The root benta organizes a selling event around different participants. Magbenta selects the seller, ibenta selects the goods offered or transferred, bentahan can select a customer or place supplied with goods, and intransitive bumenta reports that something sold or caught on. Mabenta instead commonly presents something as saleable or popular, while its aspectual relatives can report a successful or possible sale.
English usually keeps the verb sell unchanged while word order does most of the work. Filipino voice and markers instead signal the discourse center. Learn each member as a construction with its participant frame, not as a mere translation of sell. The i- conveyance family explains why an i- form can select a transferred theme.
Core forms and functions
| Family | Basic | Completed | Incompleted | Contemplated | Typical pivot |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| actor voice | magbenta | nagbenta | nagbebenta | magbebenta | seller |
| actor voice (intransitive sale result) | bumenta | bumenta | bumebenta | bebenta | goods, performance, or idea that sells or catches on |
| benefactive/instrumental i- voice | ibenta | ibinenta | ibinebenta | ibebenta | goods sold or offered |
| locative voice | bentahan | binentahan | binebentahan | bebentahan | customer, recipient, or place supplied |
| potential/result patient/undergoer voice | mabenta | nabenta | nabebenta | mabebenta | goods that sell or get sold |
The vowel sequence changes across the paradigms: magbebenta, ibebenta, and bebentahan contain the reduplicated first syllable of the base used in the contemplated form. Store the surface forms; do not invent magbentabenta or ibabenta by analogy with unrelated roots.
Magbenta: the seller is the pivot
Actor-voice magbenta selects the seller with ang/si. The non-pivot goods normally take ng, the buyer takes sa/kay, and a stated price can be introduced by sa halagang.
Nagbenta si Rina ng mga punla sa mga kapitbahay noong Sabado.
Rina sold seedlings to the neighbors on Saturday.
Nagbebenta ang kooperatiba ng bigas sa murang halaga.
The cooperative sells rice at a low price.
Magbebenta kami ng meryenda sa palaro para makalikom ng pondo.
We will sell snacks at the sports event to raise funds.
The goods need not be indefinite in the real world. Their ng marking follows from the actor-voice frame, not from an English article rule. If the discourse must keep a particular item central, ibenta is often the natural choice.
Ibenta: the merchandise is the pivot
Ibenta selects the goods transferred or put on offer. The seller takes an ng-series form; the buyer remains in a sa/kay phrase, and price can again use sa halagang.
Ibinenta ni Lito kay Mara ang lumang bisikleta sa halagang tatlong libong piso.
Lito sold the old bicycle to Mara for three thousand pesos.
Ibebenta ng paaralan ang mga lumang mesa pagkatapos ng pagsusuri.
The school will sell the old desks after the inspection.
Hindi ibinebenta ng magsasaka ang lahat ng kaniyang ani.
The farmer does not sell all of his or her harvest.
Ipagbili is an established alternative verb meaning sell, especially visible in careful or formal writing, while ibenta is extremely common in neutral contemporary usage. They are not freely generated spellings of one affix; they are conventional members of the wider lexicon.
Bentahan: select the customer or outlet
Locative-voice bentahan selects a buyer, customer group, establishment, or place that receives a supply of goods. The seller takes an ng form, and the goods normally take ng.
Binentahan ni Mila ng sampung kahon ng mangga ang maliit na tindahan sa kanto.
Mila sold ten boxes of mangoes to the small corner shop.
Binebentahan ng panaderya ng tinapay ang dalawang paaralan sa bayan.
The bakery supplies two schools in town with bread.
This frame is most natural when the recipient or outlet matters as a continuing customer or destination. A one-time buyer can still be selected, but ibenta kay... ang... may be clearer when the goods are the main topic.
Bare bentahan is also a noun meaning a selling place, sale event, or commercial exchange. Syntax separates noun sa bentahan ng gulay from verb bentahan mo sila ng gulay.
Bumenta, mabenta, and commercial success
Intransitive bumenta presents the merchandise, performance, joke, or idea as what sold or found an audience. It does not identify a seller or buyer. Incompleted bumebenta presents sales or acceptance as continuing, while contemplated bebenta predicts a later sale or successful reception.
Bumenta agad ang unang limampung kopya nang magbukas ang tindahan.
