Learn Tagalog online!
Listen to how to pronounce Tagalog words correctly!
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Happy listening and learning ~
Kung anong bigkas, ay siyang baybay.
It is written the same way that it is pronounced.
Kung anong baybay, siyang bigkas.
How you spell it is as how you say it.
Tagalog words may be spelled the same but can have two different meanings depending on the pronunciation.
For example, notice the difference between bukas (an adverb meaning ‘tomorrow’) and bukás (an adjective meaning ‘open’). The accent is placed on a different syllable.
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Mastering the vowel sounds of Tagalog is the key to having your pronunciation understood by Filipinos!
Examples of Tagalog words where the initial letter is one of the five vowels:
e – ekis (the letter x)
i – ibon (bird)
o – oras (time)
u – uod (worm)
Tagalog words with the same spelling can have two different meanings depending on the pronunciation. Continue reading “Practice Bása (Read) and Basâ (Wet)”
Unique in Tagalog is ng which as a letter of the alphabet is pronounced ‘nga.’
The nga sound may seem difficult at first, but if you can say ‘sing along’ in English and slur those two words together, you’ll have no problem with nga in Tagalog after some practice chopping off ‘si’ from the beginning and ‘long’ from the end of ‘singalong.’
An easy way to look at one of its uses is to see it as meaning ‘of’ in English.
Notice the difference between buhay (a noun meaning ‘life’) and buháy (an adjective meaning ‘alive’). The accent is placed on a different syllable.
The Tagalog word for ‘consonant’ is katinig. There are 23 consonants in the official Filipino alphabet. Here are the 15 basic consonants in the Tagalog abakada: