hello po if you are learning Tagalog then you are in the right place my name is Pat and I'm here to welcome you to the Tagalog Time video series and podcast where I will teach you conversational Tagalog in my Tagalog lessons we will break down grammar rules we will learn common phrases that native speakers say and we will practice practice practice so that you can feel confident speaking Tagalog to anyone you meet along the way we will also talk about Filipino culture history and geography so that you can have some context to go along with the information we learn about the language but first I want to ask you why are you learning Tagalog did you grow up in a home where your parents or your grandparents spoke Tagalog but you were never taught how to speak the language or maybe you have a special someone in your life who speaks Tagalog and you want to learn the language so that you can get to know their culture better or maybe you are fluent in Tagalog and you just want to understand the language a little bit better whatever your reason is I'm so glad you're here we will start from scratch get a good foundation on the language and build our way up a little bit about myself I was born in Manila my family moved to the United States when I was two years old and growing up my parents only spoke to me in Tagalog the only time they spoke to me in English was if I was in trouble they wanted to make sure that I understood that I was in trouble loud and clear so they said it in English and in Tagalog but for the most part my parents only spoke to me in Tagalog also I watched a lot of TFC the Filipino channel growing up and my family went to the Philippines every other year because we still have a lot of family over there so all of that really helped me stay fluent in Tagalog and it wasn't until I was already an adult when I really appreciated the fact that I was bilingual in both English and Tagalog and I hope to help you in your Tagalog Learning Journey I will mention that this Tagalog lesson is available on two different platforms you can find the video on my YouTube channel Tagalog time path or you can find the audio wherever you find your favorite podcast I decided to have this Tagalog lesson available in these two different platforms because I know some people prefer the video so that they can see the images on there if they are visual learners While others are auditory Learners and prefer to just listen to the information however you are catching this episode right now I do encourage you to try out the other platform at a later time for example if you are watching the video on YouTube maybe try out the podcast later and vice versa if you are listening to the podcast maybe check out the video later there are certain things in both the video and the podcasts that are very beneficial for example when you are watching the video you can see all of the words spelled out you can see how everything is written and the pattern of all of these phrases whereas when you are listening to the podcast you can really focus on the sounds and the emphasis and the pronunciation of words the video and the podcast work different parts of your brain so give each a try and see which one works best for you alrighty let's go ahead and get started with a lesson this is episode one I like to call it Tagalog fundamentals our learning agenda for the lesson includes talking about the history of Tagalog where does the name come from who speaks Tagalog like in what regions of the Philippines and what is the difference between Tagalog and Filipino so Filipino is actually the national language of the Philippines how is it different from Tagalog we'll talk about that then we will learn some common introduction phrases so that you can have a conversation with someone you just met and lastly we'll do some practice questions and apply what we learned alrighty this is a picture of a river in fact this is the Marikina River in Metro Manila I will just describe it to you in the back there are some skyscrapers really tall buildings in fact this is kind of what you would see in the Philippines whenever you visit a big city so there's skyscrapers most of those are probably condos probably Office Buildings for both domestic or local businesses as well as International businesses too and then there's probably some shopping centers all mixed in in there as well around those skyscrapers you will see a lot of houses so big cities are very populated a lot of traffic can be seen there however throughout the city you will find pockets of nature like this River or even parts of wooded areas or even nature parks where families will often relax together so what does a river have to do with Tagalog well in Tagalog the word river is elog and back in the day those who lived near the river were called taga ilog taga means from ilog means River so these people were from the river or also known as River dwellers the opposite of that would be tagabundok from the mountain so this was just a way to distinguish people in different regions that got ilog are those who were living beside the river and the name Tagalog comes from this phrase it is the language that was spoken by these people who were living near the river So eventually the language was called Tagalog now what is the difference between Tagalog and Filipino well before the 1930s there actually wasn't even a national language in the Philippines at the time Spanish and English were considered to be official languages but there was no national language assigned yet it wasn't until 1937 when Tagalog was declared to be the national language by the government however this was pretty controversial Tagalog was only spoken in the Central Luzon area