Sentence Structure

There are generally 2 ways in which a sentence can be constructed in Tagalog. The most common for beginners is the:

SVO

Ako ay nag-aaral ng Filipino – I am studying Filipino

While this is grammatically correct, it is mainly used in literary situations and if used in spoken Tagalog, it would result in the speaker sounding a little robotic and unnatural.

When spoken, the above example would be slightly restructured as below with the word “ay” having been completely removed:

VSO

Nag-aaral ako ng Filipino

This is why, sometimes “ay” is referred to as a sentence inversion marker.