Lesson 008

 

Common Confusing Filipino Expressions (Spanish Edition)

Filipinos speak English and Spanish, being subjugated by both the U.S. and Spain. Filipino languages have incorporated Spanish words and phrases in theirs but some of the words do not necessary have the same meaning as in the original Spanish.

Over 333 years of Spanish colonial history, roughly a third Filipino vocabulary was taken from Spanish words but through time many of these words have changed its meaning or have fallen out of normal use.

For expats and visitors to the Philippines or to anyone speaking with a Filipino anywhere in the world it is a good idea to be familiarized with these words so to avoid confusion.

There is a long list and here are a few of them:

Spanish, Seguro - sure, safe
Siguro - maybe, perhaps

Spanish, Siempre - always
Siempre - of course

Spanish, Delicado - delicate
Delikado - risky, dangerous

Spanish, Basta - enough
Basta - just because, whatever happens

Spanish, Almorzar - to have lunch
Almusal - breakfast

Spanish, Bajo - low
Baho - smelly, stinky

Spanish, Cubeta - bucket, pail
Kubeta - toilet, restroom

Spanish, Palenque - stockade, palisade
Palengke - wet market

Spanish, Barcada - a boatload of people, cargo
Barkada - a clique, group of friends

Spanish, Llave - key
Liyabe - exclusively wrenches, not keys

Spanish, Pasamano - handrail, banister
Pasamano - windowsill

Spanish, Visita - the act of visiting
Bisita - the act and the person visiting

Spanish, Encanto - enchantment, charming
Engkanto - mystical, mythical

Spanish, Mano - hand
Mano - gesture of pressing to your forehead an elder's hand, as a sign of respect

Spanish, Corazonada - hunch, gut feel
Kursonada - strong interest, crush

Spanish, Diligencia - diligence
Dilihensiya - hustling

Spanish, Hacer caso - to pay attention, listen, heed
Asikaso - take care, manage

Spanish, Bolsa - bag
Bulsa - pocket in clothing

Spanish, Paño - cloth, wipe
Panyo - handkerchief

Spanish, Salvaje - savage
Salvage - naughty

Spanish, Puede - can
Puwede - allowable, possible

Spanish, Estorbo - obstacle, hindrance
Istorbo - nuissance

Spanish, Dejado - neglectful, lazy
Dehado - underdog

Spanish, Verraco - wild board
Barako - type of coffee, manly guy

Spanish, Vivo - alive, living
Bibo - energetic

Spanish, Vida - life
Bida - lead actor, protagonist

Spanish, Contra vida - against life
Kontrabida, supporting actor, antagonist

Spanish, Demasiado - too much
Di masyado - not too much 

Masyado - too much

Spanish, Asar - to roast, grill as in cooking meat
Asar - to tease or annoy

Spanish, Andar - to walk
Andar - to start, operate, move a machine

Spanish, Pareja - partner, couple
Parehas - similar, pair, fair
Pareho - similar, the same

Spanish, Manteca - lard, butter
Mantika- cooking oil

But Mantequilla - butter
Mantikilya - means the same

Spanish, Bizcocho - sponge cake
Biskotso - crunchy, toasty bread

Spanish, Leche - milk
Leche - means the same but also means darn it

Spanish, Paciencia - patience
Pasensya - means the same but also means pardon me

Spanish, Tabla - board/plank
Tabla - means the same but also means it's a tie or draw

Spanish, Vaca - cow
Baka - means the same but also means maybe

Spanish, Verde - green
Berde - also means green but also a lewd or dirty joke

There are other Spanish swear or lewd words in Filipino languages and we will not go into those.

 

Classes

Lesson 007

Common Confusing Filipino Expressions

Filipinos speak English but to non-Filipinos some words and phrases are peculiar to the Philippines or will be cause for misunderstandings.

For expats and visitors to the Philippines or to anyone speaking with a Filipino anywhere in the world it is a good idea to be familiar with certain words that they may commonly say.

There is a long list and here are a few of them:


Open/Close the light - Turn on/Turn off the light

Open/Close the computer - Turn on/Turn off the computer (and any other appliance)

Go down - Get off (the bus)

Nosebleed – Used when a Filipino feels overwhelmed by having to speak English for a long time.

