My Tagalog is pretty rusty even though I spent 20 years in Philippines. I didn't develop a interest in studying Tagalog until it's too late because I am a deaf ethnic Chinese and neither my parents nor my institute (school) has encouraged me to study Tagalog. I only use English to communicate with family and friends.
but I know a bit enough to tell you.
According to the rules of the Tagalog phonetics, most of the Tagalog nouns and adjectives have two syllables [edit]or more.[/edit] The only Tagalog nouns with one syllable I know are "tao" (person), "krus" (cross) and "mais" (corn).
Another rule is unlike English, the pronunciation of Tagalog words is as the same as the speling. It means you pronounce Tagalog words the same way you spell them .
In Tagalog, You do not say "io" or "ia". You simply say "yo", "iyo", "ya" or "iya". Tagalog phonetics dictate that the vowel "I" doesn't precede the vowel "O" or "A".
Examples:
radyo= radio
relihiyon= religion
telebisyon= television
diksiyonaryo= dictionary
pamilya=familia (Spanish word for family)
Diyos- Dios (Spanish word for God)
pilosopiya- filosofia (Spanish word for philosophy)
rosaryo- rosario (Spanish word for rosary)
Bibliya- Biblia (Spanish word for Bible)
We say tenk yu which is the Tagalog-incorporated word of "Thank you"
We don't say "th"
Sound= Tagalog equivalent
ch= ts
v= b
f= p
j= h or dy
z= s
Many of English and Spanish words are incorporated and phonetically altered into Tagalog language.
Examples of "ts"="ch"
titser= teacher
tsokolate= chocolate (is also a Spanish word whose the final "e" is NOT silent, unlike in English).
kotse= coche (Spanish word for car)
Examples of "b"="v"
berde- verde (Spanish word for green)
telebisyon- television
birhen-virgen (Spanish word for virgin)
Examples of "p"= "f"
pamilya- familia (Spanish for family)
telepono- telefono (Spanish for telephone)
Pilipinas- "Felipinas" (Spanish for Philippines)
Pilipino- Filipino
pilosopiya- filosofia (Spanish word for philosophy)
"s"="z"
sapatos- zapatos (Spanish for shoes)
mais=maize (Spanish for corn)
dosena= dozen
krus=cruz (Spanish for cross)
"h"='j" (In English, "gi" and "ge" are prounounced as ""ji" and "je" but because Spanish spellings of "j", "gi" and "ge" are pronounced as "h", we use the word "h" ) For example Spanish names Juan and Jose are pronounced as "Huan" and "Hose"
relihiyon= religion (is also a Spanish word)
heneral= general (is also a Spanish word)
birhen-virgen (Spanish word for virgin)
orihinal=original
dy= j (because in English, we prounounced "gi" and "ge" as "ji" and "je" instead of the "h" )
manadyer=manager
dyanitor=janitor
Here is the Tagalog phonetic alphabet:
a, b, d, e, g, h, i, k, l, m, n, ng, o, p, r, s, t, u, w, y