Page 44 - Tagalog for Beginners: An Introduction to Filipino, the National Language of the Philippines

MARIA : Paalam po.
Goodbye.

GINANG CRUZ : Paalam na sa inyo.
Goodbye to you.

Bokabolaryo (Vocabulary)

Sige Okay; also used to say “goodbye.”
Klase Class

Paalam Goodbye; considered to be an old-fashioned way of saying goodbye,
but popular in many literary texts

Mga Tala Sa Kultura (Culture Notes)

In studying language, we can learn a lot about the culture of a people. The Filipino
language, for example, has a complex system of affixes. One of its most interesting
prefixes is ka. In this lesson, you learned the following words: Kapatid
(Brother/Sister); Kaibigan (Friend); Katrabaho (Co-worker); Kasambahay
(Person who lives in the same house); Kapitbahay (Neighbor); and Kababayan
(Of the same town; of the same country).
You may have noticed that all these words start with the prefix ka. Ka, in many
cases, signals a relationship. The word kapatid is most interesting because the root
word patid means “to cut,” and the word kapatid literally means “cut from the
same umbilical cord.”

Many Filipinos take notice of another’s last name. They will then try to
“associate” with you or find a link. Should you say, for example, that your last
name is Ledesma, they may ask, “Kaano-ano mo ang mga Ledesma ng Bacolod?”
(How are you related to the Ledesmas of Bacolod?) Should you answer that they are
your relatives, they will then ask you if you are related to someone they know, for
example, “Kilala mo ba si Connie?” (Do you know Connie?) and then proceed to
explain how they know this person. “Kaklase ko siya sa high school.” (She was my
high school classmate.)
This familiarity serves, in Filipino culture, to make the person more
comfortable because you know someone he/she knows.

Pagbabasa (Reading): Isang E-mail (An E-mail)

Study the list of new words introduced in the reading. Then read the short note of a

college student to her father, and answer the questions that follow.