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Alphabet, ng & Pronunciation

The ng sound, clear vowels, stress

Tagalog uses the Latin alphabet plus ng

ng is a single sound, as in 'singer'.

📊 Special points
Feature Note Example
ng single nasal sound ngayon (now)
glottal stop often unwritten, ends some words bata (child)
stress can distinguish words aso (dog) vs asó (smoke)
💬 Examples
ngipin
NGI-pin
tooth
📝 ng = a single sound, even at the start
araw
A-raw
sun / day
📝 Clear vowels: a e i o u
Each vowel is pronounced clearly

Five pure vowels, no reduction.

💬 Examples
maganda
ma-gan-DA
beautiful
📝 Every vowel sounded fully
salamat
sa-LA-mat
thank you
📝 Clear a's
Stress and the glottal stop can change meaning

Listen for both.

💬 Examples
baga
ember / lung (stress differs)
📝 Stress/glottal can distinguish meaning
po
po
(politeness word)
📝 Short, with a glottal feel