Cebuano grammar

Cebuano grammar is the set of structural rules that govern the composition of clauses, phrases, and words in the Cebuano language, spoken in the southern Philippines.

Pronouns

Personal Pronouns

Pronouns are inflected for person, number and case. No gender distinctions are made for the third person singular: he and she are both translated in Cebuano as siya.

The three cases are absolutive, ergative and oblique.

	Absolutive		Ergative (Postposed)		Ergative (Preposed)	Oblique
	Full	Short	Full	Short	Full	Full	Short
1st person singular	ako	ko*	nako	ko	ako, akoa	kanako	nako
2nd person singular	ikaw	ka	nimo	mo	imo, imoha	kanimo	nimo
3rd person singular	siya		niya		iya,iyaha	kaniya	niya
1st person plural inclusive	kita	ta	nato	to	ato, atoa	kanato	nato
1st person plural exclusive	kami	mi	namo	mo	amo, amoa	kanamo	namo
2nd person plural	kamo	mo	ninyo		inyo, inyoha	kaninyo	ninyo
3rd person plural	sila		nila		ila, ilaha	kanila	nila

* - Ta only when the object is the second person singular, i.e., ka, mo, etc. For example, Nakita ta ka, NOT *Nakita ko ka.

Usage of full and short forms

The short forms are used most often in conversation. However, the full forms must be used when they occur on their own as a predicate.

Examples (Those marked with an asterisk, "*", are ungrammatical):

Aku si Juan. I am John.
*Ku si Juan.

Kamo'y moadto ngadto sa Banawa. You (plu.) are going to Banawa.
*Mo'y moadto ngadto sa Banawa.

But...

Mao ku si Juan.
Mao mo'y moadto ngadto sa Banawa.

First Person Plural: Clusivity

In Cebuano, like most other Austronesian languages, the first person plural forms encode clusivity. This distinction, not found in most European languages, signifies whether or not the addressee is included.

Examples:

Moadto mi sa eskuwelahan.
We (someone else and I but not you) will go to school.

Moadto ta sa eskuwelahan.
We (you and I and perhaps someone else) will go to school.

Demonstratives

Cebuano demonstratives are as follows:

Case	Absolutive		Ergative		Oblique
Distance	Full*	Short*	Full*	Short*	'NG-'**	'D-'**
Proximal (Very near speaker)	kiri kari	ri	niiri niari	iri ari ri	ngari	diri
Medioproximal (Near speaker)	kini kani	ni	niini niani	ini ani ni	nganhi	dinhi
Medial† (Near Addressee)	kana	na	niana	ana	nganha	diha dinha
Distal (Remote)	kadto	to	niadto	adto	ngadto	didto

* When the demonstrative is used as a predicate, the full form must be used.
** Both forms, those beginning with 'ng-' and those with 'd-', are interchangeable and correspond to the deictives below.
† Although not represented in the orthography, forms in this row end in a glottal stop:
kana /kanaˀ/, na /naˀ/, niana /niˀanaˀ/, nganha /ŋanhaˀ/, diha /dihaˀ/, dinha /dinhaˀ/.

Examples:

Unsa kani?
What's this?

Kinsa na?
Who is that?

Gikan ni sa Presidente sa Filipinas, ning sulata.
This letter is from the President of the Philippines

Mangaon sila didto.
They will eat there.

Nikaon kadto ang mga tao ug mga bata didto sa fiesta.
The people and children have already ate some of that in the festival.

Adverbs

Deictics

Deictics, words such as here and there, reference locations between the speaker and addressee. In addition to the same four-way distinction of proximity for demonstratives (near speaker, near speaker and addressee, near addressee and remote), deictics can express three tenses:

• Present: "X is here/there now"
• Past: "X was here/there"
• Future: "X will be here/there"

The present and future tense forms can precede or follow the words or phrases they modify by linking with nga. The past tense forms, however, only have a past meaning if they precede their words or phrases. If they follow, they convey no tense.

The 'ng-' forms are always tenseless. They follow the words or phrases they modify and can substitute equivalent past forms. In addition, they show movement or motion to the relative location which past forms cannot.

