Adjectives Using Sipat

          Bismillah. This is the second part of Lesson 10 in “Tausūg 101: Learning Bahasa Sūg” by Anak Iluh. For more lessons, please check out the page on “List of Lessons”.

          Last time we have introduced the common Tausūg Sipat (Adjectives), their usual structures and some of their irregular forms. Today we will talk about how a sipat is used in a sentence (At least just the easy ones, for now). Let’s begin the lesson by observing the following examples first:

Bahasa Sūg	English
bāy (our favorite example haha)	House
(1) Bāy malaggu’	Big house
(2) Malaggu’ bāy	Big house
(3) In bāy malaggu’	The house is big.
(4) Malaggu’ in bāy	The house is big.

          The first two examples are the usual way of directly describing an object (bāy, “house”) using a sipat (malaggu’, “big”). The last two examples are the ‘complete’ form of sentences as we added the noun marker in, which is the equivalent of the English article “the” (remember that noun-markers must always be placed before the noun it identifies). There are times that interchanging the orders of the two (object and sipat) does not affect the construction of the sentence whatsoever. But there are also times that one form (say examples 1 and 3, wherein the object comes before the sipat) is more preferred than the other form (examples 2 and 4, which is the opposite).

          Again, there are no grammar rules yet as how to call these forms; so for the sake of this lesson and for us to have something to use in this site only, we will make our own ‘names’ to call them. [A friendly reminder, these are not official names or rules of grammars in Bahasa Sūg. We just want to make things easier for our readers in this site. If you happen to find any mistakes here, please do inform us that we may correct them immediately. Magsukul]

          The first form is shown in examples (1) and (3) wherein the object (bāy) comes before the sipat (malaggu’). We will call this form the Object-Sipat Form or O-S Form (weird huh?). Examples (2) and (4) will be the other forms: the Sipat-Object Form or S-O Form, wherein the object comes after the sipat thus the name. We will be using the two names throughout the lesson, in sha Allah.  

Bahasa Sūg		English
O-S Form	S-O Form
badju’ malummi’	malummi’ badju	dirty shirt
sapi’ matambuk	matambuk sapi’	Fat cow
babai malingkat	malingkat babai	beautiful girl
tinapay mapasu’	mapasu’ tinapay	hot bread

Using sipat with possessive pronouns

          So, how do we say “My big house” or “His dirty shirt” in Bahasa Sūg? Again, (as we always do) let us learn from these examples:

Bahasa Sūg		English
O-S Form	S-O Form
bāy ku malaggu’	malaggu’ báy ku	my big house
badju’ niya malummi’	malummi’ badju niya	his dirty shirt
sapi’nila matambuk	matambuk sapi’nila	their fat cow

          Remember that we have learned in lessons 6 about dependent possessive pronouns (genitive form). These pronouns cannot stand alone and thus they must always come after an object. In OS Form, we observe that the pronouns ku, niya, and nila are placed after their respective objects, and before the sipats. In the SO Form, because the object already comes in the end, the pronouns are simply attached to the phrases.

Note: For all of these examples we have, the OS Form is more preferably used in conversations and is more accepted. Although they basically mean the same, the O-S Form is more, uhm, clear and easily understood. As for the reasons why… We unfortunately don’t know. Hehe. The S-O Form simply feels awkward to say or hear; there’s this “something’s missing here” feeling, so avoid using the S-O form alone with pronouns in conversing, if possible.

Sipat: Common Adjectives

           Bismillah. This is Lesson number 10 and the last lesson for Part II: Words and Phrases for “Tausug 101: Learning Bahasa Sug” by Anak Iluh. For complete lists of lessons (and to check where we are now), please go to: Lists of Lessons.

           Before we begin, let me first apologize to all of our readers for the delay of lessons for the past few weeks. Blame my Final Exams who had literally put me (and all of my classmates as well) in full battle-gear. Of course, I have to prepare for them in able to survive and make it for the next sem. Alhamdulillah, everything went well naman, and now we’re back to our tracks (yeay! *clap clap*). 

           For today’s lesson, we are going to talk about the most-sensible, most-intriguing, most-beautiful, most-awaited, and most-adjectively-described part of the sentence: the Commonly used Tausug Sipat (Adjectives).

           Tausug Sipat (from the Arabic “sifat”) are used to describe a particular object. It is basically used to give us more idea on how the object looks like; how big or small; how tall or short; how far or near; on how it smells, what color it has, etc., etc. I believe we already got the idea about a sipat, so we should move on to our next question: “How do we identify a sipat?” Here’s a short (a very short, indeed) guideline we made in identifying sipats.

Identifying Sipat.

1. Know what the sipat means.

           Of course, it goes without further explanations that the best way to identify a sipat is to know what it means; or what is its translation to English or Tagalog. At the end of this post, we have provided a download link on “Manga Kasipat-sipatan (Common Tausug Adjectives)”. Please be sure to download and print a copy later =)

      2. Know the origin of the sipat.

           Most sipats have a common similarity. They have a common denominator that distinguishes them from the other parts of the speech: Most sipat (not all) starts with the prefix “Ma-” and then followed by a noun it represents. This is also observed in Tagalog, but not in English. Let us study the examples below:

  

	Tausug	Tagalog	English
Example 1
Noun	Lingkat	Ganda	Beauty
Adjective	Malingkat	Maganda	Beautiful
Example 2
Noun	Lanab	Lása	Taste
Adjective	Malanab	Malása	Tasteful

           It can be observed that adding the prefix “Ma-” to a noun in Tausug and Tagalog languages is just like adding the suffix “-ful” to a noun in English language to turn it into an adjective. That is just how easy it is!

