Filipino Language Learning Struggles

My fiancé has been struggling to learn the Filipino language. Filipino is the national language of the Philippines. Since I came from this country, my man is trying to learn the language.  I appreciate how he spends time learning. Some of his reasons are the following:

Subject-Verb Agreement 

The Subject-Verb Agreement in the Filipino language is different than that in the Filipino Language. In English, the arrangement of the sentence usually starts from the subject, then Verb (subject + Verb). On the other hand, the Filipino language mostly begins with a verb before the subject (verb + subject).

Example:

English – I left home. (Subject + Verb)

Filipino – Umalis ako ng bahay. (Verb + Subject)

Number of Words

The Filipino sentence consists of more words than the English language or vice versa. An example of this is the sentence: “I left home” becomes “Umuwi na ako

Example:

English – I left home. (3 words)

Filipino – Umalis ako ng bahay. (4 words)

Pronunciation

Pronouncing the words in Filipino is difficult. My man is an American, he came from the south, so according to him, it is difficult for the tongue. Sometimes, his tongue feels a little lazy.

Example:

English – I went to the store.

Filipino – Pumunta ako sa tindahan. (The “tindahan” is challenging to pronounce.

Tenses

The use of verb-tense in Filipino is different than in English.

Example:

English – I go home.

Filipino – Umuwi na ako.

The Filipino of the English sentence, “I go home.” becomes “Umuwi na ako.” It should be “Pumunta ako sa bahay” because of the word go. But it is not. It is difficult for him to get it.

Words change

The words in Filipino changes depending on the context of the sentence.

Example:

English – I go home.

Filipino – Pumunta ako sa bahay. (which should be)

The Filipino of the English sentence, “I go home.” becomes “Umuwi na ako.” So, the word changes from “pumunta” to “umuwi.”

Words Arrangement

The word arrangements are crazy. It changes a lot.

I think the Pocket Translator Device from Amazon will help my fiancè in pronouncing the Filipino words. He knew some Filipino words already, and he can use these words in a conversation.

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