Building the Aspects: Actor-Focus Verbs

01

'-um-' Verbs

The infix is present in the infinitive and completed; it disappears in the contemplated.

• Infinitive: kumain, bumili, umalis
• Completed: identical to the infinitive — kumain, bumili, umalis
• Progressive: -um- plus reduplication — kumakain, bumibili, umiinom
• Contemplated: reduplication only, no -um- — kakain, bibili, iinom

• Kumakain ang lalaki.

  The man is eating.

• Bibili ako ng isang saging at anim na itlog.

  I am buying one banana and six eggs.

• Ako ay umiinom ng tubig.

  I am drinking water.

• Pupunta ako sa supermarket.

  I am going to the supermarket.

02

'mag-' Verbs

Here the m turns into n once the action has started.

• Infinitive: magluto, magbasa, mag-aral
• Completed: m → n — nagluto, nagbasa, nag-aral
• Progressive: n plus reduplication — nagluluto, nagbabasa, nag-aaral
• Contemplated: m plus reduplication — magluluto, magbabasa, mag-aaral

• Nagbabasa kami ng libro.

  We are reading a book.

• Ang drayber ng bus ay nagmamaneho ng bus.

  The bus driver is driving the bus.

• Nagtatrabaho ako sa opisina.

  I work in an office.

03

'ma-' and 'mang-' Verbs

These follow the mag- pattern exactly: m → n for started, reduplication for unfinished.

• matulog → natulog → natutulog → matutulog
• manood → nanood → nanonood → manonood
• mamili → namili → namimili → mamimili

• Siya ay natutulog din.

  He is also sleeping.

• Nanonood ako ng pelikula.

  I am watching a movie.

• Mamimili ako ng mga grocery.

  I am shopping for groceries.

For mang- verbs the reduplicated syllable is the one after the nasal, since that is where the stem now begins: ma-no-nood, ma-mi-mili.

04

What Gets Reduplicated

Copy the first consonant plus the first vowel of the root: luto → lu-luto, basa → ba-basa, kain → ka-kain. If the root starts with a vowel, just that vowel is copied: aral → a-aral, inom → i-inom.

A root that opens with two consonants copies only the first of them, never the pair. trabaho gives ta-trabaho, which is why "I work" is nagtatrabaho and never nagtratrabaho.