Tagalog Word Order

NB. From this post onwards, example sentence parts are highlighted in red, blue, and green to represent the subject, direct object, and main verb. The (parenthesized) phrase next to the example sentence is the literal translation.

In this post, I’ll be touching a bit of word order in Tagalog.

To be honest, Tagalog has a semi-flexible word order. To illustrate, look at the example below.

Kumain ako ng ampalaya.

Ako ay kumain ng ampalaya.

Ang ampalaya ay aking kinain.

All the three sentences I thought of above mean the same thing, “I ate ampalaya”. I also ordered the sentences according to the frequency of use. Now, let’s analyze all three sentences!

Kumain ako ng ampalaya (Ate I ampalaya) – This implies a verb-subject-object order. This is the most common word order used in modern Tagalog.

Ako ay kumain ng ampalaya (I ate ampalaya) – This implies a subject-verb-object order, which should come as natural for most English speakers.  Although grammatically correct, this kind of word order comes off as “archaic” and a bit “stiff” for most Filipinos. In fact, this word ordering is used for poetry and creative writing!

Ang ampalaya ay aking kinain (The ampalaya I ate) – This implies an object-subject-verb order, which is in the passive voice, both in English and in Tagalog. Like English, it’s also discouraged to use this kind of word order in Tagalog unless for poetic reasons.

So which one should you use? It depends on what you want to emphasize! The default word order is the first one, which doesn’t give off any emphasis. If you want to emphasize the subject, you would use the second one with the appropriate contractions.

Now, more examples!

Matutulog ako sa bahay.

Ako ay matutulog sa bahay.

Sa bahay ako matutulog.

The first one just declares that I will sleep in my house. The second one emphasizes the I and that it is I that will sleep in the house. The third one emphasizes the house and that’s where I will sleep.

Nililinis ko ang aking kuwarto.

Ako ay naglilinis ng aking kuwarto.

Ang aking kuwarto ang aking lilinisin.

The first one just declares that I’m cleaning my room. The second one emphasizes the I and that it is I that is cleaning my room. The third one emphasizes my room, and that’s what I’m cleaning right now.

This is one of the fortes of Tagalog. Semi-flexible word order yields emphasis and orientation of the sentence.

That’s it for today, folks!