13 Tagalog Prepositions Perfect For Learners

Original blog post: https://ling-app.com/fil/tagalog-prepositions/

Are you mastering Filipino/ Tagalog grammar? Then, Tagalog prepositions are one of the essential parts of speech to learn.

Prepositions are essential words in learning a language’s grammar. In learning the grammar of the English language, prepositions are some of the first lessons that you will learn. This is also true in Filipino or Tagalog grammar. So, let’s explore more than just Tagalog vocabulary, and let’s learn about Tagalog prepositions to help you in writing a Tagalog sentence.

Prepositions In Filipino

Before we start, let us recall what prepositions are. A preposition connects a noun, pronoun, or phrase (after the preposition) to a different portion of the sentence. It is also a word or set of words that come before a noun, pronoun, or noun phrase to indicate a direction, time, place, location, spatial relationships, or to introduce an object.

If you can still recall how you have learned prepositions in the English language, most of you will remember it as a challenging lesson, especially if you’re not a native speaker. In the Filipino language, it’s the other way around. The Filipino word for preposition is pang-ukol. Tagalog prepositions are often taken for granted by the students, maybe because it’s not that hard to learn the English language.

Tagalog prepositions are pretty straightforward. It is very different from demonstrative pronouns. For Filipino native speakers, it’s easy to identify which preposition to use in a sentence. In English, they usually get confused about when to use the prepositions in, on, and at.

Another reason is that some prepositions and prepositional phrases are not used in daily conversations. Most of the time, their written and spoken language are different. They tend to be more formal in written form and casual in spoken form. In fact, they sometimes use Taglish, which is a Tagalog-English combination.

List Of Prepositions In Filipino

Some of the prepositions you’ll learn below are very uncommon in daily conversations. You’ll just hear them on the news, in school, on TV shows, and at other formal events. Some also appear to be noun markers, but they are actually part of a prepositional phrase.

So, here is one of the essential Tagalog lessons when you are learning the Tagalog language — Tagalog prepositions.

1. Sa — (To, In, On, Through, Into, From, etc.)

You might be confused why the preposition sa has different translations in English. This is because of the fact that it’s the most versatile preposition in the Tagalog language. This is also the reason Filipinos do not see the need to spend more time learning about pang-ukol (preposition)because most of what they want to say can be expressed using sa. See the examples below:

2. Ng — Of

3. Kay/Kina — To

Note:

You will only use kay or kina when you are referring to a specific person or people. You will use kay for singular and kina for plural.

4. Ni/Nina — Of

Note:

You will use ni for singular and nina for plural. This is specifically used for people.

5. Para Sa/Para Kay — For

Note:

Sa can be used when talking about an object or a person, but we only use kay or kina when talking about a specific person or people and even a pet with a name. As you can notice, the English counterpart doesn’t change. This is one of the unique things about the Filipino language.

6. Tungkol Sa/Tungkol Kay — About

Note:

We use sa when talking about an object or thing, and we use kay or kina when talking about a person or people.

7. Hinggil Sa/Hinggil Kay — About

Note:

This is used the same way as tungkol sa and tungkol kay. The only difference is that this is it is often used in formal speech or settings.

8. Alinsunod Sa/ Alinsunod Kay — In Accordance With/ To

Note:

We use sa when talking about an object or thing, and we use kay or kina when talking about a person or people. The preposition alinsunod kay is strictly for people who have high authority only, like the president, vice president, mayor, etc.

9. Ayon sa/ Ayon kay — According To

Note:

We use sa when talking about an object like newspaper, news, TV channel, and organization. We use kay or kina when talking about a specific person or people.

10. Tungo Sa — Towards

11. Labag Sa — Against

Note:

This is often used in laws, guidelines, protocols, etc.

12. Laban Sa/Laban Kay — Against

Note:

We use sa when talking about an object or thing, and we use kay or kina when talking about a specific person or people.

13. Mula sa/Mula Kay — From

Note:

We use sa when talking about an object or thing, and we use kay or kina when talking about a specific person or people

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