	Present Tense	Past Tense	Future Tense	Tenseless (D-)	Tenseless (NG-)
Proximal	dia adia	diri	ari	diri	ngari
Mesioproximal†	nia ania	dinhi	anhi	dinhi	nganhi
Mesiodistal	naa anaa	diha dinha	anha	diha dinha	nganha
Distal	toa atoa	didto	adto	didto	ngadto

† Forms in this row end in a glottal stop:
naa /naˀaˀ/, anaa /ˀanaˀaˀ/ , diha /dihaˀ/, dinha /dinhaˀ/, anha /ˀanhaˀ/, diha /dihaˀ/, dinha /dinhaˀ/, nganha /ŋanhaˀ/.

Examples:

Dia diri ang bata.
The child is over here.
 
Toa ang lolo sa Amerika.
Grandfather is in America.
 
Dinhi ang Doktor gahapon.
The doctor was here yesterday.
 
Adto siya sa Maynila.
She will be in Manila.
 
Midagan ang bata ngadto sa balay niya.
The child ran there (thither) to his/her house.

Nouns

Cebuano nouns fall into of two classes: personal and general. Personal nouns refer to persons or personified objects and animals and names. All other nouns fall into the general category. Nouns do not inflect for case or number: Case is shown using case markers; the plural number is show with the particle mga.

Case

Cebuano nouns assume three cases based on their role in a sentence:

• Absolutive - This is the case of the predicative nominal and the subject of such phrases. It is the case used for the topic of transitive verbs.
• Ergative - This is the case of the actor or agent in non-actor focus verb forms and the case of possession and roles of the genitive case.
• Oblique - A peripheral case, this is the case of the direct object of actor-focus verbs. It is the used when the case relationship is non-core, i.e., ergative nor absolutive in nature.

Class	Absolutive	Ergative	Oblique
General	ang	sa	sa (definite) og (indefinite)
Personal	si	ni	kang

The use of sa VS. og in the oblique case is a matter of definiteness when the noun is the object of an actor-focus verb. Compare the following examples.

1. [Definite] Mipalit si Juan sa sakyanan. John bought the car.
2. [Indefinite] Mipalit si Juan ug sakyanan. John bought a car

In example sentence 1, the car that John bought is particular. It may have been a car he was thinking about buying or one that the speaker was selling John. In 2, the speaker may or may not know the specifics about the car in question.

Number

Plural is shown by preceding the noun with the particle mga /maŋa/.

Adjectives

Plural Forms

Adjectives do not inflect for the plural. Common adjectives of measurement, however, have a plural form characterized by the infixation of /g/.

Gloss	Singural	Plural
big	dako	dagko
near	duol	dug-ol
small	gamay	gagmay
far	layo	lagyo
short	mubo	mugbo
tall	taas	tag-as

Comparative

In comparing two similar items, the comparative form indicates that one has a higher degree (or lower degree) of the quality expressed by the root, e.g., bigger, smaller, greater, etc.

The comparative degree is expressed in the following ways:

• Precede the adjective with labi pa "more (still)"
• Precede the adjective with the particle mas (from Spanish más)

dako big
Method	Form	Gloss
labi pa	labi pang dako	bigger
mas	mas dako	bigger

Examples:

Comparative Superlative

The comparative superlative indicates the maximum degree of the quality expressed in comparison to other items. In Cebuano this degree can be expressed by a prefix, pinaka- or by the use of the particle labi (most).

dako big
Method	Form	Gloss
pinaka-	pinakadako	biggest
labi	labing dako	biggest

Absolute Superlative

The absolute superlative is the form used in exclamations, for example, "How pretty you are!", and denote the extreme quality of the root.

It is formed by prefixing Pagka- or Ka- (short form) to the root. The subject follows in the oblique.

Examples:

Pagkanindot kanimo! (Full)
Kanindot nimo! (Short)
How pretty you are! You are extremely pretty!

Intensive

To express intensity, adjectives are followed by 'kaayo' (very).

