Markers

Tagalog makes use of words that are referred to as markers. While this may sound intimidating or confusing as they are not used in English and cannot be directly translated, they are actually quite logical and make it easier to understand the role of each word in a sentence. We can organise them into 3 different categories:

Focus Words – These are words that have been marked with “ang” (ang marker)

Binili ko ANG bag – I bought the bag / the bag is what I bought.

Ang is pointing out what the focus of the sentence is, which is the bag.

Relational Words – These will be marked with “ng” (ng Marker)

Presidente ng Pilipinas – President of the Philippines

However, you will notice ng used in other contexts that may seem confusing. If we take the same example from the “ang” example but change the focus:

Bumili ako ng bag – I bought the bag

The focus has shifted and is no longer about “what” I bought, but what I “did”

Binili ko ang bag – If someone asks you “What did you buy?”

Bumili ako ng bag – If someone asks you “What did you do today?”

Locative – These will be marked with “sa”

Pumunta ako sa eskwelahan – I went to school

Sa is pointing to a location that the rest of the sentence is talking about. Where did the “pumunta ako” (I went to) happen, it happened at “sa” eskwelahan.