AmericanLola

One thing we have noticed is that greetings are important here in the Philippines. People say, “Good morning,” “Good noon,” “Good afternoon,” and “Good evening.” We tend to just say ‘Hi!’ or nothing in particular. We noticed that when we came into the kitchen in the morning, and our girls were there, they always said ”Good morning” before they said anything else. And if I walked in and said, “Lan, do you know where I put my glasses?” she would answer, “Good morning, Ate.” Oops! So we have learned that it is polite to greet people with the appropriate for the time of day greeting whenever we see someone for the first time in that day. This is what people do! And doing it in Cebuano gets you extra points!

First, a little background. We live on a pretty busy street, and the house next door had a wall 12-16 feet high when we moved in. It had a big, equally tall, black metal gate, so we called the place, “Mordor.” We have two girls who live with us and are like our family; Marylan, a working student, and Caryl, who is recently married and her husband now lives here too. This story took place about three years ago.

When we moved in, the house next door appeared to be the home of a lot of unrelated renters. One day, they all left, and it appeared that repairs would be done on the house. A week or so later, I noticed that Marylan was buying bread, and taking leftovers outside our gate. When I asked, she said she was feeding a little dog, abandoned by the people next door. She said there had been two puppies, but one had died, and the remaining pup was laying next to his dead sibling. Oh my! Kaluoy niya! (Poor thing!)

I told her that if she wanted to save that puppy, we might as well do it right, by bringing it over to our house so we could take proper care of it. We already had two large dogs, Boss and Molly. This little dog was one of the most pitiful things I have ever seen! He was probably about 3-4 months old, but could barely stand. He was literally skin and bones. He was almost hairless and his back knees bowed in to meet each other. His skin was in bad shape too. Poor little guy! I slathered him in coconut oil for his skin (that is why he looks shiny in the picture) and we began giving him soft, nourishing foods. He was grateful, you could really see that! The girls named him ‘Precious’ because he looked like a doggy version of ‘Golum’ in Lord of the Rings. He really did!

He made good progress for almost a week, and then he came down with a raging fever. His tummy was bloated and he could not even stand up. I had warned the girls that even if we did our best, be might not make it, and here was a crisis. I had some penicillin tablets around the house, so I figured it was worth a try. I stuck one of those down his throat once a day for five days, and what do you know? He survived! From that point on he began to eat, thrive and put on fur. He is now probably one of the healthiest dogs in the neighborhood!

He remains a very grateful little dog and has become a much loved member of our household. It is still strange to me to have a male dog named, “Precious” and I keep referring to him as ‘her.’ The girls have attempted to fix this problem by calling him “Moments” or “Mr. Moments” and I do think that has some charm!

Today we will look at several things that will be helpful to know how to use. Some of these you may have already figured out. I will make the stressed syllable bold and put an * to show a glottal.

First of all, let’s look at how to say, ‘this, that, these and those’. These are pronouns (taking the place of a person or place, or thing) and will either be first or second class in our sentences.

First class words are the main focus of the sentence:

Kini = this, these right here, that I am or could be touching.

Kini ang akong anak. This is my child.
Kini (1st class pronoun) ang (1st class marker for the preceeding pronoun) akong (2nd class posessive pronoun, my) anak (child).

Paliton nako kini. I will buy this. Paliton (will buy, object focus) nako (2nd class personal pronoun, I) kini (1st class, this).

Kana*= that, those that we can see, over there, or farther from the speaker but near to the listener. Can also refer to a point or thought.

Kana* ang picture sa iyang asawa. That is the picture of his wife.
Kana* (1st class pronoun) ang (1st class marker for the following noun) picture sa (2nd class marker for asawa) iyang (2nd class posessive pronoun, his) asawa (object of the picture)

Kana* ang akong hunahuna! That is my thought! (I agree, we have the same thought)
Oo, kana*! Yes, that! =Yes, exactly! (You have hit the nail on the head!)

Kadto = that over there, those over there, far from both speaker and listener, can be out of sight.

Adtua kadtong balay nga blue ang gate. Go to that house that has a blue gate.

Adtua (command, direction focus ) ang (1st class marker) balay (1 st class noun) nga (linker; that) blue (ajective, describing) ang (1st class, focusing the gate which is blue) gate.

Kadtong sakyanan nga luyo sa balay nga iya ni Jim. [Telling the man which car you are refering to] That car behind the house that belongs to Jim.

Kadtong (that + linker, nga = kadtong) sakyanan (vehicle) nga (linker) luyo (behind) sa (2nd class marker focusing balay) balay (house) nga (linker) iya (2nd class possesive pronoun, ‘thing belonging to’) ni (2nd class possesive marker, showing ownership) Jim. (Jim, the guy who owns the car, is in this case less important than the car itself. Jim is just a way to identify the car.)

Whew! Now for the second class words for ‘this, that, these and those.’

