Panghalip Panao (personal pronouns) of the Philippines!
So this is basically an explanation of these pronouns as I use them in conversation as a Filipino who lives in the Philippines and speaks Filipino.(disclaimers at the bottom)
This covers pang-isahan (singular) and pang-maramihan (plural) personal pronouns. Each are subdivided into:
(1) Ang Nagsasalita /First Person /The Speaker
(2) Ang Kinakausap /Second Person /The one/s being spoken to
(as well as special cases /various specifications for plural use)
(3) Ang Pinag-uusapan /Third Person /The one/s spoken about
(note. The sample I will use is pagkain (food))
♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦
Magsimula tayo sa mga Panghalip Panao na PANG-ISAHAN Let us start with the SINGULAR personal pronouns
(1) Ang Nagsasalita /First Person /The Speaker
ako/ko/akin I/my/me/mine
Ako ang bibili ng pagkain. I will buy the food.
(Side note. Even if there’s no emphasis on The Food in the Filipino sentence. The way it’s structured kind of gives this feeling of “I will do it. I will buy the food.” If I just wanted to say “I’ll buy food”, it would be more natural to say “Bibili ako ng pagkain.”)
Ito ang pagkain ko. This is my food.
Binigay sa akin ang pagkain na ito. This food was given to me.
(Here, if we tried to do a word-for-word translation, we’d end up with “Ang pakain na ito ay binigay sa akin” which still works but gives a more formal feeling. Like receiving a favor or something. As for following the Filipino sentence structure, I’m not sure if English would actually accept “Given to me was this food /Given to me this food was” in any other case outside Yoda speak.)
Akin ang pagkain na ito. This food is mine.
(“Ang pagkain na ito ay akin” is still a viable sentence structure if you’re translating from English to Filipino but the one above rolls off the tongue better. The first order focuses on your ownership, the second focuses on the food.)
(2) Ang Kinakausap /Second Person /The one being spoken to
ikaw/mo/iyo you/your/yours
Ikaw ang bibili ng pagkain. You are going to buy food.
(“ka” is a shortened form of “ikaw” that is used when the verb is the focus of the sentence (yeah I don’t know the proper grammar way to talk about this). So you can say stuff like “Bibili ka ng pagain?” / “you’ll buy food?” or “Bili ka ng pagain” / “Buy food.”
Ito ang pagkain mo. This is your food.
Sa iyo ang pagkain na ito. This food is yours.
(3) Ang Pinag-uusapan /Third Person /The one spoken about
siya/niya/kanya (ey/em/eirs he/him/his ney/nem/nirs she/her/hers they/them/theirs ve/ver/vis xe/xem/xyrs ze/hir/hirs ze/zir/zirs zie/hir/hirs zie/zir/zirs etc.)
Okay, so as can be seen above, Filipino, Philippine languages, and many other Austronesian languages don’t specify the gender of the third person. They are simply “that person.”
Siya ang bibili ng pagkain. She/Xe/He will buy the food.
Pagkain niya ito. (Another possible arrangement of the sentence “Ito ang pagkain niya”). This is her/zir/his food.
Sa kanya ang pagkain na ito. This food is hers/vis/his.
♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦
Ngayon, talakayin natin ang mga Panghalip Panao na PANG-MARAMIHAN. Let us now discuss PLURAL personal pronouns.
(1) Ang mga Nagsasalita /First Persons /The Speakers This is only for the speaker and their companions. It doesn’t matter how many people they are talking to.
kami/namin/amin we/our/ours/us
Kami ang bibili ng pagkain. We will buy the food.
Ito ang pagkain namin. This is our food.
Sa amin yung pagkain na ito. This food is ours.
Binigay sa amin ang pagkain na ito. This food was given to us.
(2) Ang mga Kinakausap /Second Persons /The ones being spoken to/ EXCLUSIVE we This refers to a group of people who the speaker is speaking to. English needs extra collective words to specify the plural “you”.
kayo/ninyo/inyo you/your/yours
Kayo ang bibili ng pagkain. You guys will buy the food.
Ito ang pagkain ninyo. This is your food.
(Right now, I can’t think of a collective word you’d add to this to show that the “you” here is plural).
Sa inyo ang pagkain na ito. This food is yours.
(If I was going to tell many people that the food was for them I’d probably say “This food is for all of you” which, translated back into Filipino, would be “Para sa inyong lahat ang pagkain na ito” which gives me the impression of a rather large number of people because of modifying the already plural “inyo” into “inyong lahat”).
(2A) Pang-dalawahan /Duo of people Ang nagsasalita at ang kanyang nag-iisang kausap /The speaker and the one person they are talking to. It means “you are to me”, “I verb you”, “I to you”. There are other pronouns exclusively for two people but they aren’t in common use anymore, at least in Filipino. Again, this apparently exists in other Austronesian languages but I personally wouldn’t know.
kita I_you
Kaibigan kita. Mahal kita. Sasamahan kita. Kukurutin kita. You’re my friend. I love you. I’ll go with you. I’ll pinch you.