Out of stock - Response if store clerk did not really understand you, they are lazy to look, they don't want to continue explaining in English (aside from the item being actually out of stock)

Napkin - Table Tissue
Napkin - Sanitary Napkin

Take out - To go, Food to go

Dine in - For here

Eat all you can - All-you-can-eat

He/She, His/Her - Can refer to either gender

Ma'am-Sir - Generic greeting, Can refer to either gender

Fill up (the form) - Fill out

Fall in line - Get in line

Brownout – Power outage

Ballpen – Pen

Coupon bond - A piece of white paper

Commute - Taking public transportation

Trapik - Heavy traffic

Change oil - Oil change

Condolence (one word) - used to express condolences, Sorry for your loss

Next next week - The week after next

Tuck out - Untuck shirt

Rubber Shoes - Sneakers, Athletic shoes

Jobus (Joe Bush) - Shoe dye

For a while – Please hold, One moment

Kodak, Kodakan, Picture-picture, Pictorial – Taking a photo, Taking a selfie

Concert - Singing

Office mate - Coworker

School mate - Classmate

Hand Carry - Carry-on luggage

Aircon - AC

Ref - Fridge

CR - Restroom

Stick - One piece of cigarette 

Softdrink or Kok - Soda, even if it's Pepsi

Colgate - Toothpaste (any brand)

Xerox – To photocopy (even if the machine isn't a Xerox machine)

Frigidaire - Fridge (any brand)

Note: Filipinos may commonly refer to the actual brand name of anything

High Blood – To be angry or frustrated

Blow out – To treat someone (to a meal or drinks or anything), My treat

Bedspacing – Renting a single bed in a shared room

Bedspacer - Person renting

Load, Pa-load – Adding prepaid credit to a phone card

Actually... – Used frequently as an introduction to a statement

Already, Yet – Commonly used at the end of sentences

Noted – Understood

Malling – Hanging out, walking inside, window shopping at the mall

Viand – Main dish, eaten with rice

Merienda - Snack

Unli - Unlimited

Adidas – Grilled chicken feet

Betamax – Grilled, coagulated pig or chicken blood cut into rectangular blocks

Walkman – Grilled pig's ears

Helmet – Grilled chicken head

Dirty Ice Cream – Not actually dirty. It’s the local sorbetes sold by street vendors

Dirty Kitchen – Not actually dirty. It’s a secondary, back and commonly outdoor kitchen used for hardcore cooking

Up and down - Two story house

Double Deck – Bunk bed

Plastic - Two faced, Faker

Chancing – To make a subtle and unwanted sexual move,  grope

Bold – Refers to a porn movie

Toro - same as Bold

Drawing – Plans that were made but never happened

Charot, Chariz – Just kidding

Lodi – Idol (in reverse). Many Filipinos do this for several words

Hostess - May refer to a female sex worker

Salvage – May refer to summary execution

Obigayni - Ob, O b g y n

Classes

Lesson 000

Read Me First

So you have decided to learn Tagalog?

For whatever reason, we don't want to know.

Tagalog depending on what language you already speak and how interested and determined you are, can be either an easy, intermediate or a hard language to learn.

Tagalog is spoken all over the Philippines and by millions of people in every nation on earth. It will not be hard to find someone to teach you a few pointers. Mastering it is another thing. Most Filipinos don't even know it that well.

The Bad

In the Philippines, no one really speaks fluent or straight Tagalog. What they speak is mostly Taglish or Tagalog and English, or Tagalog mixed with other Philippine languages.

Is is better and easier to learn Taglish. You don't even want to know or pronounce what the Tagalog words for some words are.

The Good

In Tagalog it is spell as you speak, and speak as you spell. There are no silent letters.

The Hard Part

Accent and stress are key. Plus there are words that have similar spelling but will mean totally different things depending on how it is spoken or used.

Classes

Lesson 006

 

Common Pinoy Phrases

We are back...
(Heto nanaman po kami.)

Ready? (Ok ka na?)

Yes. (Oo/ Opo.)

Let's go. (Tara na.)


Today, we will talk about a few basic English words and phrases that are in common use by Pinoys but may not be easily understood by a non-native Tagalog speaker without some sort of explanation.

Conversation 101

When they say: I second emotion.

They mean: I second the/that motion.

When they say: For a while.

They mean: Please wait, we will be back promptly.

When they say: Open the lights. Close the TB.

