Object Focus: The 'i-' Verbs

01

The Conveyance Meaning

Look at the verbs that take i- and a pattern jumps out. Nearly all of them involve transferring a thing from one place or person to another.

• ibigay — to give something
• ilagay — to put something somewhere
• ipadala — to send something
• iabot — to hand something over
• ibalik — to return something
• itulak — to push something
• ihagis — to throw something

• Ilagay mo ang libro sa mesa.

  Put the book on the table.

• Ibalik mo ang pera sa kanya.

  Return the money to him.

A few common i- verbs stretch the idea beyond literal carrying — writing something down and putting clothes on both count as sending a thing outward.

• Isinulat ko ang liham na ito sa pamamagitan ng kamay.

  I wrote this letter by hand.

02

The Thing Is Spotlighted, the Person Follows 'sa'

This is the detail that most often goes wrong. With i- verbs the object being moved takes ang. The person who receives it is not spotlighted at all — they sit in a sa phrase.

• Ipakita mo ang litrato sa akin.

  Show me the photo. (the photo is spotlighted, "me" is in a sa-phrase)

• Ipahiram mo ang libro sa kanya.

  Lend the book to him.

The suffix -an does the opposite: it spotlights the person, and the thing drops to a ng phrase. Choosing between i- and -an is really a choice about who you want to talk about.

03

Attaching the Prefix

i- simply goes on the front and the root stays intact: sulat → isulat, suot → isuot, lagay → ilagay, sara → isara. This makes i- verbs pleasantly transparent — the root is always plainly visible.

• Isara mo ang pinto.

  Close the door.

• Isuot mo ang jacket mo.

  Put your jacket on.

04

'i-' With Borrowed Words

Because it is so easy to attach, i- is the affix Filipinos reach for when turning an English word into a Tagalog verb. You will hear this constantly in real speech.

• I-lock mo ang pinto.

  Lock the door.

• I-download mo ang file.

  Download the file.

This productivity is a good sign of how alive the focus system is: it is not a fossilised pattern but the everyday machinery speakers use to build new words.