Tagalog Long Vowels (Stress)

In Tagalog, stressed syllables have a long vowel, while unstressed syllables have a short vowel.

In this book, all syllables with a long vowel are underlined. Examples:

trabaho  

work, job

aso  

dog

makakasama  

will be able to come along

It is important to make a distinction between long vowels and short vowels to be clearly understood. For one thing, many words change meanings when their long vowels are not clearly audible. Examples:

buhay  

life

buhay  

alive

mag-aaral  

will study

mag-aaral  

student, pupil

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This grammar guide is part of the Learning Tagalog Course.
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