They mean: Turn on the light switch. Switch off the TV.

When they say: I will fax you.

They mean: I will send you a fax message.

When they say: I am getting high blood. (Or nakaka-high blood, or nakaka taas ng dugo).

They mean: I am getting hot under the collar.

When they say: Fall in line.

They mean: Form a line.

When they say: Mamser.

They mean: Hello ma'am. Or Hello sir. (Pinoys are ahead of everyone else in terms of gender sensitivity).

When they say: It was trapik.

They mean: Traffic was bad. (Arriving late is normally tolerated).

When they say: Out of stock.

Such as in response to, do you have this shirt in a large or in orange? Or do you have a double cheese burger?

They mean: We are out -- may mean permanently or temporarily.

You can follow up with: "Kailan magkakaroon?" (When will it be available?)

And commonly used words that might be unusual are:

Aircon is AC
CR is Restroom
Ref is Fridge
Pridgider is any fridge
Colgate is any toothpaste
Cok is any soda
Diet any diet soda
Napkin is table napkin but may also refer to the sanitary kind.
Ice water is water inside a plastic bag for drinking (chilled).
Eat all you can is All you can eat.

Lastly, for those who have never been to the Philippines, some Pinoys may call Caucasians as "Joe" or Blacks as "Negro". But they mean no disrespect.

Classes

Lesson 005

Welcome back! (Tuloy po kayo!)

Ready for more? (Gusto mo pa?)

Yes. (Oo.)

Okay...

Today, we will talk about a few basic phrases.

What all visitors to the Philippines will find out, as well as those who gets to speak with any of the millions of Filipinos overseas is that even if you cannot speak aTagalog word, you can get away with basic English phrases and still be able to understand one another. The only issue sometimes is just to figure out the accent. This is the same of any culture. Many times Filipinos would be speaking in English and most times combination Tagalog and English (Taglish) and if you aren't paying attention, you would miss it.

Most first time travellers to the Philippines will be pleasantly surprised that all or all almost all of the street signs, business signs, menus, forms, magazines, newspapers and most everything else are in English. Thus it doesn't take much thinking that at least most of the locals can at least read and understand English, and write and speak it. But as I have said, it might not sound like how you would expect. Of course depending on where you came from, they too might not readily understand your pronunciation and accent.

Tagalog/Taglish Basic Greetings

1. 'Kumain ka na?' (Eat ka na?) Literally this greeting translates to 'Have you eaten yet?' (Also kumain ka na ba).

Most Filipinos are snacking or eating every couple of hours, sometimes every hour or even right after a meal. So a usual greeting or question, you might hear is 'ku-ma-in ka na?'

Response could be Oo, or Opo (formal) for yes. Or Hindi or Hindi po, Hindi pa po (adding po makes it formal or with respect).

2. A follow up would be: 'Kain na' or 'Kain na tayo'. (Let's eat).

This is an invite to eat or come join them to eat. Note, it sometimes would not look good if you turn down this invitation.

Of course, if you aren't sure what is being offered, politely you can ask 'What are we eating?' or 'Ano po ito?' (Literally 'What is this?')

3. 'Saan ka galing?' (Where did you just come from).

Usual answer could be, 'Sa bahay (po)' - From the house.

'Sa mall (po)' - From the mall.

Or 'Sa sine/sinehan (po)' - From the movies/movie house.

[Sine - from Cinema]

Note: 'Saan ka galing', could also mean, 'From which country did you come from?'

4. Also 'Saan ka pupunta?' (Where are you going) or 'Saan kayo pupunta'.

ka - you (singular).
kayo - you (plural).

Note: Always pronounce each syllable separate, 'saan' is not one syllable but two, so it is pronounced as 'sa-an" (short/hard a).

In the same way, 'kain' is pronounced 'ka-in', two syllables.

5. 'Alis ka na?' Literally, 'Are you going?'

'Alis kayo' or 'Alis na kayo?' - Plural. Responses are:

"Opo' - Yes.

Or 'Hindi pa po" - Not yet.

Boodle Fight - Kain na? 

Inspired by the military style of eating. This is a kind of feast that is meant for sharing, and grabbing the food, ususlly served and spread on banana leaves on top of a long table. Meant to be grabbed and eaten using your fingers.