The first fifty copies sold immediately when the shop opened.
Bumebenta pa rin ang maliliit na pakete kahit tumaas ang presyo.
The small packages are still selling even though the price increased.
Property predicate mabenta commonly means that an item sells well or is popular. Aspectual nabenta reports that an item was successfully sold, while mabebenta presents a likely or possible sale.
Mabenta ang mainit na sopas kapag maulan ang panahon.
Hot soup sells well when the weather is rainy.
Nabenta na ang huling dalawang tiket bago magtanghali.
The last two tickets were sold before noon.
Mabebenta ang kabinet kung lilinisin muna natin ito.
The cabinet will sell if we clean it first.
In colloquial discussion, mabenta can describe a performer, joke, product, or idea as popular or marketable. That extension is (informal-neutral), but a person described as mabenta can be objectifying or teasing; context and relationship matter.
Bare noun benta means sales or the act/result of selling. The common expression malakas ang benta says that sales are brisk; it does not use an actor-voice verb.
Malakas ang benta ng mga payong ngayong tag-ulan.
Umbrella sales are brisk this rainy season.
Controlled comparison: seller and goods
Nagbenta si Lani ng mesa kay Omar kahapon.
Lani sold a table to Omar yesterday. (Lani is the seller pivot.)
Ibinenta ni Lani kay Omar ang mesa kahapon.
Lani sold the table to Omar yesterday. (The table is the goods pivot.)
The event can be identical, but the marker frame is not. Actor-voice nagbenta pairs si Lani with ng mesa. Theme-selecting ibinenta pairs ni Lani with ang mesa. Calling the second an English passive misses the fact that Filipino speakers choose it to track the merchandise as pivot.
Questions, negation, and connected use
Hindi pa nabebenta ang mga upuang inilabas natin kahapon.
The chairs we put out yesterday still are not selling.
—Ibebenta mo ba ang lumang kamera? —Hindi muna; ginagamit pa iyon ng kapatid ko.
—Are you going to sell the old camera? —Not yet; my sibling is still using it.
The question selects the already identifiable camera. The answer uses hindi muna to postpone the plan, while pa presents its use as continuing. A seller-centered question would instead be Magbebenta ka ba ng kamera? “Will you be selling a camera?”
Common Mistakes
Keeping English SVO markers with ibinenta
❌ Ibinenta si Lani ang aparador kay Ben.
Incorrect — ibinenta selects the wardrobe, so the seller takes ni.
✅ Ibinenta ni Lani kay Ben ang aparador.
Lani sold the wardrobe to Ben.
Marking actor-voice merchandise with ang
❌ Nagbenta si Lani ang aparador kay Ben.
Incorrect — in this actor-voice frame, the goods take ng.
✅ Nagbenta si Lani ng aparador kay Ben.
Lani sold a wardrobe to Ben.
Treating the sale price as a beneficiary
❌ Ibinenta nila ang bangka para sa limampung libong piso.
Awkward for the price — para sa suggests purpose or beneficiary.
✅ Ibinenta nila ang bangka sa halagang limampung libong piso.
They sold the boat for fifty thousand pesos.
Confusing what is sold with whom one supplies
❌ Binentahan ng panaderya ang tinapay ng paaralan.
Wrong for the intended recipient-selecting frame — the school should be the pivot and bread takes ng.
✅ Binentahan ng panaderya ng tinapay ang paaralan.
The bakery sold bread to the school.
Key Takeaways
- Magbenta selects the seller, with goods normally marked by ng.
- Bumenta selects the item, performance, or idea that sells or catches on, without naming a seller.
- Ibenta selects the goods; the seller takes an ng form and the buyer takes sa/kay.
- Bentahan can select a customer or outlet supplied with goods, but it also has noun uses.
- Mabenta means saleable or popular; nabenta and mabebenta present successful or potential sale.
- Voice choice tracks the discourse pivot, not an English active/passive opposition.
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- The mag- actor voice: Function and DistributionB1 — Understand what mag- actor-voice verbs contribute, where they occur, and why their meanings must be learned as lexical families.
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- Patient VoiceB1 — Use patient voice to select an affected or delimited participant as pivot while retaining the actor as a core ng-series phrase.