Diphthongs
There are five Tagalog diphthongs (groups of letters that make a single sound): iw, ay, aw, oy, and uy. When you see these, remember that the pronunciation is very different from the way you would pronounce it in English.
For example:
| DIPHTHONG | WORD | MEANING | ||
| ay | lamay | funeral wake | ||
| (“la” “my”) |
With the accent on the first syllable, pronounce the second syllable like English word “my.” Do not pronounce it the way the word “may” (meaning “can”) is pronounced in English.
Another example is the diphthong aw:
| DIPHTHONG | WORD | MEANING |
| aw | bataw | bean pod |
With the accent on the first syllable, pronounce the aw here in a way close to the sound taw in the English word “towel.” Don’t pronounce it the way you would the English word “raw.”
Similarly, the three other diphthongs are pronounced the same way. Try them:
| WORD | MEANING | |
| iw | aliw | fun (accent on the second syllable) |
| oy | kumunoy | quicksand (accent on the third syllable). This is similar to the sound in the English word “annoy.” |
| uy | kasuy | cashew |
Two Vowels but Not Diphthongs
You may also find some words with two vowels together that are not diphthongs, but which you may mistake for such—if English is your native language, then you might naturally tend to read these as diphthongs (or as letters with a single sound). Instead, pronounce them as the separate sounds they are. For example:
| WORD | MEANING | ||
| ae | babae | pronounced ba-ba-e | woman |
| ai | mabait | pronounced ma-ba-it | good person |
| kain | pronounced ka-in | to eat | |
| ao | baon | pronounced ba-on | something you bring when you travel |
Thus, when you see these vowels together, you simply need to break the word into syllables.
Understanding Interchangeable Letters and Sounds
As you learn the language and listen to native speakers, you might find something puzzling—people interchange the letters d and r, and the vowels e and i, and o and u.
For example, some people say madami (many); others will say marami. People may say either lalaki or lalake (man) and either babae or babai (pronounced ba-ba-e) (woman).
Why is this so? This may be because in the ancient Tagalog script, the baybayin, there was only one symbol for d/r, and for e/i and o/u.*
Today, with the standardization of spelling and grammatical rules, there are guidelines now for the use of d/r. However, you will find that when Filipinos speak, they are less conscious of the rules and will interchange, for example, the word daw (also) with raw. Similarly, the words babae (woman) and lalaki (man) each have that standardized spelling; however, in spoken Filipino the e/i sounds are interchangeable for these words.
Stresses
Now let’s turn to stresses: what syllable should you emphasize when you say a word? Tagalog language books used to actually show printed stress marks, but now, if you read newspapers or literature, no stress marks can be found. Here are some important points to remember:
1. For most words with three or four syllables, the stress is usually on the second to the last syllable. Some examples are: Tagalog, Pilipino, babae (woman), lalaki (man), kabataan.
2. Sometimes a vowel is said with a glottal sound—produced by closing your throat abruptly. For example: batì (greeting), tama (prediction), payapà (peaceful). In some of the words in this book, this glottal sound will be indicted by the grave accent mark (`). Remember, the mark means “glottal sound”—it does not mean to stress that syllable.
3. In many pronunciation guides, you will find the symbol ^ above the vowel of the last syllable. This means two things: the accent is on the last syllable; and there is a glottal stop on the vowel. Some examples are: dagâ (mouse), ba-hâ, (flood), walâ (don’t have; nothing) and hindî (no).
4. Sometimes the stress is on the last syllable. Some examples are: dasál (prayer), kumustá (how are you?) and kayó (second person plural pronoun). In some of the words in this book, this will be indicated by the acute stress mark (´).
5. Some long words (with three or four syllables) have an additional stress. Two examples are eskuwélahán (school) and mágnanakáw (thief).
6. Accents and stress can be confusing when words are put together. For example, when the word ako (I or me) is used alone, the accent is clearly on the second syllable (a-kó). When used with the word po (honorific) to show respect, as in the phrase Ako po si Kathleen, native speakers seem to say “ako po” as if they were one word (a-ko-po) with the accent on the syllable po.
Dictionary Guides versus Spoken Filipino
Sometimes, dictionaries will syllabicate words differently than what you may hear/perceive to hear when native speakers speak. Two examples are the word siya (third person singular pronoun) and Biyernes (Friday).
In most dictionary entries, siya will appear as “si-ya” and you will understand this to mean that there are two syllables, “si” and “ya.” However, when you