T101 Quiz Part 1

Bismillah.

Today is Monday. And we are suppose to publish our next lesson (Lesson 10: Tausug Adjectives). But unfortunately, due to the hectic schedules of our author, he have to take a short leave for a while (uhm, he's also hoping that the readers would understand this, in shaa Allah?)

And because we have promised to answer last week's short quiz on Lesson 9 (Conjunctions), we have to at least keep that promise. Here's the quiz last week: (if you haven't done answering them yet, try doing it now before checking the answers.)

I. Fill in the blanks using the three Tausug conjunctions “sin”, “hi” and “hinda”. Only English translations will be provided)

1. Kiyawa’ hi Jamal in butung ___ apa’ Malik. (Jamal took uncle Malik’s coconut.)
2. Nabali’ in sasapu ___ magdaragang. (The broomstick of the vendor was broken.)
3. Piyakain na in mga anak ___ kuting ini? (Where did the kittens of this cat go?)
4. In mutul ___ Morshid in nagkangiy’. (The motorbike of Morshid’s family was the one not working. –Plural--)
5. Dakdakan ku pa in badju’ ___ Inah ku. (I will wash my mother’s dress. –“Mother” here is used as an identified, proper noun.)

II. Identify if the following underlined words with “hi” and “hinda” are used either as NOUN MARKERS or as CONJUNCTIONS.

1.  In sayng biniy hi Samir. (The banana was bought by Samir.) ________________
2. Manghud hi Kamal in dimagan. (The one running is a younger brother of Kamal) _________
3. Dimá naglumba’ hi Muktar, amun anak hi Amin. (Muktar, the son of Amin, called for a race.) _____________, ______________ (two answers)
4. Hi Marwan in nangdaug. (Marwan is the one who won.M) __________.

Answer all the items before clicking READ MORE.

And here are the correct answers (and some explanations why):

Test I. "sin", "hi" or "hinda"

1. Kiyawa' hi Jamal in butung hi apa' Malik. (we use "hi" because "Apa' Malik" is a proper, singular noun)
2. Nabali' in sasapu sin magdaragang. ("magdaragang", is a common noun)
3. Piyakain na in mga anak sin kuting ini? ("kuting", is a common noun)
4. In mutul hinda Morshid nagkangiy'. (Morshid is a proper noun, and we are referring to him and his family, which makes us use the plural form "hinda")
5. Dakdakan ku pa in badju hi/sin Inah ku. ("Inah" can either be a proper noun (My mother) or a common noun (mother). Both are accepted.)

Test II. Conjunction or Noun Marker.

1. In saying biniy hi Samir. = Noun Marker (NM); "biniy" is a verb and "Samir" a noun, is being identified.
2. Manghud hi Kamal in dimagan. = Conjunction (CO). "Manghud" is our Noun1 and "Kamal" is our Noun 2. (please see lesson 9: Conjunctions)
3. Dimá naglumba' hi Muktar, amun anak hi Amin. = The first underlined items: NM; "naglumba'" is a verb and "Muktar" is our identified noun. The second set of items: CO; "anak" is our Noun1 and "Amin" our Noun2.
4. Hi Marwan in nangdaug. = NM; This is more obvious. When the article "hi/hinda" is placed at the very beginning of the sentence, it's always an NM identifying a noun, in this case, "Marwan".

Alhamdulillah, we are done with the first quiz. Expect more of these in our following lessons. Hope you enjoyed this session and learned something today. Have a blessed week everyone!  

We will keep you posted on when our Lesson #10 will be published. Just go to our FB Page at: www.facebook.com/Tausug101 and click LIKE.

Salam Kasilasa!

Lesson 9: Conjunctions I

          Bismillah. This is the 9th lesson on “Tausug 101: Learning Bahasa Sug” by Anak Iluh. For lists of lessons, please go to: Lists of Lessons. There is a short quiz at the end of this lesson.

          In the previous lesson, we have learned the three noun markers “in”, “hi” and “hinda”. We have differentiated the three markers on how they are used as indicators of nouns (“in” for proper nouns and “hi/hinda” for common nouns). These three noun markers actually have their other form: they can also exist and function as conjunctions! In this lesson, we will discuss the conjunction forms of these three articles and their usage. Apparently, all of the three conjunctions we are about to tackle, are forms equivalent of the same, common term: the conjunction “of”.

The Conjunction “sin”

          The Tausug conjunction “sin” corresponds to the English conjunction “of” and the Tagalog “ng” which basically denotes possession. And just like the article “in”, “sin” is only used with common (improper) nouns or objects. Maybe we can say, “sin” is the conjunction form of “in”. Let us study the examples below:

Format: <Noun 1> + sin + <Noun 2>

Langguage	Example 1	Example 2
Tausug	Lawang sin báy.	Taumpa’ sin bagay ku.
Tagalog	Pintuan ng bahay.	Sapatos ng kaibigan ko.
English	(The) door of the house.	(The) shoe of my friend.

*NOTE: There are other forms and usage of the word “sin” in a sentence, but for now, we will only focus on this form.

          In Example 1, the first noun Lawang (Door) is followed by our conjunction “sin”; then by the second common noun Báy (House, which is a common noun). When this kind of word order happens (that is, “sin” is in between two nouns), the first noun or object <Noun 1> will basically become a part or property of the second noun or object <Noun 2>. This is what we mean by “possession”; Noun 1 is possessed by Noun 2. So in the example “Lawang sin báy”, we are informed that the object Lawang is indeed part of the common noun, Báy. 

          Same principles govern the second example, but in here we are now using a common, personal noun Bagay (Friend) instead of an object. The first noun Taumpa’ (Shoe) is a ‘possession’ of the second noun, Bagay.

