Monday, August 27, 2007
More Cebuano Speaking Tips
Today we will talk about several tricky little things you need to get used to before you can speak Cebuano properly.
The first is, how to say, “No.” Have you noticed that sometimes they say, “Dili, “ and sometimes they say, “Wala?”
‘Dili’ (which has a glottal stop at the end) means ‘will not, (I) do not, or does not
‘Wala’ (which also has a glottal stop at the end) means, “Don’t have, have not (done), or did not (do).”
Do you have a pencil I can use? No, I don’t have one (Wala)
Did you go with Bob to Buda yet? No, I haven’t gone. (Wala)
Do you have apples here? No. (Wala)
Have you tasted our octopus cooked in ink? No, not yet. (Wala pa)
Are you going with us to see the parade tomorrow? No, we have to do some shopping. (Dili)
Does your son attend Ateneo? No. (Dili)
Do you sell apples here? No. (Dili)
Do you know how to sing? No. (Dili)
Do you like to eat dried fish? Not really. (Dili kaayo)
Okay for practice, have someone ask you questions in English and you try to give the right negative answer in Cebuano. Make sure you ask someone who knows the right answers!
The next mystery we will tackle is how to say ‘we.’ This is probably the hardest one to get straight! I still catch myself using the wrong word for ‘we’ sometimes.
In Cebuano, there are two words which we translate ‘we’ in English. They are, in the first class pronouns, ‘kita’ and ‘kami.’
‘Kita’ includes the people being spoken to. “Hey, let’s all go see that new movie!” (Kita, the inclusive, includes all who are in the group listening to my statement.)
Mag-adto kita sa pagtan-aw niadtong bag-ong salida!
‘Kami’ excludes the people being spoken to. “Jul and I (we) plan to eat at Countryside when she visits CDO.” (Kami, exclusive, tells the people listening what we will do which, incidentally, they will not be doing with us.)
Mokaon kami ni Jul sa Countryside pagbisita niya sa CDO.
It is important to know that when you, a foreigner, speak to a group of people and use ‘kami’ it can be understood that you are speaking of yourself and those like you, excluding Filipinos, especially if you are talking about the way WE do things, or what good things WE do or have done. You may be thinking a collective WE, but if you say ‘kami’, your listeners are excluded.
When you pray out loud, in case you have the occasion, you always use ‘kami.’ You do not include God among those giving thanks or making a petition. He is excluded from those praying and is the non-included listener. Makes sense, eh?
As second class pronoun, ‘us/our’ is translated ‘nato’ (inclusive) and ‘namo’ (exclusive).
Related Posts:
Cebuano Speaking TipsCebuano Speaking Tips Cont.
Language Learning Tips
About AmericanLola
Language Learning Styles and Learning Tips
# 1 Bob said:
Hi AmericanLola - This is really great! Your lessons are following just about 2 weeks behind my instruction that I’m getting from my teacher, and makes for a nice review. It also gives me a chance to get a “second understanding” of what I’ve learned. In other words, my teacher taught me and I thought I understood, but when I read what you said, I see that I was slightly off, and am now straightened out!
By the way, I think I have the - “kita, kami, kamo” thing down pretty solidly.
# 2 Malcolm said:
Hi
Interesting to note as well that Kami, Kita and Kamo when used in a sentence will often abbreviate to Mi, Ta and Mo!
Keep up the good work
Malcolm
# 3 jul said:
Nice job, AmericanLola!:smile:
# 4 AmericanLola said:
Great, Bob, I am glad to help, and commend your efforts!
Yes, Malcom, these words are usually shortened in ‘real’ speech, but I use the whole word so people can understand the grammar. “Magadto na kita” often comes out, “Ta na!” Big difference!
Thanks Jul! I DO hope we can do Countryside Steakhouse one of these days!
# 5 jul said:
Sige, kita-kita unya ta sa Country Steakhouse !
(OK, we will see each other at the Country Steakhouse!)
Excited ko AmericanLola.
I hope I’m not confusing you guys in the use of kita-kita here. AmericanLola will explain. Hehehe:lol:
# 6 AmericanLola said:
Um, right! Let’s see! What Jul said, ‘Kita kita’ is the short form of “Makakita kita…” or “Magkita kita”
Literally, “We will be able to see each other…” The first ‘kita’ is the root ’see’ (stress on the first vowel) and the second’kita’ is the word meaning ‘we’ inclusive (stress on the second vowel, ‘a’). This can be further shortened to “Kita ta!” which you will hear often.
Got that?’
# 7 Dex U. said:
I wonder why Bisaya (or Tagalog) has a specific word for “we” that excludes the listener, e.g. kami. Why is it important for the Filipino culture to have a specific word, kami, to stress to the listener that he/she is not part of the activity?
I believe that the language’s terms/words reflect that of the culture speaking the language, like why we have so many words for “rice”.
I heard of an argument before between a Tagalog and a Bisaya, in which the Tagalog said that Tagalogs respect equality of husbands and wives because they got only one word for spouse, i.e. asawa (which could refer to either husband or wife). That is they don’t distinguish between the husband and the wife. But the Bisaya argued that having specific term for husband (bana) and wife (asawa) does not mean Bisayans treat them as unequal but rather Bisaya has just richer vocabulary.
Hi AmericanLola. I think the way Jul used “kita-kita” is not the way as you explained. I think she used it in the same way as we say “kanta-kanta”. But I find it hard to explain, so I hope you can explain this.
# 8 Bob said:
Oh my… all this talk of Countryside Steakhouse is making me hungry! I really love the food there!
# 9 macky said:
Hi Bob,
funny that abbreviation is discussed. I recently looked over the July (or was it June?) post of your Learn to Bisaya blog (well done, by the way).
Anyway, I noticed the “aduna” or “aduna ba’y” being used. I had to ask my wife if she ever used those words because I was not sure of it and started questioning my skills. Turns out, We’ve both been using it our whole lives and never even realized the extended version.We say it as “Naa” and “Naa’y”.
My Fil-Am cousin is learning tagalog as well in UP diliman. Extremely smart guy. took him mere weeks to communicate with the locals in tagalog. But reading his tagalog emails and talking to him is like communicating in shakespearean English. So formal and long.
I heard a story from my uncle in Manila that he complained about being scammed by some local unscrupulous officials regarding paperwork on his visa. He remarked “pinagsamantalan ako”. My uncle thought he meant that he was raped.
My Filipino (bisaya and tagalog) use a lot of shortcuts and never realized it until I see it in written form.
# 10 Bob said:
Hi macky - Thanks for the compliment on the Learn Bisaya Blog! I try to use it myself from time to time for learning. I have my employees and nieces do the audio on there! My kids have even done it from time to time too!
# 11 marygrace said:
Hi American Lola, keep up the good work! “Maka-bilib kaayo nga kabalo ka mag bisaya”
# 12 Louis said:
You know when I goto church I have been forcing myself to goto the bisaya masses so I can immerse myself more in the language. Well I have “Salmat sa Diyos” down now. I invariably get the Dili and wala down wrong… the glottial at the end makes it sound like dili-t and wala-t to my ears. also confusing is that wala (without the glottial) is Left in Bisaya… Sa wala lang… always have to tell the cab drivers because they get insular village phase 1 and 2 confused.