Basic Tagalog Phrases for Balikbayans and Beginners

You land, relatives meet you, and within four minutes someone has asked you something in Tagalog and you have answered in English while your cousin translates. It is fine. Everyone has been there. But a short list of words will change how the next two weeks go, and most apps do not teach them in the right order. This is that list, for balikbayans and for anyone raised abroad who understands more than they can say.

Which basic Tagalog phrases should you learn first?

If you learn nothing else: po, salamat, magkano, para. Respect, thanks, price, stop. Those four cover the market, the jeepney and every conversation with a relative older than you.

Our one opinion here: skip the app lessons that start with “the pen is on the table”. Learn “para po” and “magkano po” on the plane. You will use both within an hour of landing.

When do you use “po” and “opo”?

This is the thing that trips up second-gen speakers more than any grammar rule, so here it is plainly.

“Po” is a respect particle with no meaning of its own — you drop it into a sentence to mark that you are speaking respectfully. “Salamat po.” “Hindi po.” “Magandang umaga po.” It usually sits after the first word or at the end of a short sentence.

“Opo” (OH-po) means one thing only: yes, respectfully. Casual yes is “oo” (OH-oh). The common mistake is treating “opo” as a general politeness word and sprinkling it mid-sentence. It is only ever the answer to a question.

Use both with anyone clearly older, anyone in authority, strangers, and people serving you. Do not use them with close friends your own age or younger — it lands as sarcastic, or as calling them old. Unsure? Use it. Being slightly too polite is a much smaller error than the alternative.

You will also hear “ho”, a softer, less formal cousin of “po”. Both work. “Po” is the safe default.

Nobody will judge your grammar. They will absolutely notice whether you said “po” to your lola.

What is mano, and how do you do it?

Pagmamano is the gesture where you take an elder’s right hand, bow slightly, and press the back of it to your forehead, saying “Mano po” (MA-no poh) as you reach. It means, roughly, your blessing please.

You do it on arriving and on leaving, working through the elders in the room: grandparents, great-aunts, older neighbours, your parents’ friends. The response is often a short blessing, or a hand on your head.

Practice varies a lot. In many urban and younger families the beso — a cheek-to-cheek greeting — has largely replaced it, and in some regions people say “bless” instead. Unsure at a gathering? Watch the cousin ahead of you and copy them.

Ordering food, shopping and haggling politely

“Magkano po ito?” (mag-KA-no poh ee-TOH) — how much is this? That single phrase does most of the work.

To ask for a discount without being rude: “Pwede po bang tumawad?” (PWE-de poh bang too-MA-wad) — may I ask for a lower price? Or “Ang mahal po” (ang ma-HAL poh), that’s expensive, said with a smile and a pause rather than a complaint.

Where you can haggle matters more than how. In a palengke — a wet market — or with street vendors and tricycle drivers, negotiating is expected. In supermarkets, malls and anywhere with printed price tags, it is not. And there is a line most Filipinos hold: you do not grind down a small vendor over ₱20. Push on a ₱2,000 item, not on a bundle of kangkong.

At a carinderia or a family table, two phrases carry you: “Masarap po” (ma-sa-RAP poh), it’s delicious, and “Busog na po ako” (boo-SOG na poh a-KO), I’m full — which you will need repeatedly, because the food keeps coming.

Directions, jeepneys and “para po”

Riding a jeepney has its own short script, worth knowing before you are wedged between two strangers with your fare in your hand.

1. Getting on

   Sit, then pass your fare up the row towards the driver, saying “Bayad po” (BA-yad poh) — my payment. Say how many of you there are: “Dalawa po” for two.

2. Passing others’ fares

   Someone behind you will tap your shoulder and hand you money. Pass it forward. This is normal and you are now part of the system.

3. Getting off

   Call out “Para po!” (PA-ra poh) — stop, please. Loud enough for the driver to hear over the engine. “Sa tabi lang po” (sa ta-BEE lang poh), just at the side, also works.

On foot: “Saan po ang…?” (sa-AN poh ang) for where is, “Paano po pumunta sa…?” (pa-A-no poh poo-moon-TA sa) for how do I get to. Answers use kanan (KA-nan, right), kaliwa (ka-lee-WA, left), diretso (dee-RET-so, straight) and kanto (KAN-toh, corner).

Numbers, and why prices sound Spanish

Tagalog numbers are isa, dalawa, tatlo, apat, lima, anim, pito, walo, siyam, sampu — one through ten. Learn them.

Then learn that in markets and on jeepneys, prices are usually said in Spanish-derived numbers instead: singko (5), diyes (10), bente (20), trenta (30), kwarenta (40), singkwenta (50), sisenta (60), setenta (70), otsenta (80), nobenta (90), sandaan (100). A vendor saying “singkwenta” wants ₱50; a tricycle driver saying “bente” wants ₱20. This catches out almost every returning visitor once.

Ate, kuya, tita: family words for people who are not family

Filipino address terms are based on relative age, and they are used with strangers constantly. This is not fake familiarity — it is the standard polite way to talk to someone.

• Ate (AH-teh) — older sister, or any woman a bit older. Use it with shop staff and market vendors.
• Kuya (KOO-yah) — older brother, or any man a bit older. Drivers, guards, waiters.
• Tita / Tito (TEE-tah / TEE-toh) — auntie and uncle, used for your parents’ generation whether related or not.
• Lola / Lolo (LOH-lah / LOH-loh) — grandmother and grandfather, and for much older strangers.
• Nanay / Tatay (na-NIGH / ta-TIGH) — mother and father, also used warmly for older vendors and neighbours.
• Manong / Manang (ma-NONG / ma-NANG) — older man and older woman, more common in Ilocano-speaking areas and the Visayas.

The rule of thumb: address someone one notch older than they look. Calling a 30-year-old “ate” is friendly; calling a 55-year-old “ate” is a small gift.

The phrase table

Taglish you will hear constantly

Conversation in Manila runs on a mix of Tagalog and English, and the connective words are usually the Tagalog ones. Worth recognising: kasi (ka-SEE, because), naman (na-MAN, a softener with no direct translation), diba (dee-BAH, right?), sayang (SA-yang, what a shame), grabe (GRA-beh, wow), and bahala na (ba-HA-la na, roughly: whatever happens, happens).

You do not need to produce these — only to recognise them, so a sentence that is 80% English does not lose you at the join.

How do you soften a request in Tagalog?

Directness reads as harsh, so requests get padded. Three tools do almost all of it.

The “paki-” prefix turns a verb into a please: pakiabot (pa-kee-A-bot, please pass), pakisara (pa-kee-sa-RA, please close). “Pwede po bang…” (PWE-de poh bang) opens a request as a question — may I, could you. And “na lang” makes a request smaller: “Tubig na lang po”, just water then.

Stack them if you want to be very gentle: “Pwede po bang pakiulit?” is about as soft as a request gets.

Once you have the phrases, the traditions are the next puzzle — start with Filipino wedding traditions if you have an invitation in hand, and Filipino superstitions for the household rules nobody explains. Heading to the provinces? Our five-day Palawan itinerary is where “magkano po” earns its keep. Cooking from abroad? The ingredient substitutes guide uses the market names you now recognise. More in the Kultura hub.