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LESSON TWO

Syllables and Stress in Tagalog

I. SYLLABLES IN TAGALOG

A knowledge of the different kinds of syllables (word divisions) in Tagalog will help the learner to articulate the words correctly. There are four kinds of syllables in Tagalog, namely:

1. The simple syllable consisting of only one vowel (V)

as	o	in	tá-o	person
as	a	in	pa-á	foot
as	i	in	i-yák	cry
as	u	in	ú-lo	head

2. The consonant + vowel syllable (CV)

as	ba or sa	in	ba-sa	read
as	ta	in	tá-o	person
as	na	in	i-ná	mother
as	lo	in	ú-lo	head

3. The vowel + consonant syllable (VC)

as	an	in	an-táy	wait
as	am	in	am-bón	shower / drizzle
as	ak	in	ak-yát	climb
as	it	in	ma-pa-ít	bitter

4. The consonant + vowel + consonant syllable (CVC)

as	tak	in	tak-bó	run
as	lak	in	bu-lak-lák	flower
as	lon	in	ta-lón	jump
as	law	in	í-law	light

When pronouncing Tagalog words, there are no hard and fast rules to help you know how to break the syllables (in other words, to know where each syllable starts and ends). An understanding though of the types of syllables that exist and the possible combinations of vowels and consonants that are formed through exposure to the Tagalog language will help the learner pronounce words correctly after some time. In the beginning, however, it is best to simply memorize the stress accents along with the words as you learn them.

Look out as well for prefixes and suffixes which “grab” vowels and consonants from the root word (see Lesson 14 on the -um- and mag- verbs, and similar discussions on other affixes). An example is bu-lak-lák (flower) which becomes bu-lak-lá-kin (flowery) where the suffix -in grabs the final consonant of the root.

A useful rule to remember is not to apply the pronunciation of English words to Tagalog words— for example saying ku-must-á rather than ku-mus-tá (how are you)—since the maximum number of letters in a Tagalog syllable does not exceed three (keeping in mind that ng is treated as a single letter). Thus, there is no must in kumustá although there is pang in pang-ápat (fourth) and ngin in hángin (wind). The syllables pang and ngin are only made up of three sounds as ng is considered a single consonant or letter in the Tagalog alphabet.

Another useful rule for foreigners is not to separate an initial consonant from a vowel, leaving a VC syllable in the middle of a word, as in bu-má-nat or to strike (which should not be pronounced bu-má-nat). VC syllables are mostly found at the beginning of words such as an-táy (wait) and akyát (climb). VC syllables may also be found at the end of words if the previous syllables end in a vowel as in pa-ít (bitter) and la-ot (sea).

As a general rule for the proper pronunciation of Tagalog words, remember to deliver these words in a faster, sharper and less breathy manner than in English (more in the manner of Spanish pronunciation). Do not make any audible breaths (aspirations) in pronouncing the p ’s, k ’s, t ’s and other consonants. Otherwise, you will be branded a “slang,” the local term for anyone who speaks Tagalog with an American accent or with too many long a ’s, long e ’s and long o ’s.

Exercises

Break the following words correctly into their individual syllables. The first syllable of each word has been given.

1. magandá	ma - ______ - ______	beautiful
2. páaralán	pa - ______ - ______ - ______	school
3. pagkáin	pag- ______ - ______	food
4. inilutò	i- ______ - ______ - ______	was cooked
5. ialís	i- ______ - ______	to be removed
6. inalís	i- ______ - ______	was removed
7. hángin	ha- ______	wind
8. linísin	li- ______ - ______	to be cleaned
9. tatló	tat- ______	three
10. álaála	a- ______ - ______ - ______	gift, remembrance
11. kailángan	ka- ______ - ______ - ______	needed
12. násaán	na- ______ - ______	where
13. ngayón	nga- ______	now, today
14. awítin	a- ______ - ______	to sing
15. mabaít	ma- ______ - ______	good
16. pangálan	pa- ______ - ______	name
17. maliit	ma- ______ - ______	small
18. paalám	pa- ______ - ______	goodbye
19. maaárì	ma- ______ - ______ - ______	can be
20. nag-áaral	nag- ______ - ______ - ______	studying

Pronounce the words listed in the Exercises on page 19 slowly, syllable by syllable, then repeat them pronouncing each word a bit faster.

II. STRESS

In Tagalog, the use of stress on a particular syllable in a word can make a difference in meaning. Stress is the vocal emphasis of a particular syllable. In this book, an accent mark is placed over the vowel of a syllable to indicate which syllable is to be stressed and how the stress is to be sounded.