Classes

Image Credit Noel Jacinto /Star Roxas, filipinojournal.com 

Lesson 004

Sampung Mga Daliri (Ten Fingers)

There is a Filipino nursery rhyme titled 'Sampung Mga Daliri', which is literally 'Ten Fingers'.

This would be appropriate, as our lesson for today would be numbers, which is important in everyday conversation.

Like English, Tagalog sentences are normally constructed with the sequence, adjective-noun. Although the reverse is also true. Let us look an an example.

(1) One to Ten

One - Isa
Two - Dalawa
Three - Tatlo
Four - Apat
Five - Lima
Six - Anim
Seven - Pito
Eight - Walo
Nine - Siyam
Ten - Sampu

Ten Fingers - 'Sampung Mga Daliri'

'Daliri' is finger, to make it plural we add the word 'mga' (pronounced ma-nga).

But the term 'sampung daliri' is also acceptable.

'Sampu' is ten, 'ng' is added to indicate that the adjective is describing the succeeding word. Now the rule is if the adjective ends in a vowel, then 'ng" is added to make one word.

If the adjective ends in a consonant. Like in 'siyam', we will not add 'ng' to make one word (because it looks weird).

Instead the rule is to add a second word 'na'. So nine fingers in Tagalog is 'siyam na mga daliri' or 'siyam na daliri'.

(2) 11 to 19

Continuing the count is not that hard, to do this we add the word 'labing'. So 11 is 'labing isa', 12 is 'labing dalawa and so on.

20 is Dalawampu

(3) 21 to 29 - Dalawampu't isa and so on.

30 is, yes Tatlumpu

(4) 31 to 99 - Talumpu't isa and so on.

40 - Apatnapu
50 - Limangpu
60 - Animnapu
70 - Pitumpu
80 - Walongpu
90 - Siyamnapu

(5) 100 - 1,000,000

100 - Isang daan (or sandaan)
200 - Dalawang daan
300 - Tatlong daan
400 - Apat na raan
500 - Limang daan
600 - Anim na raan
700 - Pitong daan
800 - Walong daan
900 - Siyam na raan

1,000 - Isang libo (sanlibo)
2,000 - dalawang libo

And so on

1,000,000 - Isang milyon
2,000,000 - Dalawang milyon

Summary

Classes

Lesson 003

Welcome back!

Are you ready? (Redi ka na?)

Yes. (Oo.)

Okay...

(1) Be smart. Filipinos could tend to be tactless, so be fully aware. And when they say something that might be offensive to your foreign ears and sometimes delicate sensibilities, please remember that most aren't being a jerk. And, this is important, even though they can be a little offensive with the things they say (they have all the excuses -- lost in translation, couldn't find the right word, don't know certain words have several meanings or connotations, cultural thing, and other reasons), you on the otherhand cannot and should not be tactless on what you say or do, as in never.

For one, "oo" (read as two short Os, pronounced separately) is Tagalog for yes.

But, like in many Asian cultures, Tagalog has words that you need to use to make your sentences formal or to show respect. And normally you do so when you are speaking with people who are noticeably older than you.

Examples are adding the simple words "po" or "ho" (remember no long vowel sounds in Tagalog).

So when you are replying to a simple yes or no question and speaking to an older person. You should use:

"oo po" (for yes) or "oo ho" or beter yet, use the shortened version "opo" or "oho".

If the answer is no, then it is "hindi po" or "hindi ho". But most times the answer is almost always "opo" or "oho".

And that is all to it. To make any response more formal, add "po" or "ho". There might be certain rules on when to use "po" or "ho" but in general practice, they are interchangeable.

(2) Simple questions.

Who - (Sino or Sino po).

What - (Ano or Ano ho).

When - (Kailan or Kailan po).

Where - (Saan or Saan po).

Why - (Bakit or Bakit ho). Tip: this question should be used very sparingly. Yes, as in never say no, then also never ask why.

How - (Paano or Paano ho).

How many - (Gaano karami or Gaano karami ho).

and

How much (price) - (Magkano or Magkano ho).

I know, these could be overwhelming, but it shouldn't be. And if you are stuck in how to pronounce, then go back to Lesson 2.

And remember my three simple rules.

• Read all syllables separate, do not try to combine them.

Like "paano" (how) is read "pa-a-no"

• There are no silent letters, read out every syllable as it is written

• And again no long vowel sounds

Summary

Classes