Examples:

Ang mga dwendey mubo kaayo.
Dwarves are very short.

Linkers

Nga

The linker nga (pronounced /ŋa/) shows the relationship between modifiers to the head of the phrase. Examples of such relationships are adjective-noun, clause-noun, adverb-verb, adverb-adjective and noun-noun. Without the intervening linker, juxtaposition of modifier and head can constitute, not a phrase, but a sentence unto itself. Compare the phrase "ang batang lalaki" the/a young man/boy and the sentence "ang bata lalaki" the child is male or the child is a boy.

After words that end in a monophthong, diphthong or -n, nga is reduced to -ng /-ŋ/.

Unlike Tagalog, nga is not used with numbers; ka below is used instead.

Example	Gloss
balay nga bato balay'ng bato	stone house
balay nga nipa balay'ng nipa	nipa hut
balay nga kahoy balay'ng kahoy	wooden house
dako nga balay dakong balay	big house
gamay nga balay gamay'ng balay	small house

Ka

The linker ka is used to link numbers and the phrase it modifies. Buok whole is sometimes used with ka.

Example 1	Example 2	Gloss
usa ka bata	usa ka buok bata	one child
walo ka semana	walo ka buok semana	eight weeks
duha ka tasa	duha ka buok tasa	two cups

Enclitic particles

1. ba: used for yes-and-no questions and optionally for other types of questions.
2. gayud/gyud: indeed; used in affirmations or emphasis.
3. kay: because
4. lang/ra/da: limiting particle; just, only.
5. man: even, even if, even though, although
6. na: now, already (past positive tense), anymore (past negative tense)
7. pa: still, else
8. ug: and
9. usab, upod: also

Na and pa are not used in the same sentence.

Interrogatives

• Unsa? What?
• Asa? Where? (for a place or person)
• Diin?, Dis'a? Where?
• Hain?, Saa? Where? (for an object)
• Kinsa? Who?
• Ngano? Why?
• Kang'kinsa? To whom?
• Giunsa? How? (past)
• Unsaon? How? (future)
• Kanus'a? When?
• Pila ka buok?, Pila? How many?
• Tagpila? How much?
• Diay ba? Really?

The word asa and hain:

Asa and hain—both mean where—have distinct uses in formal Cebuano usage.

Asa is used when asking about a place.

• Asa ka padulong? (Where are you going?)
• Asa ta molarga? (Where are we traveling to?)

Hain is used when asking about a food or thing.

• Hain na ang gunting? (Where is the pair of scissors?)
• Hain na ang pag'kaon sa fiesta? (Where is the food for the festival)

In spoken Cebuano, however, asa is commonly used to replace hain. You rarely hear hain being used, except by older generations of Cebuano-speakers.

Verbs

The functionalist school of grammar maintains that Cebuano verbs have no tense but rather aspect, specifically the aspect of inception, that is whether the action has been initiated or not. The aspect of completion is not readily shown by verbs in Cebuano.

There are only two aspects: the pagasugdan (incepted) aspect and the nasugdan (to be incepted) aspect.

Past actions are basically in the nasugdan aspect. Present actions are in the nasugdan aspect too unless they are habitual actions.

Habitual actions and future actions are in the to be pagasugdan aspect.

Examples on NASUGDAN ASPECT:

Past actions
1. The carpenters have began building the house.
The act had been started in the past therefore the Cebuano translation is:
"Ang mga trabahador nag sugod na ug himo sa balay."
2. It is finish.
The act had been started in the past therefore the Cebuano translation is:
"Na hu'man na gyud"

Present actions
1. "I' am going to the kitchen".
The act has been started before the statement is spoken therefore the Cebuano translation is:
"Nag padulong ko sa kusina."
2. "I am washing the dishes".
The act has been started before the statement is spoken therefore the Cebuano translation is:
"Nag hugas ko sa plato."

Examples of PAGASUGDAN ASPECT

Future actions
1. "The President of the Philippines has won."
The act has not happen yet therefore is has not yet started:
"Na kada'ug na ang Presidente sa Filipinas".
2. "Nag sogod na ang escuela'han".
The act has not happen yet therefore is has not yet started:
"The school have started".