(The very literal translation from English to Filipino would be: Kaibigan ko ikaw. Mahal ko ikaw. Sasamahan ko ikaw. Kurutin ko ikaw. Don’t ever use these.)
(2B) Lahat na nariyan sa kanilang pag-uusapan /All present in the conversation/ INCLUSIVE we This includes the speaker, the speaker’s companions (if any), and the one/s the speaker/s are speaking to. Any combination applies as long as it’s not just the singular speaker and their singular companion.
tayo/natin/atin we/our/ours/us
Tayo ang bibili ng pagkain. We will buy the food.
Ito ang pagkain natin. This is our food.
Sa atin ang pagkain na ito. This food is ours.
Binigay sa atin ang pagkain na ito. This food was given to us.
(3) Ang mga Pinag-uusapan /Third Persons /The ones spoken about
sila/nila/kanila they/their/theirs/them
Sila ang bibili ng pagkain. They will buy the food.
Pagkain nila ito. This is their food.
Sa kanila ang pagkain na ito. This food is theirs.
Binigay sa kanila ang pagkain na ito. This food was given to them.
♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦
EXTRA 1: More on the Exclusive versus Inclusive “we”
To better illustrate this. Imagine this situation:
Main speaker: mom Mom’s companion: her sister Main person being spoken to: kid
Exclusive “we”:
Mom to kid: Lalabas kami para manood ng sine/ We’re going out to watch a movie.
In Filipino the kid would automatically know that they’re not included in the group going out. In English there might be follow up conversation of:
Kid: We’re going to watch a movie?
Mom: No, just your aunt and I.
Inclusive “we”:
Mom to kid: Lalabas tayo para kumain/ We’re going out to eat.
Again, in Filipino the kid would immediately know that they are part of the group going out. Whereas in English, this might happen:
Kid: Just you and Auntie?
Mom: No, all of us!
EXTRA 2: Polite Speech
If you want to speak politely to someone and you don’t know whether to use Tito/Tita (Uncle/Aunt), Ate/Kuya (older sister/older brother, older female/older male still in your age group), Ma’am/Sir, or any other of those signifiers, it is still possible.
Tone of voice, of course, is the first. The addition of “po” is next (like the Japanese “desu” but doesn’t need to be at the end of a sentence (just put where it feels natural but try not to overuse it). Then there’s degrees of separation. For example, in addressing a single person:
“Anong kailangan mo? / What do you need?”
You’d say this to a sibling, a friend, a classmate, or someone younger/below in seniority who you speak plainly with.
(“Mo” is a very direct way of saying “you” that I wouldn’t put po anymore. If I want to be more respectful, I’d skip to the next level. I’m not sure if other people use “po” to a person they’d use “mo” with).
Ano po ang kailangan niyo? What is it that you need?
“Niyo” is a shortcut for “ninyo” and thus less formal. Even though it’s for multiple second persons, you can use it to speak politely to someone like a parent, a teacher, a work superior. If I remember right, it’s probably like the Spanish “Ustedes”.
Ano po ang gusto nila? What is it that you need?
So same as above. “Nila” should be for multiple third persons so if someone is using it to address a singular person it is very polite. They are humbling themselves and creating a lot of verbal distance. I’m not sure how in use it is in today’s day and age but in the past, it would be like saying “What does her ladyship wish?” even if speaking to the person herself.
♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦
And that’s a wrap! If you’re still here at the end of the long post then thanks for sticking till the end! I just brushed up on my grammar knowledge by searching through the internet so if any of you want to learn more, there’s a lot of helpful guides out there. :D
♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦
DISCLAIMERS
1) I’m not a linguist. Not in Filipino (recognized national language of the Philippines that was made to be a middle ground of our many languages but is heavily influenced by Tagalog due to location and participants of the committee), Tagalog (prominent language in Luzon), Hiligaynon (prominent language in Visayas spoken mostly by Ilonggos), or English.
2) This guide only covers the very basic conversational Filipino personal pronouns. However, the other Philippine languages are very similar and follow the same trends. I’ve read that the other Austronesian languages also share similarities but I don’t know how to speak/read any of them so I wouldn’t know.
3) It’s been more than a decade since I had grammar lessons and even back then it was a struggle. (Speaking as someone who grew up exposed to three languages at the same time and ended up Very Confused). I won’t bother keeping the sentence structure completely 1-is-to-1. Filipino of course has a different natural sentence structure from English though it can be very flexible to the point of allowing some 1-is-to-1 translations. It’s just that it ends up clunky or focusing on different things.