Conjunctions “hi” and “hinda”

          Remember in lesson 8, we have discussed the primary forms of “hi” and “hinda” as noun markers. This time we will meet their other forms (although without changing spellings) as equivalents of the possessive conjunction “of”.  

          Also following their Noun-marker forms, the conjunctions “hi” and “hinda” are both used with proper nouns (esp. names of persons) or identified objects only. And because they also function as equivalents of the conjunction “of”, they also denote possession. These two are the same as the Tagalog conjunctions “ni” and “nina”. Here are a few examples:

Also following the same format:

<Noun 1> + hi + <Name 2> for singular n.

<Noun 1> + hinda + <Name 2> for plural n.

Langguage	Singular	Plural
Tausug	Báy hi Omar.	Bagay hinda Sandra.
Tagalog	Bahay ni Omar.	Kaibigan nina Sandra.
English	(The) house of Omar.	(A) Friend of Sandra (and others).

The Noun Markers “in”, “hi” and “hinda”

Bismillah. This is the 9th lesson on “Tausug 101: Learning Bahasa Sug” by Anak Iluh. For lists of lessons, please go to: Lists of Lessons.

In constructing simple sentences in Bahasa Sug (which we will be discussing soon, in sha Allah), we need to know how NOUNS in a sentence are identified. There are, in fact, a number of noun markers that exists in Bahasa Sug. These are articles that let us know whether the one being identified as a subject or a direct object in a conversation is indeed a noun. In this lesson, we will introduce the first three Noun Markers: In, Hi and Hinda (as the name suggests, any words following these 3 markers are always considered to be “nouns”).

The Article “In”

The Tausug article “In” is the equivalent of the English articles “The” and “a/an”. It is almost always used before the “object” it is identifying (the noun). Article “In” is usually followed by improper nouns—nouns that are not absolutely identified or named—and can be used both for subjects and objects of the verb. Let’s see the sentence construction below:

As indicator of subject:

Báy	House
In báy	The House
In báy malingkat.	The House is beautiful.

                

As indicator of direct object:

In báy	The house
Kiyta’ ku in báy.	I saw the house.

The Tausug article “In” can also be used as the verb-to-be “is” in a sentence, such as:

Mastal	Teacher
In mastal	The teacher
Siya in mastal.	He is the teacher.

And even as indicator of the “doer” of the verb:

Nagbayta’	Told; (p.t. of bayta’, “tell”)
…in nagbayta’ káku’…	…the one who told me...
Hi Ahmad in nagbayta’ káku’.	Ahmad is the one who told me.
(An exception: in this example, the article “In” follows a verb instead of a noun)

It will be observed, that the role of the article “In” is greatly affected by the kind of VERBS that are being used in a sentence. We will be discussing this in our upcoming Lessons in Tausug Verbs (Lesson 12 onwards) in sha Allah.

Articles “Hi” and “Hinda”

Another pair of Tausug articles important to be learned is the two Personal Noun Markers: “Hi” and its plural form, “Hinda”. They have almost the same function as the article “In”—identifying nouns either as subjects, objects or doers of the verb. But these two articles are used only with Proper names, particularly names of people (including the ‘people-callings’ like mother, father, uncle, etc.).

Numbers 100 to 1000 and beyond!

              Bismillah. This is the 3rd Bonus lesson for “Tausug 101: Learning Bahasa Sug” by Anak Iluh. For lists of lessons, please go to: Lists of Lessons.

[Update! Don't forget to watch the video at the end of this post! There is also a playable audio and a downloadable mp3 file for this! Salam kasilasa! -T101 team]

             Last time we have introduced the Tausug Numbers and the rules in naming numbers from 1-99. Now, we will go higher up the ladder and talk about naming numbers from 100 to 1000 and beyond! Sounds numerous to learn…

            Let us start by introducing the names of the Hundreds and the Thousands.

THE HUNDREDS (Gatusan)

One Hundred (100)	Hanggatus
Two Hundred (200)	Duwanggatus
Three Hundred (300)	Tuwnggatus
Four Hundred (400)	Upat ngagatus
Five Hundred (500)	Limanggatus
Six Hundred (600)	Unum ngagatus
Seven Hundred (700)	Pitunggatus
Eight Hundred (800)	Walunggatus
Nine Hundred (900)	Siyam ngagatus

(Note that Hundreds in Tausug always end with –nggatus or –ngagatus. Listen to the audio files for the proper pronunciations. Keep practicing on these terms.)

THE THOUSANDS (Ibuhan)

One Thousand (1000)	Ha’ngibu or Hangibu
Two Thousand (2000)	Duwa ngaibu
Three Thousand (3000)	Tuw ngaibu
Four Thousand (4000)	Upat ngaibu
Five Thousand (5000)	Lima ngaibu
Six Thousand (6000)	Unum ngaibu
Seven Thousand (7000)	Pitu ngaibu
Eight Thousand (8000)	Walu ngaibu
Nine Thousand (9000)	Siyam ngaibu

(Note that Thousands in Tausug always end with –ngaibu. Listen to the audio files for the proper pronunciations. Keep practicing on these terms.)

Okay…The Tausug Numbers from 100 to 1000 above are really exhausting to pronounce at first try. Just like the other lessons we had, it all takes practice to master them all. Just remember that –gatus is for “Hundreds” and –ibu or –ngaibu is for “Thousands”. The rules in counting them is either EASIER or HARDER, depending on how we look at it.

Counting numbers 100-1000

LESSON 7: The Pronouns III (Oblique Form)

                Bismillah. This is the 7th lesson on “Tausug 101: Learning Bahasa Sug” by Anak Iluh. For lists of lessons, please go to: Lists of Lessons.