that means people up north and people in the South did not speak Tagalog there are lots of languages and dialects throughout the country in fact some people didn't even recognize Tagalog as the national language some people did not support this decision but ultimately Tagalog was chosen for a number of reasons first Tagalog was spoken in Manila and its surrounding areas and this is where the government had resided for many years so since this is the area where government decisions were being made about politics economics and social issues many people decided that Tagalog would be more suitable to be the national language also Tagalog was chosen because it didn't have as many smaller dialects like other languages did in the country at the time another reason why Tagalog was chosen to be the national language was because there was an extensive amount of historical documents and books written in Tagalog so this showed that Tagalog had already been a well-established language lastly Tagalog was chosen to be the national language at the time because even though not a lot of regions spoke it fluently it was the most widely understood language throughout various regions in the Philippines eventually in 1987 it was declared that Filipino would actually be the national language instead of Tagalog so what is the difference between Tagalog and Filipino well Filipino comes from Tagalog however it includes loan words that are also commonly used but come from Spanish English and other languages for example let's take the word dictionary in Filipino people would just say dictionario dictionary however a true Tagalog purist would say talatinigan you'll notice that the word dictionario has a lot of Spanish influence and that is what the Filipino language is all about it incorporates all of these loan words that have been mixed into Tagalog so that's the main difference between Tagalog and Filipino Tagalog is the uninfluenced language whereas Filipino incorporates all of these lone words and influences from other countries So speaking of what are some of the Tagalog influences well Spain colonized the Philippines from 1521 to 1898. so for over 300 years Spain occupied the country so it had a big effect on the Filipino culture language and traditions here are some loan words from Spanish Caballo Horse radyo radio Cuchara spoon tinidor fork another country that influenced Tagalog is China there were a lot of immigrants from the hokian community who were from the southern tip of China and they immigrated to the Philippines between the 16th and 19th centuries there are a lot of Chinese influences in the Filipino culture for example the cuisine pancit in lumpia come from the Chinese culture also beliefs in feng shui and other things like that come from Chinese culture as well here are some Tagalog words that were influenced by China hikao earing so older sister and older brother those are some words from the Chinese culture next America influenced Tagalog America occupied the Philippines between 1898 and 1946. and here are some English words that have influenced Tagalog why is wise nurse driver driver also Japan influenced Tagalog they occupy the Philippines between 1942 and 1945 and here are some Tagalog words that were influenced by Japanese karaoke which is the incense or some smoke that's used to deter mosquitoes and then tsunami and again this is what the Filipino language incorporates it adds all of these words that have been borrowed from other countries into Tagalog whereas Tagalog purists would use other words that were more used in pre-colonial times all right so now let's take a look at where Tagalog is spoken throughout the Philippines there are three main island groups in the Philippines Luzon visayas in Mindanao Luzon is up in the north then visayas is in the central area and then Mindanao is way down in the south Tagalog Is Spoken Here in the Central Luzon area so it's more up there in the North there are so many languages in the Philippines and here are just some of them ilocano is spoken up there in the north northern Luzon area Tagalog again is the Central Luzon area bicolano is in the southern Luzon area waray is spoken in the visayas region also cebuano and bisaya all of that is spoken in the southern areas of the Philippines and then hiligai non is on the western side of the visayas region now the big question is what is the difference between language and dialect I will say that not everyone agrees some people think Tagalog is a language some people would say Tagalog is just a dialect same with bisaya some people would say oh bisaya is a language others would say that visaya is a dialect based on my research language is considered to be more broad whereas dialect is more Regional so yes someone could argue oh bikulano is regional hiligai known as Regional I like to consider all of these as different languages and I know I'm going to get people who disagree and I apologize but I also just like to give these regions their own recognition as having this developed language and form of communication I've been corrected before I've called it a dialect and someone said no actually it's a language and vice versa I've called it a language and people say no it's a dialect I would encourage you to maybe do your research you figure out what you want to call these different forms of communication and call it what you would like I will call them languages all right now let's take a look at where Tagalog is spoken all throughout the world well just think about where Filipinos go wherever there are Filipinos there's likely to be someone who speaks Tagalog and Filipinos travel all around the world either for their families they want to be closer to people