Appendix:Tagalog pronunciation

This appendix lists how the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) corresponds to Tagalog pronunciation in Wiktionary entries. Unless otherwise noted, pronunciations given in Tagalog entries represent the pronunciation in the Manila dialect, the basis of Filipino, the standard form of Tagalog which serves as an official and national language of the Philippines.

See Tagalog phonology at Wikipedia for a more thorough look at the sounds of Tagalog.

Vowels

IPA	Tagalog	Allophones	Example	English approximation	Notes
/a/	a	[ɐ] (usually in unstressed syllables)	ama	father
/e/	e	[ɛ], [i]	eroplano	bed (American English accent)
/i/	i, iy, y	[e], [ɛ], [ɪ] (in unstressed syllables anywhere except final), [j] (after a consonant and before a vowel), [eɪ̯] (dialectal, e.g. Batangas Tagalog)	ipis, iiyak, sabi, liyempo, kikyam, putik~potek, ulit	machine
/o/	o	[ɔ], [ʊ]/[u] (before nasal endings (/n/, /m/, /ŋ/) followed by a labial plosive (/b/ or /p/), [ɔʊ̯] or [oʊ̯] (dialectal, e.g. Batangas Tagalog)	relo	soul (American English accent)	Becomes [u] before nasal endings (/n/, /m/, /ŋ/), followed by a labial plosive, (/b/ or /p/) (e.g. in kompleto~kumpleto, kompanya~kumpanya, kombinasyon~kumbinasyon, Bagumbayan~"bagong bayan", doon (colloquial /ˈdon/~/ˈdun/), iyon (colloquial /ˈjon/~/ˈjun/)).
/u/	u, uw, w	[ʊ], [w] (after a consonant and before a vowel)	upo, umuwi, kuwarta/kwarta, tokwa	flute, quarter	Often lowered to [ʊ] in unstressed positions. [ʊ] before /m/ followed by /b/ and /p/ usually becomes [u] (e.g. kumbensiyon, kumpisal).

Diphthongs

IPA	Tagalog	Allophones	Example	English approximation	Notes
/aj/ [aɪ̯]	ay	[eɪ̯] (dialectal, e.g. Batangas Tagalog)	bahay	ice, light	Sometimes reduced to [e], e.g. ewan~aywan, meron~mayroon.
/aw/ [aʊ̯]	aw	[oʊ̯] or [ɔʊ̯] (dialectal, e.g. Batangas Tagalog)	sayaw	out (General American)	Sometimes becomes [oː], e.g. ayoko~"ayaw ko", isoli~isauli.
/ej/ [eɪ̯]	ey	[ɛɪ̯], [e], [ɪ]	keyk	pay	Usually in loanwords and proper nouns. Sometimes allophone of /aj/ in Batangas Tagalog.
/iw/ [ɪʊ̯]	iw		sisiw, iwas	kiwi
/oj/ [oɪ̯]	oy	[ɔɪ̯]	baboy	boy
/ow/ [oʊ̯]	ow (rare)	[ɔʊ̯], [o], [ɔ], [aʊ̯] (dialectal, e.g. Batangas Tagalog)	ows	sole	Usually rare, mostly as an allophone of /o/ and dialectically, [aʊ̯].
/uj/ [uɪ̯]	uy	[ʊɪ̯]	baduy	bluey

Consonants

	Bilabial	Labiodental	Dental/Alveolar	Post-alveolar/palatal	Velar	Glottal
Nasal	/m/		/n/	(/ɲ/)	/ŋ/
Stop	/p/, /b/		/t/, /d/		/k/, /ɡ/	/ʔ/
Affricate			(/t͡s/)	(/t͡ʃ/), (/d͡ʒ/)
Fricative			/s/	(/ʃ/)		/h/
Approximant			/l/	/j/	/w/
Rhotic			/ɾ/

