Filipinos are a hardworking people. They love to work, work, and work. But that doesn’t mean they don’t take time to play and have fun with friends and family. While Pinoys work hard, they also play hard. In short, they love action! Speaking of action, one of the things you really need to master when studying Filipino grammar is action words or verbs.
The verb in Tagalog is referred to as pandiwa. This part of speech plays an important role in communication as it’s used to describe motion. Without the verb, or pandiwa, a sentence can’t exist or stand on its own. In the same manner, life isn’t complete without action. So, without further ado, let’s get down to business and learn 100 of the most common Filipino verbs.
Table of Contents
Before we proceed to our list of the 100 most common Filipino verbs, let’s do a quick study of pandiwa first. There are two kinds of pandiwa: palipat and katawanin.
This type of pandiwa needs a direct object to receive the action done in a sentence. The direct object usually comes after the verb and is preceded by the following prepositions:
Examples:
“His son drew a picture.”
“Butch dances tinikling really well.”
“Maria’s pet dog followed her around.”
Unlike palipat, katawanin doesn’t need a direct object to receive the action done in a sentence; it already has a complete idea and can stand on its own.
Examples:
“Happy jumped!”
“Max and Hazel left.”
“Carlo and Connie are chatting inside.”
The first three aspects of pandiwa show the tenses of the verb or the time the action took place. Not all verb tenses in Filipino have an equivalent in English grammar, just as not all Filipino words have a direct English translation. Nevertheless, we can’t study verbs in Filipino without touching on tenses.
The first of these Filipino verb tenses shows that the action has already been done, or is in the past tense. Verbs in this category are usually affixed with nag-, um-, -um-, -in-, and -an.
Examples:
“She cooked dinner.”
“The young man left immediately.”
“Diana was removed from the team.”
“The audience roared in applause.”
Note that in the last sentence, nag- is added before the verb palakpak, or “clap,” and –an after it.
This describes an action verb in Tagalog that is always, or is currently, being done. The verb is affixed with -na, -nag, or -um at the beginning, and the root word is usually repeated.
Examples:
“Jose is playing in the rain.”
“The dogs are eating outside.”
“I was watching a movie on Netflix when Marie arrived.”
This aspect of the verb in Tagalog implies that an action has not yet been performed, or is in the future tense. To change a verb into this tense, simply affix ma- or mag- before the word and repeat the first syllable of its root word. For some words, ma- and mag- are no longer necessary.
Examples:
“Our country is going to progress someday.”
“I will sell some clothes on Facebook.”
“The show is about to start.”
Meanwhile, the two other aspects of pandiwa express the voice of the verb, with tahasan being the active voice, and balintiyak being the passive voice.
In this aspect of pandiwa, the action word serves as the subject. In English grammar, it’s referred to as the active voice of the verb, wherein the subject is the one performing the action stated by the verb.
Examples:
Nagdilig si Joey ng kanilang mga halaman.
“Joey watered the plants.”
Pumunta kami sa Mall of Asia nung nakaraang araw.
“We went to the Mall of Asia the other day.”
Si Harry ay kumakain ng hipon.
“Harry is eating shrimp.”
This is the opposite of tahasan, where the one performing the action is not the subject, and the performer of the action is positioned right after the pandiwa. In English grammar, it’s the passive voice of the verb.
Examples:
“The clean-up drive was led by the Mayor.”
“The war was started by the terrorists.”
“The Warriors were beaten by the Raptors.”
Commonly used linking verbs in English include “am,” “is,” “are,” “was,” and “were.” There’s also “been,” “being,” “had,” and “has.” In Filipino, we only have the linking verb ay regardless of the tense.
And since there’s only one linking verb in Tagalog, using it in a sentence is very simple and easy. Simply place the word ay after the subject and right before the predicate. We told you Filipino is an easy language to learn!
Examples:
“I am studying the Filipino language.”
“I was born in Mindanao.”
“Daniel is always playing Mobile Legends.”
How do you conjugate verbs in Filipino? What about Filipino subject-verb agreement?
The case system of Tagalog verbs is quite complex, but we can still learn proper usage of the action verb in Tagalog by following a few simple rules on how to conjugate them. The fastest way to learn about proper verb placement in a sentence is to learn common affixes used in Filipino action words. These Tagalog verb affixes are mag-, ma-, um-, in-, and i-, all of which are used to indicate verb tense.
We’ll have a separate article for Filipino verb conjugation, though, so right now, let’s move on to our Filipino verbs list of the 100 most practical verbs you should know.
Filipino homes are the foundation of the Philippine culture. Because of that, we want to start this list with commonly used verbs inside the home.
| kumain “to eat” | Oras na para kumain. “It’s time to eat.” |
| matulog “to sleep” | Matulog ka na. “Go to sleep now.” |
