Thursday, March 7, 2013

Particles and Sentence Markers

Particles are used to provide emphasis or alter the meaning of the sentence. Many of them do not have a direct English translation.

I will list only the ones that I use often when I speak.


Na Already, now
Pa Still, yet
Man This is a tough one to explain. I've looked online for a good explanation but none of them really say what it really means. It's used for emphasis, and is often used to ask a question, answer a question, or provide explanation for something. Like, "Why are you eating so fast?" "Gutom (Hungry) man jud ko."
Lagi of course, for certain, emphasis (really)
Ra, lang Limiting particle (only, just)
Kay Because
Dyud, jud, gyud Really, indeed – Hungry na jud ko.
Daw He/She/They say, a very general word that could mean something you read on the internet or whatever. “It will be warm today daw.”
Kuno Supposedly, a rumor.. Used like daw.
di-ay Used to express surprise of having just learned something, “You’ve seen that movie di-ay?”
Ba A question marker for yes/no questions. “Hungry ka ba?”
Sad, pud Also, another
Kahâ Expresses wonder
Bitaw Surely, indeed (similar to lagi)
Di ba (dili ba) Confirmation, literally means, “no?”

With this you can say stuff like, "Gutom na jud ko."
 "Katulgon pa ko" - "I'm still sleepy"

I'll list some adjectives in vocab.