit. How good!

Sloppiness #5: Si instead of ang

This one is not as common as the other ones, but still good to know!

Si marks personal names, or names of animals or characters. Using si instead of ang for non-personal names and common nouns is ungrammatical. It gives a funny effect of turning a thing, place, branded item etc. into a living character, with its own quirks.

For example:

• si Yamaha — instead of ang Yamaha
  — the Yamaha

Sloppiness #6: Textspeak

Most Tagalog speakers don’t type words in full online or in text messages. Instead, they use textspeak. Here are some common examples:

• cya — instead of siya
• d2 — instead of dito, nandito
• u — instead of you, ikaw, ka (pronounced as you in English)
• kau — instead of kayo
• gud am — instead of good morning
• gud pm — instead of good afternoon/evening
• nlng — instead of na lang
• n — instead of na
• kc — instead of kasi
• ung — instead of yung
• un — instead of yun
• ur — instead of you’re
• sau — instead of sa iyo
• b — instead of ba
• aq — instead of ako
• me — instead of ako (pronounced as me in English)
• cno — instead of sino
• c — instead of si

Of course, like in any language, there are also shortened word forms that aren’t really considered sloppy. Some examples in Tagalog are bat (bakit) — why and san (saan, nasaan) — where.

As an exercise, see if you can decipher the following text messages:

1. gud am. d2 n aq. san u?
2. alis nlng me. kc tagal mo.

(Scroll down for the answers.)

1. gud am. d2 n aq. san u?
(Good morning. Nandito na ako. Nasaan ka?)
— Good morning. I’m here now. Where are you?

2. alis nlng me. kc tagal mo.
(Aalis na lang ako. Kasi ang tagal mo.)
— I’m leaving. Because it’s taking you so long.

It’s quite normal to be confused at first. Don’t worry, you’ll get used to it!

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