An ang-marked head relative clause is a noun phrase such as ang gurong tumawag “the teacher who called” or ang liham na sinulat ni Mara “the letter that Mara wrote.” The head noun is linked to a descriptive clause, and one participant position inside that clause is understood rather than repeated. Filipino has no obligatory counterpart of English who, that, or which in this construction.
Voice identifies the missing participant. Actor voice licenses an actor head, patient/undergoer voice an undergoer head, and locative voice a location or endpoint head when the verb conventionally allows it.
Core form-and-function patterns
| Head's role inside relative | Relative predicate | Example phrase |
|---|---|---|
| actor pivot | actor voice | ang nars na tumawag |
| undergoer pivot | patient/undergoer voice | ang gamot na dinala ng nars |
| location/destination pivot | locative voice | ang klinikang pinuntahan namin |
| recipient/beneficiary pivot | appropriate -an/i- family | ang batang ipinagluto ni Mara |
| mere spatial setting | kung saan strategy | ang klinika kung saan siya nagtrabaho |
The head phrase's visible ang belongs to the larger clause. Inside the relative clause, the same referent corresponds to a pivot gap. These two levels happen to align in this page's examples, but they remain separate grammatical relations.
From an independent clause to an embedded description
Start with an actor-voice clause:
Tumawag ang bagong nars tungkol sa iskedyul.
The new nurse called about the schedule. (independent clause)
To make the nurse the head of a relative, keep actor voice, omit the internal actor pivot, and attach the clause with a linker:
Nasa resepsiyon ang bagong nars na tumawag tungkol sa iskedyul.
The new nurse who called about the schedule is at reception. (embedded relative)
The head ends in consonant s, so the linker is separate na. The relative clause does not repeat siya or ang nars.
With an undergoer head, voice changes:
Inayos ni Pina ang sirang bentilador kahapon.
Pina repaired the broken fan yesterday. (independent patient/undergoer-voice clause)
Tahimik na ang sirang bentilador na inayos ni Pina kahapon.
The broken fan that Pina repaired yesterday is quiet now. (embedded undergoer relative)
Bentilador is the missing undergoer pivot of inayos, while ni Pina remains the non-pivot actor. English uses active wording in the translation, but Filipino patient/undergoer voice is what makes the fan accessible as the relative head.
Linker shape follows the head
The linker has the same allomorphy used elsewhere in modification:
- vowel-final head: suffix -ng — babaeng naghihintay
- head ending in n: suffix -g — pagkaing niluto
- most other consonants: separate na — ulat na sinuri
Kilala mo ba ang babaeng naghihintay sa tabi ng parmasya?
Do you know the woman waiting beside the pharmacy?
Inilagay nila sa mesa ang pagkaing niluto ni Mang Celso.
They put the food that Mang Celso cooked on the table.
Hindi pa inilalabas ang ulat na sinusuri ng komite.
The report that the committee is reviewing has not been released yet.
In the last example, the main clause is negative, while the embedded predicate is incompleted. Aspect and polarity belong to their respective clauses.
Ang is not simply English “the”
An ang-marked relative phrase is typically referential and functions as the pivot of its larger clause, but ang is not a definite article pasted before a noun. Compare May gurong naghihintay “There is a teacher waiting” with Nasa labas ang gurong naghihintay “The teacher who is waiting is outside.” The existential introduces a referent; the ang phrase tracks an identifiable one.
Plural mga occurs inside the phrase when plurality matters:
Dumating na ang mga boluntaryong maghahatid ng tubig sa mga pamilya.
The volunteers who will deliver water to the families have arrived.
Contemplated actor-voice maghahatid selects the volunteers as its understood actor pivot. Ng tubig is the non-pivot theme; sa mga pamilya is the recipient phrase.
Animacy does not determine relative-clause voice. A person may be a patient or recipient head, and an inanimate noun may be an actor-like cause with an appropriate lexical predicate. The verb's participant structure and intended role decide.
Location heads and mere settings
Binuksan na muli ang silid na nilagyan nila ng bagong bentilador.
They have reopened the room in which they installed a new fan.
Locative-voice nilagyan selects the room as an affected location. Actor nila and theme ng bagong bentilador are non-pivots.
If a place is only the setting of an event, kung saan often avoids manufacturing a locative-voice verb:
Binuksan na muli ang silid kung saan nagpulong ang mga kawani.
They have reopened the room where the staff held a meeting.
Actor-voice nagpulong keeps ang mga kawani as actor pivot. The distinction between selected location and setting is developed in oblique and non-pivot relativization.
Questions, negation, and reference
Alin ang kahong hindi nilagyan ng kawani ng etiketa?
Which is the box that the staff member did not put a label on?
The matrix alin asks the identity of the box. Inside the relative, hindi negates locative-voice nilagyan; ng kawani is the actor and ng etiketa the placed theme. This order avoids reading ng kawani as the possessor of etiketa.
—Nasaan ang dokumentong ipapadala ni Rosa sa abogado? —Nasa ibabaw iyon ng aparador.
—Where is the document that Rosa will send to the lawyer? —It is on top of the cabinet.
Contemplated conveyance form ipapadala leaves a conveyed-theme gap corresponding to dokumento. The answer resumes the inanimate referent with iyon, not siya.
Common Mistakes
1. Omitting the linker
❌ Nakita ko ang guro nagtuturo sa amin.
Incorrect — an overt head requires the linker before its relative clause.
✅ Nakita ko ang gurong nagtuturo sa amin.
I saw the teacher who teaches us.
2. Repeating the relativized participant
❌ Dumating ang nars na tumawag siya kanina.
Incorrect — nars already supplies the actor gap; siya repeats it.
✅ Dumating ang nars na tumawag kanina.
The nurse who called earlier arrived.
3. Using actor voice for an undergoer head
❌ Nawawala ang susing nagdala si Ben sa opisina.
Incorrect — nagdala selects Ben as actor pivot, not susi as undergoer head.
✅ Nawawala ang susing dinala ni Ben sa opisina.
The key that Ben brought to the office is missing.
4. Marking the embedded actor as pivot
❌ Ito ang gamot na dinala si Mila kaninang umaga.
Incorrect — the actor of patient/undergoer-voice dinala requires ni Mila.
✅ Ito ang gamot na dinala ni Mila kaninang umaga.
This is the medicine that Mila brought this morning.
Key Takeaways
- An overt head joins a relative clause with -ng, -g, or na.
- The head corresponds to an unspoken pivot inside the relative clause; do not repeat it with a pronoun.
- Actor, patient/undergoer, locative, and other voices determine which participant can serve as head.
- The phrase's external ang marking comes from the larger clause, while its internal accessibility comes from relative-clause voice.
- Use kung saan for a setting when no established voice form selects the place as a core pivot.
Related Topics
- Relative Clauses: OverviewB2 — Learn how Filipino relative clauses use linkers and voice to identify a head noun without English relative pronouns.
- Actor Voice: Relative ClausesB2 — Build relative clauses whose head is the actor pivot, using the correct linker, voice form, gap, and participant marking.
- Patient Voice: Relative ClausesB2 — Build relative clauses whose head is the patient pivot, with the correct voice, linker, participant marking, and aspect.
- Locative Voice: Relative ClausesB2 — Build relative clauses whose head is an affected place, surface, container, destination, or addressee selected by locative voice.
- Oblique and Non-Pivot RelativizationC1 — Relativize destinations, recipients, beneficiaries, instruments, and settings by choosing voice promotion or an appropriate kung-plus-wh strategy.
- Linker Allomorphy: na versus -ngA2 — Choose among separate na, attached -ng, and attached -g from the final sound of the immediately preceding element.