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1. Nouns
a) general
Nouns are words that name something:
Joseph
kusina
kitchen
iro
dog
Negros
Nouns are usually preceded by an article, ang, when they are topics* of the sentence:
Ang sinina ni Isabel mahal kaayo.
Asa ang akong lapis?
Isabel's dress is very expensive.
Where is my pencil?
Named persons, when topics, use si instead of ang:
Si Jane diha.
Si Mr Alvarez nitawag nimo.
Jane is over there.
Mr Alvarez called you.
(*The topic of a sentence is the person or thing that is talked about. The rest of the
sentence is called a comment, in other words anything that is said about the topic. In the
very first sentence above, 'ang sinina ni Isabel' is the topic and 'mahal kaayo' is the
comment.
Thus, note that nouns that are not topics are also not preceded by ang:
Ang akong mama maestra.
My mother is a teacher.
- 'maestra' isn't preceded by an article here because in this sentence it is the comment,
not the topic.)
b) the plural
Plural is expressed by putting the word mga (pronounced approximately like 'manga')
in front of the noun. The noun itself remains unchanged:
Asa ang mga libro?
Where are the books?
Ang mga balay nindot kaayo.
The houses are very beautiful.
(The adjective gwapa 'beautiful' can only be used when talking about animate things such
as people, flowers or fruits.)
When there are several attributes preceding the noun, mga is always next to the noun:
ang akong mga lapis
my pencils
ang imong mga amiga
your friends
Note 1: mga doesn't need to be used in the following cases:
i) with numerals
tulo ka balay
three houses
ii) when there is another word denoting pluralism in the noun phrase already:
daghang bisita
many guests
iii) in a sentence, the comment doesn't need to be preceded by mga but it can be there:
(mga) estudyante sila
they are students
Note 2: with ka- + -an it is possible to form the plural in the following way (sometimes
the meaning changes to denote a group or a collective term) :
lungsod (town) -> kalungsoran (towns)
cases)
(note that a letter may change in some
balay (house) -> kabalayan (a group of houses)
tawo (person) -> katawhan (humankind)
humay (rice) -> kahumayan (ricefield)
kahoy (tree) -> kakahoyan (forest)
saging (banana) -> kasagingan (banana plantation)
c) the genitive
The genitive expresses ownership. It is formed with the help of two prepositions, sa or
ni. The genitive phrase always comes after what is owned, in a similar way to the of genitive in English. The use of ni / sa is illustrated in the following examples:
ang amiga ni Pepe
Pepe's friend
ang mga libro ni Jun-Jun
Jun-Jun's books
ang amiga ni Paula bag-o ug kamera
Paula's friend's new camera
ang auto ni papa
dad's car
ang auto sa akong papa
my father's car
ang mga mata sa iring
the eyes of the cat
ang mga pages (= panid) sa libro
the pages of the book
ang atop sa balay
the roof of the house
ang mga simbahan sa Cebu City
the churches of Cebu City
The rule is that you should use ni when the 'owner' is a named person (Jun-Jun, Diana,
papa...).
When the 'owner' is a person with any kind of attribute before the actual name (akong
papa), or when the 'owner' is any other animate being or an inanimate thing, use sa.
Note that in the case of two genitives following each other, like in 'ang amiga ni Paula
bag-o ug kamera' above, only one genitive form is used. It would be slightly awkward
here to say for example 'ang bag-o kamera sa amiga ni Paula'.
2. Adjectives
a) general
Adjectives describe what something is like:
pugnaw
cold
pula
red
mahinay
slow
The adjective usually comes before the noun:
E.g.
ang tiguwang lalaki
ang bag-ong balay
an old man
a new house
The word kaayo ('very') is placed after the adjective:
ang mahal kaayo nga balay
a very expensive house
The adjective can be negated by putting the word dili in front of it:
dili maayo
bad
b) the comparative
Asay mas dako, Manila o Kuala Lumpur?
Lumpur?
Which is bigger, Manila or Kuala
Kini sakyanan mas mahal kay anang usa.
one.
This car is more expensive than that
Jane mas tiguwang pa kay ni Juan.
Jane is older than Juan.
The comparative is formed through placing the word mas before the adjective (compare
Spanish). The English 'than' has the Cebuano equivalent kay.
In some fixed phrases there are also other ways of expressing the comparative:
Maayo nalang maawahe kay sa wala.
Better late than never.
Maayo nalang kay sa wala.
It's better than nothing.
c) the superlative
Mount Everest ang pinaka taas nga buntod sa kalibutan.
Mount Everest is the highest mountain in the world.
Siya ang pinaka maayo estudyante sa atong klase.
She is the best student in our class.
The superlative is formed by placing the word pinaka in front of the adjective. With some
adjectives, the superlative can be formed with the prefix kina- and the suffix -an:
Kinamanghuran siya sa atong pamilia.
He is the youngest (member) in our family.
Kana ang kinabatian salida akong nakit-an.
That is the worst film I have ever seen.
3. Verbs
a) tenses
Below are some simplified examples of expressing the different tenses.
Future tense (planned action):
Molakaw ko ug lima ka kilometros karon.
today.
I am going to walk five kilometres
Moadto sila sa Bohol ugma.
They are going to go to Bohol tomorrow.
Mokaon kita ug paniudto didto.
Let's eat lunch over there.
Magtrabaho siya sa pabrika sa sunod tuig.
He will work in a factory next year.
When the action is of long duration, the prefix mag- is used. Otherwise, mo- is used. With
movement verbs (such as to walk, to go) mo- is used.
Present tense:
Nikuha si George ug libro sa lamisa.
Miabli siya sa bintana.
George takes a book from the table.
She opens the window.
Nagatrabaho siya sa pabrika.
