Say Hello in the Tagalog Language

Filipino

Tagalog, the mother tongue of at least 25% of the population of the Philippines, is also the official language of the country alongside English. It is also the foundation for Pilipino, which is the native language of the country and the standardized form of Tagalog. In the late 1500s, the Philippines were colonized by the Spanish. So, for three centuries from then, Spanish was the official language of these islands. However, during this time, Spanish clergy members and missionaries gathered information about the grammar and vocabulary of Tagalog and put together the very first dictionaries. While there might have been an earlier version of Tagalog before this, there are no known records of it. After the Philippines gained independence, Tagalog was chosen as the country’s national language by the writers of its very first constitution. Although other languages were also made official languages later, Tagalog continued to be the local official language of the Philippines. Learn how to say hello in Tagalog and more about the language here:

English:	Good noon	I am
Tagalog:	Magandang tanghali po	Ako si
Pronunciation:	Ma-gan-DANG tang-HA-lee poh	Ah-ko see

There is no Tagalog equivalent for the English hello. However, a common way to greet people is to say kumusta ka (pronounced kah-muhs-tah kah), which translates to “how are you?” It is also acceptable to greet people with hi or hello in English since most Filipinos speak English quite fluently. Here are other ways to greet people based on the time of the day:

magandang umaga (pronounced ma-gan-dang u-ma-ga) for good morning
magandang tanghali for good noon
magandang hapon (pronounced ma-gan-dang ha-pon) for good afternoon
magandang gabi (pronounced ma-gan-dang ga-bi) for good evening

Adding po at the end of each of these greetings makes it more formal and respectful – for example, magandang umaga po (pronounced ma-gan-dang u-ma-ga poh).

Did You Know You Were Speaking Tagalog?

Words in English from the Tagalog language:

boondocks (from “bundok,” mountain)

Tagalog Alphabet

Learn the basics of the Tagalog alphabet here:

Tagalog Alphabet with Audio Pronunciation

Learning Tagalog

Know more than just how to say hello in Tagalog from these links:

Filipino Culture

Explore these resources for detailed information about the Filipino culture:

Who Can You Talk To?

There are over 25 million people who speak Tagalog in Canada, Guam, Philippines, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, and the United States of America. Now, you can say hello in Tagalog to more than 25 million people!* *Source: Ethnologue: Tagalog – (Register for free to access.)

Say Hello to the World was created by Lorri Mon.

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