Niini = this, these right here, that I am or could be touching.

Mopalit ako niini. I will buy this. Mopalit (will buy, actor focus) ako (1st class personal pronoun, I) niini (2nd class, this).

Kinsa ang tag-iya niini? Who is the owner of this? Whose is this?
Kinsa (who) ang (1st class marker for the answer to the ‘kinsa’ queston) tag-iya (owner) niini (2nd class pronoun, this)

Niana = that, those that we can see, over there, or farther from the speaker but near to the listener.

Wala* ko nakasabot niana. I didn’t understand that.
Wala* (did not) ko (shortened form of ako, 1st class personal pronoun) nakasabot (able to understand, actor potentiality focus) niana (2nd class pronoun, that).

Niadto= that over there, those over there, far from both speaker and listener, can be out of sight, or a long time ago.

Nagpalit ka ba niadtong auto nga inyong gitan-aw? Did you buy that car you looked at?
Nagpalit (did buy, actor focus) ka (1st class personal pronoun, you) ba (question particle) niadtong (that, out of sight, 2nd class pronoun) auto (car) nga (linker) inyong (you, plural, 2nd class) gitan-aw (looked at, object focus on the car)?

While we are at it, to refer to a time in the past, like last week, or last month or last year, you use, “Niadtong niaging” (That which has gone-by)

Niadtong niaging Sabado. Last Saturday
Niadtong niaging bulan. Last month.
Niadtong niaging tuig. Last year.
Niadtong niaging usa ka simana. Week before last.
Niadtong niaging pag-adto namo sa Estets. The last time we went to the States.

Sorry for the delay in getting out this lesson, I have been out of town a lot during the last two weeks. I hope you all are continuing to listen and write down new words you hear. John had an interesting method for remembering new words! For me, this seems more complicated, but I know different people have different ways of remembering things. There are a lot of different learning styles.

My husband and I differ in the ways we learn. He is an analytical kind of guy and needs to know WHY the words are arranged the way they are. He wants to know the RULES to follow. He also needs to SEE a word written before it makes an impression on his brain. Reviewing words in a flashcard drill program he wrote really helped him learn vocabulary. He has to work harder on good pronunciation, and the more time he spends in conversation, the better he maintains his fluency. He tends to speak the way we learned to speak in school, and does not easily add local idiom to his conversation.

I am more of an auditory learner. This is true even though I wear hearing aids (all the more reason to wear them!). I hear sounds and can mimic them (if I hear them correctly). I am interested in HOW people say things, not so much why the say them that way. I wish I knew the grammar as well as my husband, but I am so grateful for the grammar training we got in school! I never would have learned it otherwise, and it is a huge help! I remember words best if I USE a new word in a sentence or conversation at least five times in one day. If I try the new word out, asking how it can be used, listen to some one else use it, and try it myself, I’ve pretty much got it.

John has mentioned using ‘word association’ as a method for learning vocabulary. His is probably good for learning things like numbers and words that otherwise would be hard to remember, but will be difficult to use for learning a whole language. But the more associations you can make with what you already know, from English or any Spanish or other language you have worked with in the past, the better! I remember having a breakthrough when I realized that at the bottom of the word “piniritong,’ (as in fried chicken) was the Spanish word ‘frito’ which means fry! The ‘fr’ sound is not used in Cebuano, so the ‘f’ and ‘r’ need to be separated by that ‘i’ in order to be pronounced. The ‘p’ and ‘f’ are interchangeable, with ‘p’ more used. Hence, we get ‘pirito’ (pee-REET-o), fry. And I then also understood the ‘in’ infix which makes something habitual or intrinsic, ‘pinirito +nga manok= pinititong manok.” (pee-nee-REE-tong ma-NOOK)

In our school, they had us count objects, and follow instructions given in Cebuano such as, “Give me three pieces.” “Give me six pieces.” “Take five bananas.” “Give two carrots to Paul.” etc. To learn the ordinal numbers, we had to show a picture of our family, and say who was the first, second, third, and so on.

For people who like to SEE a word to remember it, labeling items around the house may help, especially if you make a practice of calling things by their Cebuano name, even in English sentences. “Linda have you seen my libro? I left it on the lamesa ganina.” Move as quickly as you can to full sentences, but this is a good beginning.

Think about the way you learn things. Do you write them down? Makes lists? Think in terms of opposites? Repeat them in your mind, or out loud? Do you visualize a picture? Put it in a sentence? Do you easily remember songs, clever ditties and rhymes? Capitalize on what you know about the way you remember things. All systems do not work for everyone! Find what works for you.

Okay, I found a very helpful website with a free, downloadable book on Cebuano grammar! The fellow who put it together is an American married to a Filipina from Cebu. He has gone to great lengths to learn Cebuano, and has written up all of his learning notes! This page also lists many other resources available.

http://www.tomandcathymarking.com/cebuano/

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).