I showed how to change basic verbs into verbs that occured in the past, are occuring in the present, or will occur in the future on my previous posts. This time, I will be showing you how to make adjectives in Tagalog.
In Tagalog, you can make an adjective by adding the prefix “ma” before a noun.
You can see this at work through the examples below.
Tagalog Adjectives Basic Forms |
---|
Prefix | Root Word | Result | English Translation | Sample Sentences in Tagalog | English Translation |
ma | bagal | mabagal | slow | Mabagal ang takbo ng kotse. | The car runs slow. |
ma | lungkot | malungkot | sad | Bakit ka malungkot? | Why are you sad? |
ma | ingay | maingay | loud / noisy | Hindi ko naintindihan ang sinasabi niya dahil maingay sa concert. | I didn’t understand what he said because it was noisy in the concert. |
ma | salimuot | masalimuot | complex | Masalimuot ang kuwento ng kaniyang buhay. | The story of his / her life is complex. |
ma | nipis | manipis | thin | Bagay ang manipis na telang ito sa mainit na panahon. | This thin fabric goes well with the hot weather. |
ma | ulan | maulan | rainy | Sabi ng weather forecast, magiging maulan daw ngayon. | According to the weather forecast, it will be rainy today. |
ma | kapal | makapal | thick | Makapal ang balahibo ng alaga niyang aso. | His pet dog’s fur is thick. |
ma | dumi | madumi | dirty | Madumi ba ang mukha ko? | Is my face dirty? |
ma | gulo | magulo | confusing | Hindi ko maintindihan ang instructions, Masyadong magulo. | I can’t understand the instructions. It’s too confusing. |
ma | lapad | malapad | wide | Wala ka bang mas malapad na lalagyan? Hindi kasya. | Don’t you have a wider container? It doesn’t fit. |
ma | putla | maputla | pale | Medyo maputla ka. Kailangan mo muna sigurong magpahinga. | You’re a bit pale. You probably need to rest for now. |
ma | bisa | mabisa | effective | Mabisa ang gamot na kaniyang ininom. | The medicine he / she took was effective. |
In some lesser-common cases, though, there are Tagalog words that function as standalone adjectives instead of the usual +ma prefix combined with a noun.
Take for example the case of “mahal” (expensive) vs. “mahaba” (long). “Mahal” is a standalone adjective while “mahaba” is an adjective that came from the combination of the noun “haba” (length) and the prefix “ma.”
Tagalog Adjectives and Their Plural Forms
An interesting thing about Tagalog adjectives that you may want to take note of is, unlike English adjectives that only have one form regardless of whether they’re describing one or two things or one or two, or more people, Tagalog adjectives have separate singular and plural forms.
For example, you were describing two different things: the first is a book, and the second is a pile of books.
In English, you would say something like, “The book is heavy” in the first example and something like, “The books are heavy” in the second one.
Notice that only the verb changes when the number of things being described increased. The adjective remained constant.
In Tagalog, it’s slightly different. When you’re describing two or more things, there are also two things that change: the noun and the adjective.
For example, if we’re going to say “The book is heavy” in Tagalog, we will say, “Mabigat ang libro,” but if we’re going to say, “The books are heavy” in Tagalog, we’re going to say, “Mabibigat ang mga libro.”
Notice that the noun (libro) changed to reflect the transition from singular to plural (mga libro), as did the adjective which changed from “mabigat“(singular) to “mabibigat” (plural).
See additional examples of how this is done below.
Note: Tagalog adjectives are changed from their singular to their plural form by placing the prefix “ma” at the beginning of the word, putting the first syllable of the root word after it, then ending it with the root word.