                We are done with the first two forms of pronouns in Bahasa Sug: the Nominative (lesson 5) and the Genitive (lesson 6) pronouns. Today, we will discuss the third and last form of pronouns: the Oblique form.
                Oblique Pronouns are also known as “Independent, Possessive Pronouns”. These are another form of possessive pronouns (which state ownership) like the genitive pronouns; but they are able to stand on their own (thus the name independent) and are also used as subject of the verb in a sentence. Here are the Oblique Pronouns in Bahasa Sug:

OBLIQUE PRONOUNS    (INDEPENDENT, POSSESSIVE PRONOUNS)  in BAHASA SUG
1st Person (speaker)	Singular	Káku’
	Dual	Kátu’
	Plural (including the listener)	Kátu’ niyu
	Plural (excluding the listener)	Kámu’
2nd Person (to listener)	Singular	Kaymu
	Plural	Kaniyu
3rd Person (absent)	Singular	Kaniya
	Plural	Kanila

(Please try to compare this table with the previous tables given in lessons 5 and 6)

                This is the equivalent of Tagalog Language’s “Sa Akin, Sa Iyo, Sa Kaniya…” and the English’s “Mine, Yours, Him/Hers, and Theirs”. Examples in Tausug conversation:

As expressing possession:

                Káku’ in kahawa ini.                       This coffee is mine.
                Kaymu in tinapay.                           The bread is yours.
                In mga saying yaun, kanila.        Those bananas are theirs.
                (Note: This lesson was made while the author is feeling hungry, really hungry.=)

And as subject of the verb:

Miyadtu aku kanila.       =      I went to them. (kanila is the subject of the verb miyadtu)
Nagbayta’ siya káku’     =        He said to me. (kaku’, “me” is the direct object of the verb    nagbayta, “was told”)

                Because there is nothing left to explain, this will end our lesson number 7. For more examples and new Tausug words for your vocabulary, pls go to the download link below and click download. Keep inviting more friends to learn Bahasa Sug with you. It’s more fun if you have a partner :-)

                Here’s another short Tausug conversation (Pagsambung-laung) to better understand how these pronouns are used:

Pagsambung-Laung III              [NEEDS EDITING! NEEDS NEW EXAMPLE!!!] 

o

o

o

o

o

o

You can listen to this conversation in the audio files provided.

Till next Thursday. Salam kasilasa!           

-Anak Iluh

Counting Numbers 1-99 (Umbulan)

              Assalamu Alaykum. This is the 2nd Bonus lesson for “Tausug 101: Learning Bahasa Sug” by Anak Iluh. For lists of lessons, please go to: Lists of Lessons.

[Update! Don't forget to watch the video at the end of this post! There is also a playable audio and a downloadable mp3 file for this! Salam kasilasa! -T101 team]

              Counting numbers in Bahasa Sug is as easy as 1-2-3! :-) We’ll start with the names of numbers 1-10 and also the other groups of tens (20, 30, 40, and so on). And then we’ll talk about the rules in naming numbers. (listen to the audio file for this lesson, download link provided below)

Numbers 1 to 10

One (1)	Isa (Hambuuk*)
Two (2)	Duwa
Three (3)	Tuw
Four (4)	Upat
Five (5)	Lima
Six (6)	Unum
Seven (7)	Pitu
Eight (8)	Walu
Nine (9)	Siyam
Ten (10)	Hangpu’

The Group of Tens

Twenty (20)	Kawhaan or Kawaan
Thirty (30)	Katluan
Forty (40)	Ka’patan
Fifty (50)	Kay’man
Sixty (60)	Ka’numan
Seventy (70)	Kapituhan
Eighty (80)	Kawaluhan
Ninety (90)	Kasiyáman
One Hudred (100)	Hanggatus

Here are the rules in naming:

100 Tausug Words

Bismillah.

It's already 1 month since our first post (I little more than one actually), and Alhamdulillah the Blog is doing well. And to somehow review all the new Tausug Words we have prepared a 100 TAUSUG WORD LIST. these are all the new Tausug words we have introduced for the first month.

(Sorry for being unable to reply to emails lately, My schedules are becoming more and more hectic these days. But Alhamdulillah we are still doing good in terms of posts hehe.)

Here's the link for the 100 Tausug Words of the month.

LESSON 6: The Pronouns II (Genitive Form)

          Bismillah. This is the 5th lesson on “Tausug 101: Learning Bahasa Sug” by Anak Iluh. For lists of lessons, please go to: Lists of Lessons.

          In this lesson, we will discuss the second form of pronouns found in Bahasa Sug: the Genitive Pronouns. Hmm, the word “genitive” seems so foreign to us, so we will use the other user-friendly name of it: The Dependent, Possessive Pronouns.

          Possessive Pronouns, as the name suggests, are those pronouns used to indicate ‘possession’ of an object: be it a thing, a person, or anything that can be owned (even action and dreams!) by the subject. There are two kinds of possessive pronouns: dependent and independent. Genitive pronouns are the “dependent, possessive pronouns” because they cannot stand alone. The following are the Genitive Pronouns found in Bahasa Sug:

GENITIVE PRONOUNS   (DEPENDENT, POSSESSIVE PRONOUNS) in BAHASA SUG
1st Person (speaker)	Singular	Ku
	Dual	Ta/Natu
	Plural (including the listener)	Natu’
	Plural (excluding the listener)	Namu’
2nd Person (to listener)	Singular	Mu
	Plural	Niyu
3rd Person (absent)	Singular	Niya
	Plural	Nila

(Try to compare this table with the one we have in Lesson 5)

            Because these pronouns are ‘dependent’, they cannot basically stand alone nor are they used as subjects in a sentence. They are ALWAYS preceded by the object (the possession) of the subject. Examples:

Báy ku               =             My House

Báy ta/natu’      =             Our house (inclusive)

Báy namu’        =             Our house (exclusive)

Báy mu             =             Your house (singular)

Báy niyu           =             Your house (Plural)

Báy niya           =             His/Her house

Báy nila           =             Their House

            Try experimenting with these pronouns and the other Tausug Words we have learned so far. Remember that the <object> always comes before the <genitive pronoun>.