Habitual actions
1. "The people from the province goes to the city to work."
Although the act had already happened she will still have to start the same act again and again (every morning) so the act itself is still to be started or pagasugdan pa and therefore:
"Ang mga ta'o sa provincia mo'adto sila sa ciudad para mo trabajo."
2. "How much is the cigarette?"
Although the act had already happened she will still have to start the same act again and again (always) so the act itself is still to be started or pagasugdan pa and therefore:
"Tag pila ang sigarillio?"

• Cebuano verbs act as predicate or words that tell about the subject or the topic. This topic can either be the doer of the action, the recipient of the action, the purpose for the action, or the means by which the action was made possible. The form of the verb is dependent on the function of the topic in relation to said verb. Some Cebuano grammar teachers call it focus of the verb but some others call it voice.

Syntax

Sentences

1) equational ( topic = predicate ) ~ in this sentence type you can interchange the topic and the predicate without changing the thought of the sentence.

  a) "Mao kini ang Kabisay-an".              = This is the Visayas.
  b) "Magbinisaya mi diri"                   = We speak Cebuano here.
  c) "Ka'mao' ka mag binisaya?"               = Do you know how to speak Cebuano?.

2) non-equational ( topic < predicate ) ~ in this sentence type the topic and the predicate are not interchangeable.

  a) "Filipino ang mga Bisaya."              = Visayans are Filipinos.
  b) "Unsa ang imong kinahanglan?"          = What do you need?
  c) "Na unsa na ang politika?               = What is wrong with politics.

3) existential sentence of presence ~ sentences of this type tells the existence of a thing or idea.

  a) "Adunay Diyos sa langit."               = There is God in heaven.
  b) "Didto'y halas sa kahoy."                = There was a snake in the tree.

4) existential sentence of possession ~ sentences of this type tell about someone or something possessing something.

  a) "Ang mga anghel sa langit adunay diyos."  = (The angels in heaven have a God.)
  b) "Naa koy ilimnon sa balay."           
                                               = (I have something to drink at home.)

5) locative sentence ~ this type of sentence tells the location of a thing.

  a) "Ania ang kwarta."                       = Here is the money.
  b) "Tua siya sa bukid."                     = He/she is in the mountain.

6) meteorologic sentence ~ this type of sentence tells about weather condition, noise level, etc., of a place.

  a) "Tugnaw dinhi sa Baguio City."            = It is cold here in Baguio.
  b) "Init kaayo ang adlaw diri sa Sugbo."     = The weather is very hot in here in Cebu. 

7) exclamatory remark ~ praises and unexpected discoveries belong here.

  a) "Daghana nimo'g sakyanan!"             = You have plenty of cars
  b) "Guapaha nimo!"                        = You are pretty
  c) "Kasaba ba ninyo!"                     = You are so noisy

8) imperatives ~ commands and requests

  a) "Isugba kanang isda."                  = Grill that fish.
  b) "Ngari/Ali/Hali diri."                 = Come here.
  c) "Ayaw mo pa'nabako diri"               = Do not smoke here.

9) interrogatives ~ questions that are not answerable by yes or no.

  a) "Kinsa ka?"                             = Who are you?
  b) "Unsay imong ngalan?"                   = What is your name?           

10) confirmation ~ questions that are basically answered by yes or no. constructed like the first 6 sentence type with the insertion of the particle "ba" as a second term.

  a) "Kini ba ang Kabisay-an?"               = Is this the Visayas?
  b) "Kamao ba ka mo langoy?"                = Do you know how to swim?
  c) "Unsa ba ang sinultihan ninyo?"         = What language do you speak?
  d) "Isugba ba kining isda?"                = Shall this fish be grilled?

External links

• Visayan Academy of Arts and Letters
• Academic Papers about Cebuano
• A (rather old) Cebuano grammar
• Ang Dila Natong Bisaya - Cebuano grammar written in Cebuano
• Cebuano Study Notes by Tom Marking