Tagalog Adjectives Plural Forms |
---|
Prefix | Root Word | Result | English Translation | Sample Sentences in Tagalog | English Translation |
ma | tamis | matatamis | sweet | Matatamis ang mga mangga galing sa Guimaras. | The mangoes from Guimaras are sweet. |
ma | haba | mahahaba | long | Mahahaba ang mga pilik ng bata. | The child’s lashes are long. |
ma | bigat | mabibigat | heavy | Mabibigat ang kaniyang mga dala. | The things he / she is carrying are heavy. |
ma | kulay | makukulay | colorful | Makukulay ang mga paso sa hardin. | The pots in the garden are colorful. |
ma | sarap | masasarap | delicious | Masasarap ang pagkain sa handaan. | The food at the feast are delicious. |
ma | layo | malalayo | far | Malalayo ang agwat ng mga bayan sa isa’t-isa. | The distance from one town to another is far. |
ma | bangis | mababangis | wild | Mababangis ang mga hayop sa gubat. | The animals in the jungle are wild. |
ma | sakit | masasakit | hurtful | Masasakit ang mga binitiwan niyang mga salita. | The words he / she said are hurtful. |
ma | init | maiinit | hot | Maiinit pa ang mga pagkain noong dumating kami. | The food were still hot when we arrived. |
ma | kipot | makikipot | narrow | Makikipot ang mga eskinita sa kanilang lugar. | The alleys at their place are narrow. |
ma | bango | mababango | fragrant | Mababango ang mga bulaklak na kaniyang pinitas. | The flowers that he / she picked are fragrant. |
ma | tulis | pointed | matutulis | Matutulis ang mga dulo ng kanilang mga kutsilyo. | The ends of their knives are pointed. |
When these types of adjectives are turned from their singular to plural forms, they go through the standard procedure (i.e. take the first syllable of the root word then combine it with the root word); however, instead of having “ma” placed before the first syllable of the root word + the root word), “ang” is added before them instead.
The word “ang” is a standalone word that is usually used as an article; however in some cases, it can be used as part of an exclamatory phrase to express strong feelings or sentiment (like how when you add the word “How” before an adjective, it has a stronger connotation. Like in “How pretty!” for example).
Let’s take for example the word “laki.” “Laki” means “size.” On it’s own, it’s just a noun, but when paired with “ang” to make it “Ang laki” (which means “How big”) it turns into something descriptive.
Normally, when turning adjectives from their singular to their plural forms, you can use both the first method (ma+ first syllable of the root word + root word) and the second method (ang + first syllable of the root word + root word), but in some cases, you can only use the second one.
I honestly don’t know the original rule or reason for this, other than in daily usage, it wouldn’t sound right — like if you omit the “ang” part, it would sound like the phrase is broken.
Below are some examples to help illustrate it better.
Tagalog Adjectives Irregular Plural Forms |
---|
Prefix | Root Word | Result | English Translation | Sample Sentences in Tagalog | English Translation |
ma | dumi | marurumi | dirty | Marurumi na ang mga punda. Kailangan nang palitan ang mga iyon. | The pillowcases are dirty now. They need to be changed. |
ang | mura | ang mumura | cheap | Ang mumura ng mga paninda sa tiyangge. | The items for sale at the flea market are cheap. |
ang | pino | ang pipino | fine | Ang pipino ng mga buhangin dito. Nakakamangha. | The sand here is so fine. It’s amazing. |
ang | mahal | ang mamahal | expensive | Ang mamahal naman ng mga bagong labas nilang computer. | Their newly-released computers are really expensive. |
ang | korni | ang ko-corny | corny | Ang ko-corny ng mga joke mo, pero in fairness, nakakatawa. | Your jokes are really corny, but, in fairness, they’re funny. |
ang | high-tech | ang ha-high-tech | high-tech | Ang ha-high tech ng mga gadget nila sa bahay. Nakakalitong gamitin sa umpisa. | Their gadgets at home are all high-tech. They’re confusing to use at first. |
ang | boring | ang bo-boring | boring | Ang bo-boring naman ng mga palabas. Inaantok ako. | The shows are really boring. I’m feeling sleepy. |
On an additional note, if you noticed, there’s another example that looks a bit different than the rest. I’m referring to the word “marurumi.” As you know by now, we convert a noun (dumi) into an adjective by taking the first syllable of the root word then adding the prefix “ma” before it.
Going by that pattern, normally, we would have the word “madudumi” as the final product.
In Tagalog, however, when the first syllable of a word that starts with the letter “d” is repeated, it changes into the letter “r” if it’s followed by a vowel. In this case, “dumi” changes into “rumi” (root word). When we’re using it to describe a single object, we’ll use “marumi,” but if we were describing more than one object, then we will use, “marurumi.”
Like this:
Like Loading...
See Related Posts