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.
| IPA | Tagalog | Allophones | Example | English approximation | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| /a/ | a | (usually in unstressed syllables) | ama | father | |
| /e/ | e | , | eroplano | bed (American English accent) | |
| /i/ | i, iy, y | , , (in unstressed syllables anywhere except final), (after a consonant and before a vowel), (dialectal, e.g. Batangas Tagalog) | ipis, iiyak, sabi, liyempo, kikyam, putik~potek, ulit | machine | |
| /o/ | o | , / (before nasal endings (/n/, /m/, /ŋ/) followed by a labial plosive (/b/ or /p/), or (dialectal, e.g. Batangas Tagalog) | relo | soul (American English accent) | Becomes 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 | , (after a consonant and before a vowel) | upo, umuwi, kuwarta/kwarta, tokwa | flute, quarter | Often lowered to in unstressed positions. before /m/ followed by /b/ and /p/ usually becomes (e.g. kumbensiyon, kumpisal). |
| IPA | Tagalog | Allophones | Example | English approximation | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| /aj/ | ay | (dialectal, e.g. Batangas Tagalog) | bahay | ice, light | Sometimes reduced to , e.g. ewan~aywan, meron~mayroon. |
| /aw/ | aw | or (dialectal, e.g. Batangas Tagalog) | sayaw | out (General American) | Sometimes becomes , e.g. ayoko~"ayaw ko", isoli~isauli. |
| /ej/ | ey | , , | keyk | pay | Usually in loanwords and proper nouns. Sometimes allophone of /aj/ in Batangas Tagalog. |
| /iw/ | iw | sisiw, iwas | kiwi | ||
| /oj/ | oy | baboy | boy | ||
| /ow/ | ow (rare) | , , , (dialectal, e.g. Batangas Tagalog) | ows | sole | Usually rare, mostly as an allophone of /o/ and dialectically, . |
| /uj/ | uy | baduy | bluey |
| Bilabial | Labiodental | Dental/Alveolar | Post-alveolar/palatal | Velar | Glottal | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nasal | /m/ | /n/ | (/ɲ/) invalid IPA characters (//) | /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 in slow or rural pronunciation. As ⟨dy⟩, ⟨g⟩, ⟨j⟩, in respelled English loanwords, can be realized as or . Represented by ⟨j⟩ in new loanwords from all other languages except those from Spanish. |
| /ɡ/ | gatas, Guimaras, gigil, sabog | gold | Becomes (as in g in Spanish amigo) between vowels, e.g. tigas (). |
| /h/ | hiya, ihi, halakhak, puthaw | here | |
| /j/ | yelo, Pinoy, uyayi, yehey | you | |
| /k/ | keso, Caloocan, Quezon, malaki, bundok | scan | /k/ between vowels usually become (the sound of ch in Scottish English loch), e.g. yakap or at word onset as the consonant cluster , e.g. keso . |
| /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 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 before /b/ and /p/, which is reflected in contemporary spelling. It also tends to become 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 , 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 by rural speakers. When spelled ⟨siy⟩ or ⟨sy⟩, can be realized as a pair, , in slow speech. |
| /t/ | tamis, lahat, putik | stand, art | |
| /t͡s/ | tatsulok, kutsara, bagets | cats | Also allophone of in rural speech, and can an be realized as a consonant pair 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 | |
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”) |