1. Principal types of stresses

There are four principal types of stresses and in this book, they are marked in the following ways:

a. End Stress

An acute accent mark (´) is placed over the vowel of the last syllable of the word if this syllable receives a stronger emphasis than the others.

anák	a-NAK	child
amá	a-MA	father
iná	i-NA	mother
bulaklák	bu-lak-LAK	flower
malakás	ma-la-KAS	strong

b. Penultimate Stress

An acute accent mark (´) is also used to indicate a stress on the next to last syllable of a word, by placing the accent above the vowel of that syllable.

babáe	ba-BA-e	woman
laláki	la-LA-ki	man
maínit	ma-I-nit	hot
malínis	ma-LI-nis	clean
táo	TA-o	person

c. Penultimate Stress with a Glottal Catch

A grave accent mark (`) is used above the vowel of the last syllable to indicate a strong emphasis on the next to last syllable. The vowel at the end is pronounced with a glottal catch, which is produced by an abrupt closing of the throat to block the air stream in both the mouth and voice box. The glottal catch is hard to hear and beginners often mistake the sound as that of k.

For this particular lesson, however, we shall indicate the pronunciation of the glottal catch with the letter Q. Note that this is only a representation of the glottal catch and should not be interpreted as the literal pronunciation of the words (Please refer to the audio CD to hear how the words are pronounced).

punò	PU-noQ	tree
kandilà	kan-DI-laQ	candle
pusà	PU-saQ	cat
susì	SU-siQ	key
batà	BA-taQ	child

d. End Glottal Catch (no stress)

The circumflex mark (ˆ) is used above the vowel of the last syllable when it is pronounced without a stress but with a glottal catch at the end. The difference with the preceding stress type is that words that fall under this category are pronounced faster and the stress on the last syllable seems lost with the glottal catch.

punô	pu-noQ	full
sampû	sam-puQ	ten
bakyâ	bak-yaQ	wooden shoes
masamâ	ma-sa-maQ	bad
gintô	gin-toQ	gold

Note that longer words may have more than one stressed syllable such as pinagkákaguluhán (being mobbed) and mapágsamantalâ (opportunistic).

2. On the use of stress and accents

There are some important facts that the language learner should also remember about the use of stress and accents in Tagalog. These are the following:

a. A difference in stress can cause a difference in meaning, as in the following examples:

kaibígan	ka-i-BI-gan	friend
kaibigán	ka-i-bi-GAN	desire
káibigán	KA-i-bi-GAN	have mutual understanding with
kaíbigan	ka-I-bi-gan	sweetheart
makaalís	ma-ka-a-LIS	to be able to leave
makáalis	ma-KA-a-lis	to leave unintentionally
matúlog	ma-TU-log	to sleep
matulóg	ma-tu-LOG	to fall asleep unintentionally

b. The glottal catch is lost when a suffix is added after the final vowel.

batà	BA-taQ	child
kabatáan	ka-ba-TA-an	youth
luhà	LU-haQ	tears
luhaán	lu-ha-AN	miserable
punô	pu-noQ	full
punuín	pu-nu-IN	to fill with
susì	SU-siQ	key
susián	su-si-AN	keyhole

c. Monosyllabic words often take on the stress of a preceding word, and the stress in that word is lost. The stress is thus “transferred” to the following single-syllable word.

kumáin	Kumain ká.	Ku-ma-in KA.	You may eat.
hindî	Hindi pá.	Hin-di PA.	Not yet.
ganitó	Ganito bá?	Ga-ni-to BA?	Like this?
malápit	Malapit ná.	Ma-la-pit NA.	It is near.
hindî	Hindi pô.	Hin-di PO.	No, sir / madam.

d. To avoid mispronunciation, a hyphen separates the prefix that ends in a consonant and with a glottal stop from the root that follows which starts with a vowel.

pag-ása	pagQ-A-sa	hope
mag-alís	magQ-a-LIS	to remove
mag-isá	magQ-i-SA	alone
pag-íbig	pagQ-I-big	love

Exercises

Practice pronouncing the following words by paying careful attention to the four types of stress and accent marks used to indicate them.

anák	a-NA	child
amá	a-MA	father
iná	i-NA	mother
bulaklák	bu-lak-LAK	flower
malakás	ma-la-KAS	strong
babáe	ba-BA-e	woman
laláki	la-LA-ki	man
maínit	ma-I-nit	hot
táo	TA-o	person
punò	PU-noQ	tree
kandilà	kan-DI-laQ	candle
pusà	PU-saQ	cat
susì	SU-siQ	key
batà	BA-taQ	child
punô	pu-noQ	full
sampû	sam-puQ	ten
bakyâ	bak-yaQ	wooden shoes
masamâ	ma-sa-maQ	bad
gintô	gin-toQ	gold