IPA	Example		Notes
/ʔ/	oo, pag-ibig, batà, ahas	uh-oh	Implied in the onset of words beginning with vowels. Marked as a hyphen when it occurs between a consonant and a vowel. Final glottal stops are marked using a circumflex (if syllable has stress) or grave (if stress is on the penultimate).
/b/	bagay, Victor, mataba, sabsab	barn	Can represent ⟨b⟩ (most words) and ⟨v⟩ (new loanwords and proper nouns).
/d/	dalaga, nood, pindot	darling	Often becomes /ɾ/ in native vocabulary in Teresa-Morong Tagalog usually except where in beginning of syllable in words with /l/. Historically an allophone of /ɾ/
/d͡ʒ/	diyan, udyok, sadya, medyo, jam, Jacob (English-derived given name), Gerald	joy	Where spelled as ⟨dy⟩ or ⟨diy⟩, can be realized as [d(ɪ)j] in slow or rural pronunciation. As ⟨dy⟩, ⟨g⟩, ⟨j⟩, in respelled English loanwords, can be realized as [dz] or [ʒ]. Represented by ⟨j⟩ in new loanwords from all other languages except those from Spanish.
/ɡ/	gatas, Guimaras, gigil, sabog	gold	Becomes [ɣ] (as in g in Spanish amigo) between vowels, e.g. tigas ([tɪˈɣas]).
/h/	hiya, ihi, halakhak, puthaw	here
/j/	yelo, Pinoy, uyayi, yehey	you
/k/	keso, Caloocan, Quezon, malaki, bundok	scan	/k/ between vowels usually become [x] (the sound of ch in Scottish English loch), e.g. yakap [ˈjaxɐp] or at word onset as the consonant cluster [kx], e.g. keso [ˈkxeso].
/l/	lata, aral, mali	lamb	Depending on the dialect, it may be dental/denti-alveolar or alveolar (light L) within or at the end of a word. It may also be velarized (dark L) if influenced by English enunciation.
/m/	madre, sakim, kumusta	mattress
/n/	asin, nayon, ninuno	thin, nine	In names borrowed from Spanish, it may assimilate to [m] before labial consonants (e.g. /p/ in San Pedro, and /f/ in Infanta).
/ɲ/	kanya, niyo, Niño	canyon	Represents both the phonetic realization of native cluster ⟨niy⟩ and digraph ⟨ny⟩ (phonemically: /n(ɪ)j/), and the phoneme of ⟨ñ⟩ (in proper nouns)
/ŋ/	ngipin, pating, kailangan	singer	/ŋ/ becomes [m] before /b/ and /p/, which is reflected in contemporary spelling. It also tends to become [n] before dental consonants. Also represented by ⟨n⟩ before /k/, /ɡ/, or rarely, /h/ in some Spanish-derived loanwords or proper nouns, e.g. Cuenca, ingrato, San Jose, kongreso.
/p/	piso, Filipino, Ifugaw	span	Can represent both ⟨p⟩ (most words) and ⟨f⟩ (new loanwords and pronouns). ⟨f⟩ may be pronounced /f/, but tends to assimilate with /p/, which reflects in spelling of most loanwords (except proper nouns).
/ɾ/	pader, radyo, gorilya, Gutierrez	there	Traditionally allophone of /d/ (see above) in Old Tagalog. /d/ between vowels usually, but not always, become /ɾ/. Now pronounced in free variation as [r ~ ɾ ~ ɹ], especially in loanwords and proper nouns of foreign origin.
/s/	sugat, bukas, pasok, Zamora, de Guzman, dela Cruz, Xander	skew, glass
/ʃ/	siya, kasya, hanash	shine	Can be realized as [s] by rural speakers. When spelled ⟨siy⟩ or ⟨sy⟩, can be realized as a pair, [s(ɪ)j], in slow speech.
/t/	tamis, lahat, putik	stand, art
/t͡s/	tatsulok, kutsara, bagets	cats	Also allophone of [t͡ʃ] in rural speech, and can an be realized as a consonant pair [ts] as well.
/t͡ʃ/	tiyak, tseke, kutsara, eyts, batchoy, Gutierrez	church	Where spelled as ⟨tiy⟩ or ⟨ty⟩, can be pronounced as /t(ɪ)j/ in slow or rural speech.
/w/	lawak, wakas	want

Stress

Tagalog uses a stress accent combining stress and/or final glottal stops to distinguish homographs. Stress is implied in the penultimate (second to last) syllables. Vowels are lengthened in open syllables when stressed, except in final positions, but as Tagalog has no phonemic vowel length, they are implied by the stress symbol.

Common spelling	Default stress	Ultimate stress (vowel with acute or pahilis)	Ultimate stress and final glottal stop (vowel with circumfix or pakupya)	Final glottal stop (vowel with grave or paiwa)
baba	baba (“(obsolete) boat embarkation”)	babá (“piggyback; animal coitus”)	babâ (“below”)	babà (“chin”)
baka	baka (“cow”)	baká (“maybe”)
bata	bata (“bathrobe”)	batá (“endurance for pain or hardship”)		batà (“child”)
bayaran	bayaran (“to pay”)	bayarán (“time for due payment”)
labi			labî (“remains”)	labì (“lip”)
pito	pito (“whistle”)	pitó (“seven”)
sala	sala (“sin (from Proto-Malayo-Polynesian); living room (from Spanish)”)	salá (“interweaving of bamboo slats”)	salâ (“broken or dislocated (bones); filtered”)	salà (“filtration; filter; sieve; physical defect”)