who have moved away or maybe just for work there are a lot of overseas Filipino workers so Filipinos have moved everywhere all around the world so Tagalog is spoken in almost every continent did you know that there has been a Filipino on Antarctica who did some research there other than that they can be found in South America Africa North America Australia Europe Asia everywhere really so it is a very widespread language in the United States especially on the west coast like California Nevada Washington State Tagalog is one of the most spoken languages in households according to the U.S census so good for you for learning Tagalog it is a very useful language when you're meeting someone new all right so let's go ahead and learn some common phrases in Tagalog if you want to say hello how are you in Tagalog it's kamusta so it's spelled k-u-m kumusta but sometimes you might hear some people say like it's a k a sound so if you want to say hello how are you it is just one phrase all right now here are some responses if you're doing well you can say mabuti Naman that means I'm doing good I'm doing great I'm doing well mabuti means good Naman is an emphasis word so I'm doing good mabuti Naman if you're just doing okay you can say ayuslang arios means okay Lang means only so I'm only doing okay are you slang and if you're not doing good you can say Hindi mabuti Hindi means not mabute means good so not good I'm not doing well Hindi mabuti okay say these phrases with me one more time hello how are you mabuti Naman I'm doing well mabuti Naman Naman are you slang I'm doing okay Lang ayos Lang I'm not doing well Hindi mabuti Hindi mabuti next if you want to ask someone's name you could say ano Ang pangalan Mo ano means what Ang means is pangalan is name MO is referring to you to reply you could just say AKO SI blank I am blank for example I would say Pat I will say the long and formal answer could be that literally means my name is bat bat is my name however this isn't conversational Tagalog a lot of people would just say AKO SI blank all right let's try saying these phrases one more time repeat after me what is your name MO ano Ang pangalan Mo akosi blank I am blank all right if you want to ask someone where they're from you would say is referring to you where are you from to reply you would say I am from blank taga means from AKO means I am I am from Manila taga blank Ako all right say these phrases with me one more time Anka taga Manila Ako taga blank Ako taga Blanc Ako next if you want to ask about someone's age you would say is referring to you NA means already a to reply you would just say blank Ako I am blank 30 equal I am 30. blank aqua usually when someone is saying their age they use Spanish numbers so an 18 year old might say Ochoa I am 18. but you could also say it in Tagalog or in English 30 Ako let's say these phrases one more time a ilang Taun Kana blank Ako 30 Ako blank Ako the long form of your answer could be that literally means I am 30 years old again this is not so much conversational Tagalog it's more common for someone to just say 30 Ako next you can ask someone what is your job ano means what Ang means is trabajo means job MO is referring to you Mo foreign so very similar to the last response I am blank I am a blank for example I could say nurse Ako teacher Ako and here's just some vocabulary on some professions teacher nurse nurse doctor doctor abogado lawyer so you could say Guru Ako alright say these phrases with me one more time oh blank Ako Nars Ako Guru Ako the long-form answer would be AKO AI isang Nars literally I am a nurse again this is not conversational Tagalog more people would just say blank Ako next someone might ask you my Asawa kanaba are you married means to have Asawa is a spouse God is referring to you NA means already ba is a question word my Asawa kanaba my Asawa your response would be oh yes voila or Hindi no not yet so repeat after me my Asawa kanaba my Asawa kanaba and you say your answer yes not yet next is a very similar question my means to have anak means child Ka is referring to you NA means already and ba is a question word do you have any kids my anak kanaba my anak kanaba your response would be the same as the last question yes not yet so the difference between Walla and Hindi technically means none or nothing Hindi means no and since the question has the word my which means do you have it's almost like a quantity then you could answer with voila none I have none yet I don't have any kids yet sometimes you might also hear someone say Hindi no most commonly you would hear someone say voila none if you do want to answer and say that you do have kids you can add the number of kids in your response na Ako let's review some Tagalog numbers is one two that low three apat for Lima five now if you listen again to the response it's a when the number ends with a vowel like Delaware ends with the letter A you have to add an n g at the end when you respond so so instead of saying you have to add an NG to the end of the word so that it connects to the word anak it's almost like you're saying two of child you have two children and you add this NG to the end of any number when it ends with a vowel so is but for the word apat for it ends with a consonant you would have to add the word na before the word and knock so so anytime the number ends with a consonant you add the word na all right say that again with me do you have any kids and your response yes not yet and to talk about how many kids you do have you could say and just fill in the number in the phrase lastly to get to know someone you can ask them what are your hobbies ano means what Ang means are or is hilig means your likings or things that you