            On another case, we will also learn that these same pronouns are used to refer to the <actor> of a verb. I am still consulting the experts as to what is this ‘relationship’ called. This happens when the genitive pronouns above are preceded by <actions> instead of <objects>. We will learn more about this when we reach the Lessons on Verbs. Here are some examples:

            Kiyta’ ku hi Sulayman.             I saw Sulayman. (Ku here is the actor of the verb Kiyta’,“saw”)
            Hain in kiyawa’ mu?                Which one did you took? (mu is actor of kiyawa’, “took”)            
            Piyanaw nila in jambatan.          They walked to the wharf. (nila is the actor of piyanaw, “walked”)

            This is not limited to past tenses of verbs only as it also appears in verbs in present tense. We will try to discuss this later on for the “advance learners” only and will be discussing about them further in the VERBS, in shaa Allah. Beginners in Bahasa Sug can focus in the dependent, possessive form only.

This ends our 6th lesson.

Try to check the Download files we have in our Download page :-)

Till next week, Salam Kasilasa!
Anak Iluh

Asking Questions (Pangasubu)

               Bismillah. This is the 1st Bonus lesson for “Tausug 101: Learning Bahasa Sug” by Anak Iluh. For lists of lessons, please go to: Lists of Lessons.

               The very basic way of learning something is by asking questions. And learning “how to ask questions” is what we will discuss today, in shaa Allah. The following are terms used in asking question (Pangasubu = interrogatives):

English	Tausug Questions (Pangasubu)
	Regular Form	*past	*future
What	Unu	---	---
Who	Hisiyu	---	---
Whom	Kansiyu	---	---
Why	Mayta’	---	---
When	Ka’nu	Ka’nu (Kahnu)	Ku’nu (Kuhnu)
Where	Hain	Piyakain, Daing hain	Pakain
How (functional, “how it works”)	Biyariin or Biya’diin	---	---
How (Conditional or situation)	Maunu-unu or Maunu	---	---

Examples of these in regular forms:

Unu in ngan mu?	What is your name?
Hisiyu in usug yaun?	Who is that guy?
Kansiyu in badju ini?	Who own this shirt? (whom)
Hain hi Inah?	Where is mother?
Ka’nu kaw piyag-anak?	When was your birth date?
Mayta’ kaw timangis?	Why are you crying?
Biyariin kaw magtuwg?	How do you sleep?
Maunu-unu na hi Jamal?	How is Jamal doing?

               

 

* THE PAST AND FUTURE FORMS

               One might wonder why we have the columns *past and *future in the table above. It is yet another unique feature we have in Bahasa Sug: a way of differentiating questions that are affected by time. This feature only applies on Hain (where) and Ka’nu (when).

LESSON 5: The Pronouns I (Nominative Form)

Bismillah. This is the 4th lesson on “Tausug 101: Learning Bahasa Sug” by Anak Iluh. For lists of lessons, please go to: Lists of Lessons.

                Thursday is Bahasa Sug day! Hehe. Alhamdulillah, we are already done with the first part of our course, from the brief history and background about Bahasa Sug to its different sounds and letters and the special rulings therein. We are now about to begin the second part; the second level which will be a little harder to put in to words…but hopefully we will be able to learn them easily. We will start by introducing the Common Pronouns in Bahasa Sug (thanks to Mr.Boutemr and Dayang ni D of for this suggestion).

             There are basically three forms of pronouns found in Bahasa Sug: 1) the Nominative form (which is the most common, I think); 2) the Genitive Form; and the 3) Oblique form. Don’t panic! We will try to discuss them one at a time. (I am also trying to learn them as much as I can.) The 2nd and 3rd form will be discussed in next lessons to come, in sha Allah. Today, we will focus on the first form: the Nominative Form.

            So what do we mean when we say “Nominative”? According to Merriam-Webster, in the grammar of languages, ‘nominative’ refers to the ‘marking typically of the subject of the verb’. In this definition, we can basically say that these kinds of pronouns are only used as subjects (I am still on the process of doing some experiments, hopefully to find some exemptions in this rule). The basic idea is there: when using the pronoun as the subject of the verb, we use the following Tausug pronouns:

COMMON NOMINATIVE PRONOUNS in BAHASA SUG
1st Person (speaker)	Singular	Aku
	Dual	Kita
	Plural (including the listener)	Kita niyu or Kitaniyu
	Plural (excluding the listener)	Kami
2nd Person (to listener)	Singular	Ikaw
	Plural	Kamu
3rd Person (absent)	Singular	Siya
	Plural	Sila

               
                It can be observed that these pronouns are indeed similar with the Tagalog Pronouns, except in some of it such as Kitaniyu (“Tayo” in Tagalog) and Kamu (“Kayo” in Tagalog). Learning these pronouns will surely be a ‘no-sweat’ thing for Filipino learners and those who are already fluent in Tagalog.

