Relative Clauses with 'na'

01

One Word for Who, Which, and That

English chooses between "who", "which", and "that" depending on what is being described. Tagalog does not distinguish them at all.

• Ang lalaking tumatakbo

  the man who is running

• Ang librong binili ko

  the book that I bought

• Ang bahay na malaki

  the house that is big

The linker choice is purely about sound: lalaki ends in a vowel so it takes -ng; bahay ends in y so it takes the separate na.

02

Spotting Them Inside Whole Sentences

• Ang babaeng iyon ay naglalakad kasama ang kanyang aso.

  That woman is walking with her dog.

• Luma na ang librong ito.

  This book is old.

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

  I wrote this letter by hand.

• Akin ang bag na nasa mesa.

  The bag on the table is mine.

That last one shows a location phrase doing the describing — na nasa mesa, "that is on the table".

03

The Focus Constraint

Here is the rule that surprises everyone. In Tagalog you can only relativise the phrase that is in focus. You cannot say "the book that I bought" using an actor-focus verb, because then the book is not the focused element.

• Ang librong binili ko

  the book that I bought (object focus — correct)

The verb must be chosen so that the noun you are describing is the one the verb spotlights. This is a major practical reason to master the focus system: without it, you simply cannot build most relative clauses.

• Ang taong bumili ng libro

  the person who bought the book (actor focus, because the person is described)

• Ang librong binili ng tao

  the book that the person bought (object focus, because the book is described)

Same event, and which verb form you need depends entirely on which noun you are describing.

04

Describing With a Whole Sentence

The clause after the linker can be as long as you like.

• Tataba ka kung puro hindi masustansyang pagkain ang kinakain mo.

  You will get fat if you only eat unhealthy food.

• May bago akong payong na binili ko kahapon.

  I have a new umbrella that I bought yesterday.

In the first, ang kinakain mo is doing the describing — "what you eat" — with the object-focus verb kinakain putting the food in the spotlight.

05

Either Order

As with adjectives, the describing clause may also come first.

• Ang tumatakbong lalaki

  the running man

• Ang lalaking tumatakbo

  the man who is running

Both are correct and mean the same thing.