Filipino Heritage Language Learners’ Problems
(Reading,Writing, Speaking)








Markers
Cases
Focus
Aspects (conjugation of verbs)
Linkers
Word order
Affixation
Pronunciation & Spelling
“I get confused over which linker
I should use.”
---Heritage Language Learner
Markers
CASE
MARKERS
Nominative
PROPER NAME
singular
plural
COMMON NOUN
singular
plural
si
sina
ang
ang mga
ni
nina
ng
ng mga
The woman’s
chicken
(pre)
kay
kina
sa
sa mga
Benefactive
(for)
para kay
para kina
para sa
para sa mga
Genetive
The chicken of
the woman
(post)
Dative
Some Characteristics of the Language
1. The word order is as follows:
PREDICATE
MARKER
DOER
(GM)/
(NM)
(NM)/GM
AF Nagluto
ang
cooked
MARKER
babae
ng
woman
OF Niluto
ng
babae
cooked
by
woman
OBJECT/
SUBJECT
manok.
chicken.
ang
manok.
chicken.
2. Filipino has 7 Focuses or Subjects all
preceded by Nominative Markers (NM)

Actor Focus (AF)

Object Focus (OF)

Benefactive (BF)

Locative FOCUS (LF)

Directional Focus (DF)

Causative Focus (CF)
Instrumental Focus (IF)

FOCUS
PREDICATE
NM
SUBJECT
GM
OBJECT/
DOER
AF
Nagluto
ang
cooked
OF
Niluto
Ipinagluto
LF
Pinaglutuan
DF
Pinuntahan
CF
Ikinatuwa
IF
ang
ang
cooked for
ang
the place where
cooking took place
ang
made happy (was
the cause of
happiness)
was used to buy
manok
para sa bata.
chicken
for
babae
para sa bata.*
chicken
by
woman
for
bata
ng
babae.
child
by
kaldero
ng
pot
by
Vons
ng
babae.
babae
pagluluto
ng babae
ng
bata.
of
Woman’s
cooking
ang
child
ng
by
ang
BENEFICIARY
manok
went to
Ipinambili
ng
woman
was cooked
BF
babae
BM
(for)
pera
ng
money
by
babae.
*The preferred word order is ”Niluto ng babae ang manok.”
child.
*The
ANG VS. NG
The Uses of ANG
•ANG is used to mark the subject/topic/focus
of the sentence
PREDICATE
NM
SUBJECT
Nagluto
ang
babae.
cooked.
(The)
woman
•ANG is used in an identificational sentence to
indicate definiteness.
NM
DOER
DEFINITE VERB
MARKER
Ang
babae
ang
(It was the)
woman
(who)
nagluto.
cooked.
•ANG is used to denote ‘in general’ in a
‘like/dislike’ sentence.
PSEUDO
VERB
Gusto
DOER
NM
SUBJECT
ng bata
ang
baboy.
Like
by child
(in general)
pork.
•ANG is used in formal writing. In conversation, it
is replaced by ‘yung,’ conversational form of the
demonstrative pronoun iyon meaning “yonder,” far from
both listener and speaker.
VERB+Paki
SOFTENER
PARTICLE
NM
OBJECT/
SUBJECT
Pakiabot
nga
ang
manok.
(the)
chicken.
Please pass
The Uses of NG
•NG is used to mark the Direct Object.
PREDICATE
Nagluto
SUBJECT/
DOER
ang babae
cooked
(The) woman
GM
DIRECT
OBJECT
ng
manok.
chicken.
•NG is used to denote possession.
PREDICATE
DOER
SUBJECT
GM
OWNER
Niluto
ng babae
ng
lalake.
was cooked
by (the)
woman.
ang
manok
(The)
chicken
of
man
•NG marks the DOER of passive verbs.
PREDICATE
GM
DOER
SUBJECT
Niluto
ng
babae
ang
manok.
was cooked
by
woman
(The)
chicken.
•NG is used to denote ‘specifically’ in
a ‘like/dislike’ sentence.
PSEUDO
VERB
Gusto
DOER
GM
OBJECT
ng babae
ng
manok.
Likes (d)
by woman
(specifically)
chicken.
In a request sentence indicated by paki, ANG and
NG are interchangeable:
VERB
SOFTENER
PARTICLE
MARKER
Pakiabot
Please pass
Pakiabot
nga
ang
(the)
ng
Please pass
nga
SUBJECT/
OBJECT
manok.
chicken.
manok.
chicken.
Why the Difficulty?
L1 interferes with the learning of target language.

