sina for Plural Personal Names | Filipino Grammar

Sina marks a plural personal-name phrase as the pivot. It can introduce an explicit list—sina Mila at Tomas “Mila and Tomas”—or one named person plus a group understood from context—sina Mila “Mila and the others.” It is the plural personal counterpart of si, not an article meaning “the” and not the general word for plural people.

The personal marker paradigm

Phrase function	One named person	Named or associated group	Common-noun counterpart
Pivot	si Mila	sina Mila at Tomas	ang guro / ang mga guro
Non-pivot or possessor	ni Mila	nina Mila at Tomas	ng guro / ng mga guro
Oblique, recipient, or destination	kay Mila	kina Mila at Tomas	sa guro / sa mga guro

The marker packages three facts at once: the phrase is personal, plural, and in a pivot function. English normally expresses only the coordination—“Mila and Tomas arrived”—so English speakers often omit sina. In a neutral complete Filipino clause, that omission is not standard.

Nasa bulwagan na sina Pilar at Nestor.

Pilar and Nestor are already in the hall.

The locative predicate nasa bulwagan na comes first, and sina Pilar at Nestor is the group being located. No present-tense copula is inserted.

Coordinated names versus an associated group

Before two or more coordinated names, one sina can mark the entire list.

Mga inhinyero sina Camille at Omar sa proyektong iyon.

Camille and Omar are engineers on that project.

Naghatid sina Mila, Tomas, at Luning ng pagkain sa mga pamilyang binaha.

Mila, Tomas, and Luning delivered food to the families affected by the flood.

The coordination names the full group, so sina Mila, Tomas, at Luning does not imply additional unnamed members. Repeating the singular marker is also grammatical: si Mila, si Tomas, at si Luning. The repeated form can give each person more individual emphasis; one sina is the compact neutral grouping.

Before only one overt name, sina still has plural reference.

Nakarating na sina Rosa; dala nila ang mga upuan at mesa.

Rosa and her group have arrived; they brought the chairs and tables.

Here nila confirms that sina Rosa means Rosa plus known companions. Depending on context, those companions may be family members, housemates, coworkers, or friends. The marker does not identify them by itself. In formal reporting (formal), name the members or use an explicit group noun when that membership matters.

💡

Count referents, not written names. Sina Rosa at Lino names two people explicitly; sina Rosa still refers to more than one person because the remaining members come from context.

Sina can mark actors, patients, or nonverbal pivots

Sina does not mean “plural actor.” It marks a plural personal pivot, and voice determines which semantic role receives pivot status.

In actor voice, a named actor group takes sina:

Naghanda sina Inez at Paolo ng almusal para sa mga bata.

Inez and Paolo prepared breakfast for the children.

The actor-voice verb naghanda selects the preparers as pivot. The breakfast is the non-pivot patient with ng.

With patient voice, the same actors become non-pivots and take nina:

Inihanda nina Inez at Paolo ang almusal para sa mga bata.

Inez and Paolo prepared the breakfast for the children.

The event and English actor can remain the same, but the Filipino verb now selects ang almusal as patient pivot. This controlled contrast shows why sina cannot be learned as a word placed before every plural name.

A named group can itself be the patient pivot:

Sinundo ni Lea sina Omar at Nena sa estasyon.

Lea picked up Omar and Nena at the station.

Patient-voice sinundo selects the people picked up. Their semantic role is patient, but their marker is sina because they are the plural personal pivot.

See the pivot and ang-marked phrase for the larger voice system.

Sina is not ang mga

Use ang mga with plural common or nonpersonal noun phrases and sina with a named personal group.

Dumating ang mga nars, at sumunod sina Doktor Reyes at Doktor Lim.

The nurses arrived, and Doctors Reyes and Lim followed.

Ang mga nars describes people by a common role. Sina Doktor Reyes at Doktor Lim treats each title-plus-surname as a personal name. Capitalization alone is not decisive: institutions, places, works, and events normally remain in the common series, such as ang Maynila and ang Pamantasang Malaya.

Do not combine sina with plural mga. The plural information is already inside sina. The different phrase ang mga Santos may mean members of the Santos family or several people bearing the surname Santos; sina Santos means Santos and associated people. These readings are not interchangeable.

Individually named pets sometimes take personal markers (informal/affectionate), especially when treated as family members. Other speakers use the common series for animal names. This variation reflects social treatment and animacy, not a different spelling rule.

Negatives, questions, and conversation

Negation does not remove the pivot marker.

Hindi pa umuuwi sina Dario at Luz mula sa palengke.

Dario and Luz have not come home from the market yet.

The aspectual phrase hindi pa umuuwi is negative, but the actor group remains the pivot selected by the actor-voice verb.

Saan nagkita sina Aira at Noel bago ang pulong?

Where did Aira and Noel meet before the meeting?

The question word asks for the location. It does not replace or alter sina Aira at Noel.

Kasama ba natin sa tanghalian sina Celia? — Oo, kasama niya ang asawa at dalawang anak niya.

Are Celia and her family joining us for lunch? — Yes, her spouse and two children are with her.

The answer supplies the membership that the one-name phrase sina Celia left contextual. In casual conversation (informal/neutral), this associated-group use is routine. It is not equivalent to singular si Celia.

💡

Ask what role the group has now. Use sina only when the named group is pivot; change to nina for a non-pivot actor or possessor and kina for an oblique group.

Common Mistakes

1. Using mga with coordinated personal names. The personal plural pivot marker is sina.

❌ Naghihintay sa klinika ang mga Mara at Joel.

Incorrect for the two named people Mara and Joel — ang mga gives a different, shifted reading.

✅ Naghihintay sa klinika sina Mara at Joel.

Mara and Joel are waiting at the clinic.

2. Combining sina and mga. Both would attempt to mark plurality in incompatible personal-marker patterns.

❌ Dumating na sina mga Rina at Pio.

Incorrect — mga does not follow the plural personal marker sina.

✅ Dumating na sina Rina at Pio.

Rina and Pio have arrived.

3. Using sina when exactly one person is intended. One following name after sina necessarily invokes associates.

❌ Nasa opisina sina Greg.

Wrong for ‘Greg is in the office’ — sina Greg means Greg and others.

✅ Nasa opisina si Greg.

Greg is in the office.

4. Keeping sina on a non-pivot actor under patient voice. The plural personal non-pivot form is nina.

❌ Inayos sina Nita at Raul ang sirang bakod.

Incorrect — patient-voice inayos makes the fence the pivot, not the repairers.

✅ Inayos nina Nita at Raul ang sirang bakod.

Nita and Raul repaired the damaged fence.

Key Takeaways

Sina marks a named or associated group as pivot.
With coordinated names, it groups the stated people; with one name, it means that person plus contextually understood associates.
Actor voice can select a sina actor, while patient voice can select a sina patient.
Use ang mga for plural common phrases, never sina mga.
Switch to nina or kina when voice or construction gives the group a non-pivot or oblique role.

Now practice Filipino

Reading grammar gets you part of the way. The exercises are where it sticks — free, no signup needed.

Start learning Filipino →