                To get a better picture of how these pronouns are used, here is a short Tausug Conversation (this is an example of a quite informal conversation between two peers):

Pagsambung-Laung III

Maryam:          Indah, hisiyu kaw yan?                                 Indah, who are you?
Yusra:              Aku hi Yusra.                                              I am Yusra
Maryam:          Ikaw ka in anak hi abu’ hadji Del?              Are you a daughter of Aunt Hja. Del?
Yusra:              Huun, aku in magulang.                               Yes, I am the eldest.
Maryam:          Pila kamu magtaymanghud?                        How many are you (siblings)?
Yusra:              Tuw. Babai kami katan.                              Three. We are all girls.
Maryam:          Hain na in mga manghud mu?                      Where are your sisters?
Yusra:              Yadtu sila ha iskul.                                      They are at school.
Maryam:          Hi Fairodz, grade pila na?                           What grade is Fairodz now?
Yusra:              Grade six na siya.                                       She is now in Grade six.
Maryam:          Marayaw isab nakapagkila kita.              It is good that we met each other.
Yusra:       Huun sa. Biya’ naglayu’ na kitaniyu           Your right. We have been far from
                        katan yan.                                                   each other (for a while).

                Due to some technical problems (which includes the inability of the author to record the audio in a female voice), the audio file for this conversation will be released next week. Thank you very much for your kind considerations. :-)

                Here are the new Tausug words we learned today in this lesson:

Hisiyu     =    Who                            Manghud   =   Younger sibling                
Pila         =    How many                   Yadtu        =     There
Anak      =    child (son/daughter)       Nakapagkila (r.w. Kila) = to Know or to Meet
Abu’/Babu’  =    Aunt                       Katan     =    All
Magulang     =    Elder child            Naglayu’ (r.w. Layu’)= Become far  

Salam Kasilasa!
Anak Iluh

The Vowel Sounds

             Bismillah. This is the 4th lesson on “Tausug 101: Learning Bahasa Sug” by Anak Iluh. For lists of lessons, please go to: Lists of Lessons.

 

             As we have learned in Lesson 1, there are basically only 3 vowel sounds in Bahasa Sug: the sounds /A/, /I/, and /U/. We all know how their sounds are like, so we don’t need to talk about that. We will instead discuss the different forms and ways these vowels are written and pronounced. We will classify them in to 4 kinds: (1) Repeating vowels, (2) Dual Vowels, (3) Prolonged Vowels and (4) Diphthongs. We will also include in this lesson, the special “Glottal Stop” sound. All examples given in this lesson are recorded in an audio file that you can easily download on the link provided at the end of this post.

Repeating or Double Vowels

             Tausug words having two, the same, repeating vowels are common. The correct way of reading their written text is to pronounce each vowel individually and not to connect them or create a prolonged sound. Examples are:

                          Daakan (commad/order) which is read /da-a-kan/ and not /dá-kan/
                          Giik (Step on, v.) which is read /gi-ik/ and not /giyk/
                          Masuuk (near) which is read /ma-su-uk/ not /ma-suwk/
              (There are some exceptions in this rule, which I hope will be discussed later on)

Dual Vowels

             There are words in Bahasa Sug having two different vowels consecutively. They will follow the same rules with the repeating vowels: each vowel sound must be pronounced individually. Mixing them (creating a diphthong-like sound) must be avoided. Examples include:

                          Saub (cover)      read as /sa-ub/ and not /sawb/
                          Piul (limp)           read as /pi-ul/ not /pi-yul/  
                          Luag (__)             read as /lu-ag/ not /lu-wag/ which means ‘wide’.

             There are times that these vowels are written with a hyphen (-) in between them to emphasize their ‘separations’ as “Sa-ub”, “Pi-ul” and “Lu-ag”. Same applies with the repeating vowels as “Da-akan”, “Gi-ik” and “Masu-uk”. Throughout this course, we will use the traditional, no-hyphen way of writing.

Prolonged Vowels

            

How to say “My Dear”?

      Bismillah. Another commonly asked question is “How do we say ‘My Love’ or ‘My Dearest’ in Tausug?” This, and other questions falling under the subject “Calls of endearment” is what we will talk about in this post.

       There a number of form of calls indicating one’s affection or endearment to another person (be it a child, another family member, or a loved one). We will introduce only the most common ones and their literal meanings, implications and differences with one another.

Lasa Ku (My Love)

      First is Lasa Ku. It literally stands for “My Love” (lasa is “love” and ku is a possessive pronoun for “I”, its equivalent is “my”). This is the most common form of endearment that we often hear in Bahasa Sug. It can be used when calling your beloved someone (ehem). It is also used by senior family members when calling their beloved relatives who are more or less minor in age. (Like an Aunt to her beloved nephews; or a Grandfather to his beloved grandchildren; and of course, the loving parents to their children). It is used regardless of gender of the one being called.
    (I often hear female-friends calling each other with this term. And oh yes, I haven’t heard male-friends doing the same thing. LOL.)

Dayang Ku (My Princess or My Dear or Dearest)
    Then we have Dayang Ku. The word Dayang came from the term Dayang-Dayang which in English is “Princess” (Dayang-Dayang are names given to daughters of the Sultans and other Royal Families way back in the Sulu Sultanate.  It is still used until today). Thus the literal meaning of Dayang-Dayang ku which eventually became Dayang ku is “My Princess”; then only used for females.   
    But through time, the term Dayang ku had evolved and is now used to indicate one’s “showing of importance” to the other person. It can now mean “My dearest”. Although Dayang ku is usually feminine, it is now sometimes used to refer to males also. Dayang ku can be used both for couples (married couples) and also by elder family members to their beloved “children”.

Dang Ku (My Dear)
    Dang ku is the shorter form of Dayang ku, but is more affectionate and less gender-strict. This term are only used by married couples (Husband to wife or wife to husband). Nothing more, nothing less.