There are NO MARKERS in English

There are no FOCUSES in English according to one
student. ANG, the subject marker is mistaken for THE, which
in English would be the same article in front of the DIRECT
OBJECT. E.g. Mary cooked the chicken.
 Possessives are not used as DOERS in English

The word order does not change but the markers do, i.e.
PREDICATE
DOER
OBJECT
Nagluto
ang babae
ng
manok.
Niluto
ng babae
ang
manok.
 As noted in the previous examples, both ANG and NG have
several uses and sometimes they are interchangeable.

HL have fossilized notions of the language as opposed to FL
who are tabula rasa.

Misuse of Markers
Provokes Laughter Discouraging Heritage Language Learners
FOCUS
`
PREDICATE
NM
SUBJECT
GM
NOUN
AF
Nagluto
ang
babae
ng
manok.
cooked
OF
Niluto
woman
ang
was cooked
chicken.
manok
ng
babae.*
chicken
by
woman
ng
babae.
If the markers are interchanged:
AF
OF
Nagluto
ang
manok
cooked
(The)
chicken.
Niluto
ang
babae
ng
manok.
was cooked
(The)
woman
by
chicken.
woman
*The preferred WORD ORDER is “Niluto ng babae ang manok.
“Cooked by woman (the) chicken.”
Affixes

Compound the problem because there are several
affixes used just to make a word an ACTOR FOCUS
verb. Um-, mag-, ma-, magpa-, mang-, makapag-,
maki-, maka-, magka-, mapa-

There are more affixes used for the passive verbs
because this is the normal way of speaking in our
language, with the predicate before the subject.
To Illustrate:
Nagluto
ang babae.
The woman cooked.
Nagpaluto
ang babae.
The woman asked someone to cook.
Nakiluto
ang babae.
The woman cooked in someone else’s kitchen.
Papaglutuin
ang babae.
Make the woman cook.
Nakapagluto
ang babae.
The woman was able to cook.
Nakaluto
ang babae.
The woman was able to cook..
Pakiluto
ang babae.
Please cook the woman.
Naluto
ang babae.
The woman was cooked.
Napaluto
ang babae.
The woman cooked accidentally.
Ipaluto
ang babae.
Ask someone to cook the woman.
Ipinagluto
ang babae.
Someone cooked for the woman.
Ipangluto
ang babae.
Use the woman for cooking.
Palutuin
ang babae.
Ask the woman to cook.
Lutuin
ang babae.
Cook the woman
Iluto
ang babae.
Cook the woman.
Remedy

Constant repetition and correction
 Immersion
 Worksheets on these structures
 More practice in 4 modalities
 Student has to take charge of her/his own
learning; the teacher facilitates and guides
lwng
References:




Aspillera, Paraluman S. Basic Tagalog for Foreigners and NonTagalogs. (Boston, Rutland, Vermont, Tokyo: Tuttle Publishing),
1993.
Ramos, Teresita V. Conversational Tagalog, A Functional-Situational
Approach. (Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press), 1985.
__________& Maria Lourdes S. Bautista. Handbook of Tagalog
Verbs Inflections, Modes, and Aspects. (UH), 1986.
Santiago, Alfonso O. at Norma G. Tiangco. Makabagong Balarilang
Filipino. (Manila, Philippines: Rex Book Store), 1991.