Common Uses of Tagalog Ng Markers

1. Showing possession or belonging (“of”).

bag ng babae	a/the woman’s bag Lit. bag of a/the woman
bag ni Mary	Mary’s bag Lit. bag of Mary
apartment nina Alfred at Mary	Alfred and Mary’s apartment Lit. apartment of Alfred and Mary
bubong ng bahay	roof of a/the house
presidente ng Pilipinas	president of the Philippines

2. Expressing various kinds of specification (“of”).

grupo ng babae	group of women
bote ng beer	bottle of beer
picture ng aso	picture of a/the dog
teacher ng Math	teacher of Math
manlalaro’ ng basketball	basketball player Lit. player of basketball
tambakan ng basura	garbage dump Lit. dumping place of garbage
isang kilo ng mangga	a kilo of mangoes

3. Only for ng and ng mga: Marking the non-POD object of an action. A non-POD object is an object that is part of the News (p. 30) instead of the POD (p. 30). The non-POD object is often indefinite (“a/an/some” + noun).

Kumain* ng mangga ang babae.

The woman ate a mango.

The woman ate some mangoes.

Kumain ng ice cream ang babae.

The woman ate (some) ice cream.

4. Marking the non-POD doer of an action (“by”). A non-POD doer is a doer that is part of the News (p. 30) instead of the POD (p. 30). In most cases, the non-POD doer is definite (“the” + noun).

Kinain* ng babae ang ice cream.

The woman ate the ice cream.

Lit. The ice cream was eaten by the woman.

Kinain ni Mary ang ice cream.

Mary ate the ice cream.

Lit. The ice cream was eaten by Mary.

* The difference between kinain and kumain is explained in the chapter on verbs (p. 89).

To make the non-POD doer unambiguously indefinite, isang may be added.

Kinain ng isang babae ang ice cream.

A woman ate the ice cream.

Lit. The ice cream was eaten by a woman.

5. Only for ng: Indicating direction. In some cases, ng may be used to indicate direction. This direction should be a place (not a movable object or person). Examples:

*Pumunta ng school* ang babae.**	The woman went to school.
*Pumunta ng Pilipinas ang babae.*	The woman went to the Philippines.
*Umakyat ng bundok* ang babae.**	The woman climbed a mountain.

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