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Beginner

Basic Sentence Structure

Predicate-first

The predicate comes first

Tagalog is predicate-initial.

💬 Examples
Maganda ang bahay.
The house is beautiful.
📝 Predicate (maganda) before the subject
Guro si Ana.
Ana is a teacher.
📝 Predicate (guro) first
No verb 'to be' for descriptions

Just predicate + subject.

💬 Examples
Masaya ako.
I am happy.
📝 No 'am' — 'happy I'
Estudyante siya.
He/She is a student.
📝 No copula
ay can front the subject (formal)

Subject + ay + predicate (more formal/written).

💬 Examples
Ang bahay ay maganda.
The house is beautiful.
📝 ay-inversion (formal, subject first)
Si Ana ay guro.
Ana is a teacher.
📝 Formal ay word order