like MO is referring to you what do you like to do what are your hobbies your response would be blink I like to Blink and here are some examples of some Hobbies to cook magluto magbasa to read mag Basa an TV watch TV Nang TV dance sumayao mug exercise to exercise mug exercise now this is a great taglish tip when you don't know a verb in Tagalog you can use the mug pattern so mug exercise is just the way to say exercise that's commonly how people would say it if you wanted to say that you like to swim but you don't know how to say swim in Tagalog you could say swim I like to swim later on go back and look up what to swim is in Tagalog then you can say so I am a big supporter of using taglish especially while you are learning Tagalog the main focus here is to learn the patterns and formation of phrases and over time you will learn more Tagalog vocabulary so that you can fill it into these phrases but in the meantime feel free to put English words wherever you need to all right now I always get asked how do you use the word bull the word bull is a part of speech that is used to show respect usually kids say bolt throughout a conversation when they are speaking to an elderly person or adults even say bolt when they are trying to be respectful either to someone in Authority or someone older than them there are specific placements for the word bull but I will tell you about those in my next video how to use both but just as a rule of thumb you can always add Bullet to the end of anything you say and it will always work it will always be respectful so for any of the phrases that we learned today Apple at the very end when you are speaking to someone older than you and that's just a good way to show respect all right now it's time to practice what we learned today translate these phrases in Tagalog I will give you 10 seconds and then we'll go over the answer okay so the first phrase that we're going to translate to Tagalog is what is your name what is your name how do you say that in Tagalog more ano Ang pangalan Mo what is your name now how would you reply in Tagalog if someone asked you ano Ang pangalan Mo how would you reply in Tagalog akosi blank aquosi Pat blank all right next question how do you say what is your job in Tagalog what is your job what is your job now how would you reply in Tagalog blank Ako I am blank nurse uncle teacher Ako next how would you say hello how are you in Tagalog how do you say hello how are you in Tagalog a kamusta Ka kamusta now how would you reply in Tagalog remember there are three different responses that you could say how would you reply to kamusta if you're doing well you could say Naman Naman if you're doing okay you could say are you slang ayos Lang and if you're not doing so good you can say Hindi mabuti Hindi mabuti alright now how do you say are you married in Tagalog are you married my Asawa kanaba my Asawa kanaba are you married a now how would you reply in Tagalog remember there are three different types of responses you can give to this question my Asawa kanaba you can say oh yes oh or voila Hindi no voila Hindi or not yet how do you say where are you from in Tagalog where are you from where are you from now how would you reply in Tagalog Manila AKO I'm from Manila Aku all right how would you ask how old are you in Tagalog how old are you gonna now how would you reply in Tagalog you can say blank Ako for example I would say 30 Ako so blank equal all right next question how would you ask do you have any kids do you have any kids in Tagalog my anak kanaba do you have any kids and how would you reply in Tagalog you can say oh oh yes or Hindi no not yet and if you wanted to be specific and say how many kids you do have it would be my blank a knock knock I have two kids or my apat I have four kids so that would be the sentence structure if you wanted to say how many kids you do have lastly how would you ask someone what are your hobbies in Tagalog what are your hobbies MO what are your hobbies more and how would you reply in Tagalog mahilig Ako I like two mahilig AKO magluto to cook gluto magbasa to read magbasa to watch TV TV to dance mug exercise to exercise mug exercise and remember you can always use a taglish tip if you don't know a verb in Tagalog just say it as a mug verb swimming shopping and later on go back and try to figure out what these words are in Tagalog so to swim is alright we learned a lot today we learned about the history of Tagalog we learned where it's spoken and some influences of it then we learned some common phrases that hopefully you can start using when you meet someone new and then we practiced I encourage you to maybe write these phrases down on a note card write the English translation on one side and the Tagalog translation on the other side and then just review them throughout the day practice really does make perfect try using these phrases to a native speaker that you know or if you don't have anyone you can speak to right now really try practicing these note cards on your own and a lot of people I meet get really nervous about their accent I always say ignore the accent forget about it for now the accent will come the more you practice I will say that even I have an English accent when I'm speaking Tagalog sometimes too it usually comes out when I'm nervous or if I'm speaking too fast but really that doesn't matter what matters in the end is that you are able to communicate in Tagalog be sure to subscribe to my YouTube channel for more Tagalog lessons and follow me on my other social media platforms thank you so much for joining me in this Tagalog lesson in my next lesson I will talk about how to use bolt when you want to be respectful I hope to see you there ha