Tagalog Phrases: 100 Common Phrases With Pronunciation and Po

Read this first: po, opo and how Tagalog sounds

Po and opo. Tagalog politeness runs on one small word. Po is added to almost any sentence to make it respectful, and opo is the respectful "yes" (plain yes is oo). Use po with anyone older than you, anyone serving you, anyone you do not know, and anyone in uniform. Filipinos use it with their own parents. Leaving it out is not rude among friends; using it with strangers is never wrong. Every phrase below shows where po goes.

Pronunciation. Tagalog is almost entirely phonetic, with five pure vowels (a as in "father", e as in "bed", i as in "machine", o as in "or", u as in "rule") and simple consonants. Two things to watch:

• ng is one sound, the "ng" of "sing", and it can start a word or a syllable: ngayon (now) is "nga-YON", ngipin (tooth) is "NGEE-pin". The word ng on its own (the possessive/object marker) is pronounced "nang".
• Stress changes meaning and is not written, so the pronunciation column marks it. Kaibigan (friend) is kah-ee-BEE-gan; buhay with stress on the second syllable means "alive", on the first it means "life".

Taglish. Filipinos switch between Tagalog and English mid-sentence, constantly, in speech and in writing. "Nag-order na ako ng food, wait lang" is a completely normal sentence. Do not be surprised when you hear English words inside Tagalog, and do not feel you are cheating when you do it yourself.

Greetings

Kumusta comes from Spanish "¿cómo está?", and, like Spanish, Tagalog has no native "hello"; kumusta does the job. Magandang literally means "beautiful", so every greeting is "beautiful morning", "beautiful evening". The reply to any magandang greeting is the same phrase back, often with rin (also): "Magandang umaga rin po."

Thank you, please, sorry

Note that "please" in Tagalog is usually not a separate word. You make a request polite by putting paki- on the front of the verb: pakibigay (please give), pakisabi (please tell), pakibukas (please open), pakihintay (please wait). Add po and you are as polite as it gets: "Pakibigay po."

Yes, no and the small words

Sige deserves a paragraph. It means "okay", "go ahead", "fine", "sure", "let's do it", and, at the end of a phone call, "bye". "Sige, sige" is the most Filipino way to agree to anything. Na and pa are tiny but constant: "kain na" (eat now), "tapos na" (done already), "hindi pa" (not yet), "sandali pa" (a moment more).

Introducing yourself

Kuya and ate are worth learning now: kuya (KOO-yah) is "older brother" and ate (AH-teh) is "older sister", and Filipinos use them for anyone slightly older, and for waiters, shop staff, drivers and strangers. "Kuya, magkano ito?" is the natural way to ask a vendor a price. It is respectful and friendly at the same time.

Food and eating

"Kain tayo" is a genuine cultural moment: if a Filipino is eating and you walk past, they will invite you, and the polite reply if you are not joining is "Salamat, busog pa ako" (thanks, I'm still full) or simply "Sige, salamat."

Shopping and money

Directions and transport

The jeepney phrases are real and you will need them: "Bayad po" as you pass coins forward through other passengers, and "Para po!" when you want to get off. Nobody rings a bell.

Compliments, feelings and flirting

Mahal means both "love" and "expensive", which Filipinos find funny and foreigners find confusing. "Mahal kita" = I love you; "ang mahal" = so expensive. Context, as always.

Goodbyes

"Paalam" is the textbook goodbye and you will almost never hear it in conversation; it sounds like a farewell in a film. "Sige, ingat" or "bye, ingat ka" is what people say.

Emergencies and health

Common mistakes with Tagalog phrases

• Forgetting po with older people and staff. It is the single most noticed thing. "Salamat po", "opo", "sige po".
• Saying oo to your girlfriend's grandmother. Opo.
• Pronouncing ng as two letters. "Ngayon" starts with the ng of "sing". Practise it at the start of a word; it feels wrong for a week and then it is fine.
• Using paalam for everyday goodbyes. Say "sige, bye" or "ingat".
• Translating "please" as one word. Use paki- on the verb: pakibigay, pakiulit.
• Ignoring stress. Buhay (BOO-hay, alive) and buhay (boo-HAY, life); ask a Filipino friend to say the words back to you.
• Being surprised by English. Taglish is normal; "Magkano po ang shirt na ito?" is a perfectly Filipino sentence.
• Thinking Tagalog and Filipino are different languages. Filipino is the standardised national language, based on Tagalog. In daily life they are the same thing.
• Assuming everyone speaks Tagalog. In Cebu, Davao and much of the Visayas and Mindanao, the first language is Cebuano (Bisaya) or another regional language. Tagalog is understood, English is often preferred, and a Cebuano "salamat" earns even more goodwill there.

Say them out loud, then use them in Manila

Reading Tagalog phrases is easy because the spelling is honest. Saying them so a jeepney driver understands "para po" the first time, with the ng in the right place and the stress on the right syllable, is a different skill, and it is the only one that matters at the moment you need to get off.

1. Say the greetings and the thank-you table out loud three times, adding po every time.
2. Practise ng at the start of a word: ngayon, ngipin, nga. Ten times.
3. Run three exchanges: meeting someone (Kumusta po kayo? Mabuti naman po, salamat. Kayo po?), buying something (Magkano po ito? Ang mahal! Pwede bang tumawad?), and a jeepney ride (Bayad po. ... Para po!).
4. Then say them to something that talks back. SPAIKING's AI speaking partner will play the vendor, the driver and the tita at the family dinner, ask you "kumain ka na ba?", and correct the missing po and the mis-stressed magkano while you speak. That is the difference between a phrase list and a conversation in Quezon City.