Verb Reference: bili | Filipino Grammar

The root bili centers on acquiring something in exchange for payment. Its most useful verbs are not person-based conjugations of one word: bumili selects the buyer, bilhin selects the purchased item, and ibili/binilhan can select the person or source associated with the purchase. The root-centered network tells you both the aspect form and the participant frame.

All unlabelled forms below are neutral contemporary Filipino. The paradigm guide explains why Filipino categories are aspect and voice rather than English tense and agreement.

Core Paradigms

Family and pivot	Basic	Completed	Incompleted	Contemplated
buyer pivot, actor voice	bumili	bumili	bumibili	bibili
purchased-item pivot, patient voice	bilhin	binili	binibili	bibilhin
beneficiary pivot	ibili	ibinili	ibinibili	ibibili
beneficiary or source pivot, -an family	bilhan	binilhan	binibilhan	bibilhan
funds or means pivot, ipang- instrumental	ipambili	ipinambili	ipinambibili	ipambibili

The actor basic and completed forms are both bumili. Context distinguishes Bumili ka ng yelo “Buy ice” from Bumili ka ng yelo kanina “You bought ice earlier.” Patient basic bilhin and contemplated bibilhin lose the root-final i before -hin; forms such as biliin and bibiliin are not standard members of this family.

Instrumental ipambili reflects nasal substitution in ipang- + bili, producing pambili rather than pangbili. Its pivot is the money or other means used for the purchase, not the purchased item or beneficiary.

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Memorize the principal parts bilhin—binili—binibili—bibilhin as a set. The contraction is lexical; do not apply it automatically to every vowel-final root.

Buyer Pivot versus Purchased-Item Pivot

Bumili si Teresa ng sariwang isda sa palengke bago umulan.

Teresa bought fresh fish at the market before it rained. (buyer pivot)

Actor-voice bumili selects si Teresa. The purchased item takes ng, and the commercial source appears in a sa phrase.

Binili ni Teresa ang sariwang isdang itinabi ng tindera.

Teresa bought the fresh fish that the vendor had set aside. (purchased-item pivot)

Patient-voice binili selects the fish, so Teresa changes to ni Teresa. Both English translations can use active bought; Filipino voice determines the markers.

Hold the referents constant to see the structural choice:

Bumili si Teresa ng pulang payong para sa kaniyang anak.

Teresa bought a red umbrella for her child. (buyer-centered report)

Binili ni Teresa ang pulang payong para sa kaniyang anak.

Teresa bought the red umbrella for her child. (item-centered report)

Specificity often favors patient voice, but it does not force it. Context can make an actor-voice ng phrase specific; ang/ng are phrase markers, not simple translations of the/a.

Buying for Someone

Benefactive ibili selects the person for whose benefit the purchase is made:

Ibinili ni Teresa ng salaming pambasa ang kaniyang ama.

Teresa bought her father reading glasses. (beneficiary pivot)

The beneficiary is ang kaniyang ama, the buyer is ni Teresa, and the purchased item remains ng salaming pambasa. A neutral actor-voice alternative is Bumili si Teresa ng salaming pambasa para sa kaniyang ama. The two constructions organize the same practical event differently.

Bilhan also commonly selects a beneficiary or a commercial source. The surrounding complements disambiguate:

Bilhan mo ng mainit na almusal ang bantay sa gabi.

Buy the night guard a hot breakfast.

Ang maliit na panaderya sa kanto ang binilhan namin ng pandesal.

The small bakery on the corner is where we bought bread rolls.

In the first, the selected pivot is a beneficiary. In the second, it is the source establishment. English for and from do not correspond to two fixed Filipino suffix meanings; the lexical frame and context determine the relation.

Aspect, Time, and Recent Purchase

Binibili ni Omar ang gulay tuwing Sabado, pero sa ibang tindahan siya bibili bukas.

Omar buys vegetables every Saturday, but he will buy at a different shop tomorrow.

Incompleted binibili is habitual, not necessarily happening now. Contemplated bibili presents tomorrow's purchase as not yet begun. Time comes from tuwing Sabado and bukas, not from tense endings.

The recent-perfective form kabibili highlights extreme recency:

Kabibili lang namin ng bigas, kaya hindi muna kami babalik sa pamilihan.

We have just bought rice, so we will not return to the market yet.

This construction normally appears with lang/lamang. It is not the completed form in the ordinary four-cell paradigm. Widespread contemporary kakabili is also accepted; kabibili preserves the family-sensitive reduplication shown here.

Questions, Negation, and Everyday Requests

—Ano ang bibilhin mo sa botika? —Bibili ako ng gamot sa ubo at ilang benda.

—What will you buy at the pharmacy? —I'll buy cough medicine and some bandages.

The question selects the unknown item with patient-voice bibilhin; the answer selects the buyer ako with actor-voice bibili.

Hindi namin binili ang pinakamurang modelo dahil wala itong garantiya.

We did not buy the cheapest model because it had no warranty.

Negation leaves the completed patient-voice frame intact. Wala expresses absence of a warranty; replacing it with hindi would be an English-based negation error.

In conversation, Pabili po... is a conventional polite service request meaning “I would like to buy...” or “Please get me...” depending on the situation. It is (informal/polite conversational) and does not replace the full voice forms in careful exposition.

Collocations and Extended Uses

bumili ng pagkain/gamot/tiket — buy food/medicine/a ticket
bilhin nang hulugan — buy on installments; here nang introduces manner
bilhin nang pakyawan — buy wholesale/in bulk
halaga ng bili or presyo ng bili — purchase price
ipinambili ng gamot — used to buy medicine; this ipang- instrumental family selects the money or means, not a beneficiary

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Do not confuse ibinili with ipinambili. Ibinili ni Ana ng gamot ang bata selects the child; Ipinambili ni Ana ng gamot ang pera selects the money used.

Common Mistakes

Using mag- for ordinary “buy”

❌ Nagbili si Teresa ng isda bago umuwi.

Incorrect for ordinary contemporary ‘buy’—the established buyer-pivot family is bumili.

✅ Bumili si Teresa ng isda bago umuwi.

Teresa bought fish before going home.

Keeping actor-voice markers with a patient form

❌ Binili si Teresa ng pulang payong kahapon.

Incorrect for ‘Teresa bought the red umbrella’—binili selects the umbrella, not Teresa.

✅ Binili ni Teresa ang pulang payong kahapon.

Teresa bought the red umbrella yesterday.

Treating ibinili as if it selected the item

❌ Ibinili ni Omar ang gamot sa kaniyang lola.

Incorrect for the benefactive frame—ibinili selects the grandmother, while the medicine takes ng.

✅ Ibinili ni Omar ng gamot ang kaniyang lola.

Omar bought medicine for his grandmother.

Confusing ng with adverbial nang

❌ Bumili si Omar nang tatlong kilo ng bigas.

Incorrect in this argument frame—ng marks the measured item bought.

✅ Bumili si Omar ng tatlong kilo ng bigas para sa handaan.

Omar bought three kilos of rice for the gathering.

Key Takeaways

Bumili selects the buyer; bilhin selects the purchased item.
Ibili selects a beneficiary, while bilhan can select a beneficiary or source according to context.
Store contracted patient forms as principal parts rather than generating biliin.
Incompleted forms cover ongoing and habitual buying; contemplated forms describe an unbegun purchase.
Learn the root as a network of forms plus marker frames, not as one translation “buy.”

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