Langga’ Ku (My Love)
    The origin of the term Langga’ is from the Bisayan word: Palangga’ (loved one). It is now used in Bahasa Sug to express affection to another person. It is alternatively used for Lasa ku, again used by couples and elder members of the family.

Jantung Ku (My Heart)
      Jantung ku is the least used among the examples we have. It is more poetic and figurative to its meaning (Jantung is “Heart”). We don’t have to discuss why “heart” is preferably used in this sense. We all get the message =)

    So that’s it! We now know the different kinds of calls Tausug used to call their loved ones.

    Please use these terms wisely. (hehe)

    Salam Kasilasa!
    Anak Iluh

LESSON 3: The Letters D and R

       Bismillah. This is the 3rd lesson on “Tausug 101: Learning Bahasa Sinug” by Anak Iluh. For lists of lessons pleas go to: List of Lessons.

       Aside from the changing sounds of the letters /B/ and /G/ as we have learned in Lesson 2, there is yet another unique pair of letters having a unique style of variations. These are the letter /D/ and /R/.

Words beginning with /D/

       Tausug words beginning with the letter /D/ can either be written (or pronounced) with /D/ or /R/ depending on the syllables or the letter that comes before it. Take for example the word “Daig” (beside). It will always be pronounced and written with /D/ when it is preceded by a prefix or a word ending with (1) another consonant or (2) a glottal stop. Hence:

    Nag + Daig    =     Nagdaig            read as /nag-da-ig/ (p.t. of daig)
    Buli’ + Dagat    =    Buli’ Dagat    read:/bu-li’-da-(g)at/ meaning “in the deep sea”

       But when the letter /D/ is placed in between two vowel sounds, as when preceded by a prefix or word ending with a vowel sound, it will be transformed into /R/. It will be pronounced with the /R/ sound and will be written with the /R/ as well, thereby replacing the letter /D/. Study the example below:

    Ha + Daig    =    Ha raig (besides); /D/ is replaced with /R/

Same rule applies even in verbs as:
    Na + Da’pug     =    Nara’pug (Burnt too much)
    Ma + Dugtul    =    Marugtul (To bump)

Words with /D/ in the middle:

       Most Tausug words having the letter /D/ in the middle (excluding the prefixes) will always pronounce and retain the sound of /D/ whether it is preceded by a consonant, a vowel or a glottal stop:
    

        Sandig (lean)     and     Sa’day (slightly Leaning to one side)

How to say "I am Happy"?

        Bismillah. Among the word-translations that I received from emails, the most commonly asked are also the easiest to work on like, “How do you say ‘I am happy’ in Tausug? Or ‘I am tired’?” In this extra post (because it is not part of the Grammar Lessons), we will talk about the simplest form of sentences we can ever find in Bahasa Sug. Special mentions to Jaafar and Dayang ni D for this post.

        When a Tausug is happy, he would only need two words to express it (other than a smile or a good laugh). The statement is:

        “Makuyag aku.”              I am happy.

        (where Makuyag is the word for “happy” and aku is the pronoun for “I”.)

    
        The structure of this sentence is so simple. First you state the condition (usually an adjective; here we used makuyag, “happy”) then you state the subject (who is acting or experiencing that condition; here we used aku, “I” or “me”).  And tadaa! You have constructed a simple sentence (the simplest so far) in Bahasa Sug.

        Let us try to change the pronoun aku with other pronouns. The following examples will be useful to beginners in Bahasa Sug.

The Sounds /Bb/ and /Gg/

      This is the old version! Pls click this link for the updated one (the one with videos!) : http://tausug101.blogspot.com/2015/01/the-letters-bb-and-gg.html

    Bismillah. This is the 2nd lesson on “Tausug 101: Learning Bahasa Sug” by Anak Iluh. For lists of lessons, please go to: Lists of Lessons.

          Among the 17 commonly used consonants we have in Bahasa Sug, two letters are notable of having a “special ruling” on articulating their sounds. These are the letters B and G. Both letters can be pronounced with (1) their regular sounds and (2) their special “spirant” sounds. The following rules must be learnt by anyone who wants to learn to speak Bahasa Sug fluently.

          The rules are simple: look where the letters (B and G) are placed.

          When the letters B and G are placed in the beginning or in the end of a word, they would usually have the regular ‘solid’ /B/ as in /boy/ and /G/ as in /good/. Examples of these Tausug words are:

          Basi’ (Iron/metal)                                            Gadja (Elephant)

          Same rule applies when the letters are placed in the middle of a word AND then follows or is followed by another consonant or a glottal stop such as in:    

          Sagnat (to cling, “sabit” in Tagalog)          Lambung (Shadow)        Si’gub (Burp, n.)

          The special rule (the spirant sound), applies when the two letters are in between two vowel sounds. When this happens, the two letters will take their “spirant” form or sound; meaning they will have a bit of “softer” sound and should not have a “stopping” sound. The letter /G/ would sound like the Huruf Ghain (Gh)  in Arabic; and the letter /B/ would have the sound /V/ as in LEVITATE, but not /V/ in VIOLET. Very good examples of these are the words: 

(vowel)+/B/+(vowel)	(vowel)+/G/+(vowel)
Labay (Pass by, v.)	Bagay (Friend)
Lubid (Rope)	Tagad (Wait, v.)
Tabang (Help, v.)	Higad (Side)
Habay-Habay (Amulet)	Tagaynup (Dream)
Sabun (Soap)	Agap (Parrot)

(Please download the audio copy of these examples. See the links at the end of this post.)

