Script guide › Latin

How to recognize Tagalog (Filipino)

Tagalog (Filipino) is one of 35 languages in Grafle's Latin group. Here's what it looks like, where you'll see it on signs, and how to tell it apart from its lookalikes.

Spot it fast

The tiny words ng and mga are uniquely Filipino.
'ang' and 'ay' pepper every sentence.

What Tagalog (Filipino) looks like

Ang lahat ng tao ay isinilang na malaya at pantay-pantay.

Magandang umaga sa inyong lahat, mga kaibigan!

Ang hindi lumingon sa pinanggalingan ay hindi makararating.

Latin scripts: The alphabet you're reading now. Each language gives itself away by its own special letters and accent marks.

Where you'll see it on signs

Philippines

Easy to confuse with

Indonesian / Malay — Tagalog's tiny words 'ng' and 'mga' are unique; Indonesian/Malay runs on prefixes (me-, ber-, di-) and hyphenated doubles (lama-lama).
Swahili — Tagalog: ng/mga everywhere. Swahili: m-/wa- word starts (watu, watoto) and no stand-alone two-letter words.
Vietnamese — Vietnamese stacks tone marks on its vowels (ề, ỏ, ắ) on one-syllable words; Tagalog is accent-free with ng/mga.