Learning Tagalog

Ma- ⁴ : Tagalog Verb Affix

POD: object

to be able to do something to a person or a thing

root	meaning	root + affix	meaning
kain	eating	makain	to be able to eat
kita’	seeing	makita’	to (be able to) see
sabi	something said	masabi	to be able to say
alaala	memory	maalala (irregular verb)	to (be able to) remember
rinig	hearing	marinig	to (be able to) hear
bili	buying price, buying	mabili	to be able to buy
basa	reading	mabasa	to be able to read
kuha’	getting	makuha’	to be able to get

root	kain
meaning	eating
root + affix	makain
meaning	to be able to eat

root	kita’
meaning	seeing
root + affix	makita’
meaning	to (be able to) see

root	sabi
meaning	something said
root + affix	masabi
meaning	to be able to say

root	alaala
meaning	memory
root + affix	maalala (irregular verb)
meaning	to (be able to) remember

root	rinig
meaning	hearing
root + affix	marinig
meaning	to (be able to) hear

root	bili
meaning	buying price, buying
root + affix	mabili
meaning	to be able to buy

root	basa
meaning	reading
root + affix	mabasa
meaning	to be able to read

root	kuha’
meaning	getting
root + affix	makuha’
meaning	to be able to get

Aspects:

basic form	completed	uncompleted	unstarted
maalala	naalala	naaalala	maaalala
mabasa	nabasa	nababasa	mababasa

basic form	maalala
completed	naalala
uncompleted	naaalala
unstarted	maaalala

basic form	mabasa
completed	nabasa
uncompleted	nababasa
unstarted	mababasa

Sentences:

Naalala ni Grace ang password.	Grace remembered the password.
Nabasa ni Ralph ang sign.	Ralph was able to read the sign.

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This grammar guide is part of the Learning Tagalog Course.
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From Essential Tagalog Grammar: A Reference for Learners of Tagalog, Second Edition
By Fiona De Vos

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