           

         The special sounds of /B/ and /G/ are found to be unique in Bahasa Sug (and perhaps in other sister dialects as Sinama and Yakan). But there is indeed a great difference in pronouncing these sounds in Bahasa Sug compared to that in Tagalog, where the sounds are more pronounced. Comparisons are seen in the following examples:

Alipba'ta': The Alphabets in Bahasa Sūg

Originally published: June 4, 2012

Updated: January 15, 2015

Assalamu Alaykum. This is the first lesson on “Tausūg 101: Learning Bahasa Sūg” by Anak Iluh. For more lessons, please click list of lessons. 

Spoken languages are made by articulating different sounds. And just like any other languages, Bahasa Sūg has its own sets of letters with their respective sounds as well. I have to remind everyone that the original letters were written in Sulat Sūg (the Jawi form) and these Latin letters are only representations of the sounds that are common with the other languages. This was discussed in our previous post “Tausūg 101: Learning Bahasa Sūg (Intro) ##link##”.

For this lesson on with the other succeeding lessons to come, we will use the guideline set by a Tausug Scholar for this, Dr. Benjamin Bangahan in his published work: “Bahasa Sūg Phonetics and Orthography” as found in this link: Bangsasulu. We are publishing it here with his permission as well.

Alipba’ta’: The Alphabets in Bahasa Sūg

                The Bahasa Sūg alphabet is known as Alipba’ta’ or shorter Alipba’. It is composed of 4 vowel sounds and 24* consonant sounds, with a total of 28 letters.  They are as follows with their names and pronunciations:

Vowels (4)
Sinūg Letter	Name/pronunciation	Equivalent in International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)
Aa	Ā	/a/
Ii	Iy	/i/
Uu	Uw	/u/
Üü	Ü	/ė/

Consonants (24)
Basic Consonants (17)
Sinūg Letter	Name/pronunciation	Equivalent in International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)
Bb	Bā’	/b/, /β/
Tt	Tā’	/t/
Jj	Jiym	/dʒ/
Hh	Hā’	/h/
Dd	Dāl	/d/
Rr	Rā’	/r/
Ss	Siyn	/s/
Gg	Gā’	/ɡ/, /ɣ/
Pp	Pā’	/p/
Kk	Kāp	/k/
Ll	Lām	/l/
Mm	Miym	/m/
Nn	Nuwn	/n/
NG ng	Ngā’	/ŋ/
NY ny	Nyā’	/ɲ/
Ww	Wāw	/w/
Yy	Yā’	/y/
Borrowed from Arabic (6)*
DH dh	Dhāl	/ð/
Ff	Fā	/f/
KH kh	Khā’	/x/
GH gh	Ghayn	/ɣ/
SH sh*	Shiyn	/ʃ/
Qq	Qawf	/q/
Borrowed from Malay (1)
Ch ch/TS ts	Tsā’	/t͡ʃ/

*In Dr. Bangahan’s guideline, the letter /Sh/ was not included in the borrowed consonants, thus the total number of consonants were 23 letters. We added the letter /Sh/ in this lesson/blog and so our total number of consonants are 24 instead of 23.

                The three vowels, /A/, /I/ and /U/ are the same as the English vowels and the Arabic sounds Fatha (a), Kasra (i) and Damma (u). Usually, there are no /O/ or /E/ sounds in Bahasa Sūg in contrast with the English vowels. Although at present time, due to the influence of ‘modernization’, we can find some Tausūg words written with letters “O” and “E” in them; it must still be considered that the original vowels were only three. These vowels, their derivatives and transformations will be discussed in Lesson 4, in sha Allah.

          The fourth vowel /Üü/ is an exception though. According to Dr. Bangahan, “it is pronounced similar to the “u” in the English word “urn” symbolized in the dictionary with “ė” with a diacritical dot on top…” There are certain words in Bahasa Sūg that uses the letter /ü/ instead of the regular /u/. Their usage are also distinct in some Tausūgs living in the rural areas in the Sulu islands. This is a bit harder to explain in text, so for the sake of making things simpler, throughout the lessons we will only use the vowel /Uu/ for all words with this sound unless necessary changes are needed.

          The 17 basic common consonants—all except letters B and G—will have the same sounds as the universal phonetic sounds, all throughout; be it in conversations or in written words. There are some letters that changes as their positions in a word or in a sentence are changed (an example is the word “Daig” to “Haraig”) which will also be discussed along the course. The special rulings in pronouncing the sounds /Bb/ and /Gg/, and the variations in some letters like /D/, /R/, /K/, /P/, etc. will be discussed in Lessons 2 and 3 respectively, in shaa Allah.

         There are also ‘occasional’ borrowed sounds found in Bahasa Sūg. Most of them are consonants derived or borrowed from other languages such as Arabic and Malay which are

Arabic (6): /F/ in Fatima, /Gh/ in Ghaib, /Kh/ in Khalifa,

    /Sh/ in Shaytan, /Q/ in Qur’an and /Z/ in Zakat.

Malay (1): /Ch or Ts/ as in Bitsara

These borrowed letters are only used in borrowed words, proper names as names of person as “Shamir”, “Zainab” or in other Islamic terms as “Zakat”, “Khalifa”, “Shaytan”, etc.

                These are the letters and sounds you will meet in Bahasa Sūg. It is more or less commonly found in other languages as well. If you have a good background in Tagalog and a little of Arabic, and Malay you will surely have an easier way of learning Bahasa Sūg as well. No sweat!

We will have more of these conversations in the future, in sha Allah. For questions, suggestions and translations, please like our Facebook page Tausūg 101 and post your queries. You can also email me at anakiluhmd@gmail.com. Our next lesson is about the special rulings on “The Sounds B and G”.

Salam Kasilasa.
Anak Iluh