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Nouns & Ang/Ng/Sa Articles

The three article sets: ang (topic), ng (genitive/object), sa (locative)
ang bahay
the house (topic)
ahng bah-high
Ang marks the topic/subject -- the focused participant
ng bahay
of the house / a house (non-topic)
nahng bah-high
Ng marks possessor or non-topic object
sa bahay
in/at the house
sah bah-high
Sa marks location, direction, or indirect object
ang bata
the child
ahng bah-tah
Singular; mga bata = the children
ang aklat
the book
ahng ahk-laht
Tagalog has no gender for nouns
ang paaralan
the school
ahng pah-ah-rah-lan
Pa- prefix often creates place nouns
ang pagkain
the food
ahng pahg-kah-in
Pag- nominalization of kain (to eat)
ang tubig
the water
ahng too-big
Essential vocabulary; note short final vowel
ang kotse
the car
ahng koht-seh
Loanword from Spanish coche
ang pamilya
the family
ahng pah-mil-yah
From Spanish familia; very important cultural concept