He works in a factory.
Nikaon ko ug paniudto.
I am eating lunch.
Nagakaon ko ug pani-udto.
I am eating lunch.
Nangaon kita ug pani-udto.
We are eating lunch.
Note: Please notice the different forms of the prefix in the singular and plural forms of
this verb (kaon ='to eat'). (This only applies to some verbs.)
When the action is momentary or of short duration, ni- (or mi-) is used. (These two
prefixes are interchangeable.) For an action of longer duration, use naga-.
Note that the two sentences Nikaon ko... and Nagakaon ko ug paniudto above mean
otherwise the same but in the latter, the eating is of longer duration than in the former.
When the action is habitual (= repetitive) or factual, mo- is used.
Mobiyahe sila sa Negros kaduha sa tuig.
They travel to Negros twice a year.
Mokaon ang mga amo ug saging.
Monkeys eat bananas.
Past tense:
Ako nilakaw ug lima ka kilometros gahapon.
I walked five kilometres yesterday.
Ako mika-on ug saging.
I ate a banana.
Nagtrabaho siya sa pabrika duha ka tuig.
years.
He worked in a factory for two
Ni- (mi-) is used for momentary action. Thus, momentary action doesn't make a
difference between the present and the past tenses (see Present tense above). To
emphasize the action happening in the present or in the past, adverbs of time or other
words must be used.
An action of long duration gets the prefix nag-.
Completed action:
Ako nakalakaw ug lima ka kilometros kada adlaw karong semanaha.
(= I have walked five kilometres every day this week.)
Ako nakakaon na ug saging. (= I have eaten a banana.)
There is a prefix to express completed action (naka-). Sentences with this verbal form
can be translated in English in the present perfect tense. This prefix can be used with a
limited number of verbs only.
b) modals
Ako molakaw gyud ug lima ka kilometros.
(= I must walk five kilometres.)
Ako makalakaw ug lima ka kilometros.
(= I can walk five kilometres.)
Ako nakalakaw ug lima ka kilometros.
(= I was able to walk five kilometres.)
Ako molakaw ug lima ka kilometros ugma.
(= I will walk five kilometres tomorrow.)
Ako dili makaka-on ug pani-udto, busog na ko. (= Dili ko makaka-on ug pani-udto,
busog na ko.)
(= I can't eat lunch, I'm full.)
c) the verb 'to be'
Often, there is no equivalent of the verb 'to be' in the sentence:
Taga Pilipinas sila.
Gikapoy ka na?
Nasakit si Joe gahapon.
They are from the Philippines.
Are you tired already?
Joe was ill yesterday.
The Cebuano word man can be translated as the present and past tenses of to be:
Kumusta man ka? - Maayo man.
How are you? - (I) am fine.
Nasakit man si Joe gahapon.
Joe was ill yesterday.
Note 1: man can usually be omitted altogether from the sentence.
Note 2: when man is present in sentences where the verb is some other than 'to be', it
carries no meaning and is inserted mainly for euphonic purposes (= to make the sentence
flow more smoothly and to soften its tone).
When expressing that somebody is somewhere, dia, nia ('over here'), naa ('over there';
the speaker can point to the location, or when talking to somebody about his/her
whereabouts) and tua (far from the speaker; the location can be only referred to) are
often used in the sentence:
Dia man ako diri.
Naa ka sa balay?
I am here.
Are you at home?
Kahibaw mi nga naa kamo diha.
Tua sila sa Manila.
We know that you are there.
They are in Manila.
d) the verb 'to have'
Ako naay tulo ka maayo nga amigo.
I have three good friends.
(= Naa koy tulo ka maayo nga amigo.)
Pedro naay duha ka igsoon lalaki.
Naa silay parente sa USA.
Pedro has two brothers.
They have relatives in the USA.
Naa kay ballpen?/Naa ka ba'y ballpen?
Do you have a pen?
Among pamilya walay tv pa.
My family doesn't have a tv yet.
In an affirmative sentence, the ownership is expressed with the help of naa + y. When the
person is named (e.g. Pedro above), the y is affixed in the end of naa, yielding naay (or
naa'y; the use of the apostrophe is voluntary).
In a negative sentence, walay (wala'y) is used instead of naa.
Sometimes the floating y can be affixed to even some other words, like in the example
Naa ka ba'y ballpen? above. (ba is an empty word that can be added to yes-no questions
to differentiate them from affirmative sentences.) The rule of thumb is that the y should be
attached to the word immediately before the noun phrase. (The y is a short form for ang,
the definite article, so it can appear everywhere ang can, too.)
Besides naa, other words are possible for the expression of ownership. These are duna'y
and may for all contexts and dinha'y to express that someone had something in the past.
Note that the y in may is fixed unlike in the other words, i.e. it can't be moved to the end
of any other word.
Duna'y Pedro duha ka igsoon nga lalaki.
May ka ba ballpen?
Dinhay Nina daghang amiga sa Manila.
Pedro has two brothers.
Do you have a pen?
Nina had a lot of friends
[while she was] in Manila.
e) there is, there are
When no owner (a pronoun or a noun phrase) is present in sentences containing one of
the words denoting ownership in (d) above ( = naa'y, duna'y, may, dinha'y; and wala'y
for negation), the meaning of the sentence becomes 'something is/exists (somewhere)'.
May (= Duna'y, etc.) hinamis diri.
There's some dessert here.
Walay yelo sa Pilipinas.
There is no snow in the Philippines.
Dinhay daghang tawo sa sinehan.
There were many people in the cinema.
Note that the above words are not obligatory for expressing 'there is/there are':
Traynta ka estudyantes sa klase.
There were (or: are; depending on context)
thirty students in the classroom.
Daghang tawo sa sinehan.