Verb Reference: dating | Filipino Grammar

The root dating centers on reaching an endpoint. Dumating presents an arriving participant as pivot, makarating adds successful opportunity or ability to reach, and marating selects the destination or goal. Magdatingan presents multiple participants arriving, often in succession. English arrive, come, get to, and reach divide this network differently.

All unlabelled examples are neutral contemporary Filipino. The aspect-in-subordinate-clauses guide explains why basic makarating often appears after para even when the goal lies in the future.

Core Paradigms

Family and pivot	Basic	Completed	Incompleted	Contemplated
arriving participant pivot, -um-	dumating	dumating	dumarating	darating
successful/able arriving participant pivot, maka-	makarating	nakarating	nakakarating	makakarating
reached goal pivot, ma- patient/attainment	marating	narating	nararating	mararating
plural/distributive arriving group pivot	magdatingan	nagdatingan	nagdadatingan	magdadatingan

The d/r alternation is visible in dating → darating, makarating, marating. It is morphophonemic, not free spelling variation. Do not build the contemplated form as dudumating or use invented magdadating for one participant's ordinary arrival.

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Use dumating sa + place when the arriving participant is pivot. Use narating + ang place when the reached goal itself is pivot.

Ordinary Arrival

Dumating si Lira sa pantalan bago sumikat ang araw.

Lira arrived at the port before sunrise. (arriving participant pivot)

The destination is an oblique sa phrase. Basic and completed dumating are identical in spelling; the bounded time context gives this sentence a completed reading.

Dumarating ang unang bus nang alas-singko tuwing karaniwang araw.

The first bus arrives at five on weekdays.

Incompleted dumarating expresses a schedule or recurring event. It is not limited to an action happening now.

Darating ang bagong doktor sa isla sa susunod na Martes.

The new doctor will arrive on the island next Tuesday.

Contemplated darating presents the arrival as not yet begun. The calendar phrase supplies future time.

Reaching Successfully with Makarating

Nakarating kami sa baryo bago tuluyang bumaha ang kalsada.

We managed to reach the village before the road completely flooded.

Nakarating often implies successful attainment, especially when difficulty, opportunity, or a deadline matters. It need not always translate with explicit English managed to; context can make it a neutral “got to.”

Umalis tayo nang maaga para makarating sa klinika bago magbukas.

Let's leave early so we can reach the clinic before it opens.

After para, basic makarating expresses the intended achievement. An independent prediction would use contemplated makakarating.

Hindi makakarating si Ben sa ensayo dahil kanselado ang huling biyahe.

Ben will not be able to get to rehearsal because the last trip is canceled.

Negation denies expected successful arrival; it does not turn maka- into English tense or a separate modal auxiliary.

Selecting the Goal with Marating

Narating ni Lira ang liblib na baryo pagkaraan ng apat na oras.

Lira reached the remote village after four hours. (goal pivot)

Compare the same endpoint:

Nakarating si Lira sa liblib na baryo bago dumilim.

Lira managed to reach the remote village before dark. (traveler pivot)

Narating ni Lira ang liblib na baryo bago dumilim.

Lira reached the remote village before dark. (goal pivot)

With nakarating, Lira is si Lira and the village is sa-marked. With narating, the village is ang pivot and Lira is ni Lira. English word order cannot supply this marker mapping.

Incompleted nararating is natural for repeated access or extent:

Nararating na ng serbisyong medikal ang mga pamayanang dating mahirap puntahan.

Medical services now reach communities that used to be difficult to access.

Here the reaching is institutional and recurring rather than one journey.

Multiple Arrivals and Very Recent Arrival

Nagdatingan ang mga panauhin habang inaayos pa ang mga mesa.

The guests arrived one after another while the tables were still being arranged.

Magdatingan normally requires a plural or collective interpretation and often suggests distributed arrivals. For one ordinary arrival, use dumating.

Recent-perfective kararating marks an arrival immediately before the reference point:

Kararating lang ng mekaniko, kaya hindi pa niya nasusuri ang makina.

The mechanic has only just arrived, so he has not inspected the machine yet.

Widespread contemporary kakarating is also accepted; kararating preserves the family-sensitive d/r alternation. The arriving participant follows in an ng-form because this is a recent-perfective construction, not ordinary actor-voice dumating.

Pagdating and Homographs

Pagdating commonly means “upon arrival/when [someone] arrives”:

Pagdating namin sa bahay, tulog na ang mga bata.

When we arrived home, the children were already asleep.

The arriving group appears as namin, not kami, inside this nominalized time expression.

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After nominalized pagdating, express the arriver with an ng-form such as ko, mo, niya, namin, natin, ninyo, or nila.

Two common homographs are not arrival verbs. Dating guro means “former teacher,” with dating as an adjective-like modifier. Malakas ang dating niya means “He/She has a strong presence or impact,” an (informal-neutral) lexical noun use. Context and syntax keep these meanings apart from dumarating.

A Short Exchange

—Anong oras darating ang padala? —Ayon sa drayber, makakarating iyon bago magtanghali.

—What time will the delivery arrive? —According to the driver, it should make it before noon.

The first turn uses ordinary contemplated arrival. The reply uses successful attainment because the deadline is relevant.

Common Mistakes

Building ordinary contemplated arrival with mag-

❌ Magdadating si Ben sa opisina bago mag-alas-nuwebe.

Incorrect for one person's ordinary arrival—the contemplated form is darating.

✅ Darating si Ben sa opisina bago mag-alas-nuwebe.

Ben will arrive at the office before nine.

Making the traveler pivot with a goal-selecting form

❌ Narating si Tomas sa dulo ng landas bago umulan.

Incorrect—narating selects the reached goal, not the traveler.

✅ Narating ni Tomas ang dulo ng landas bago umulan.

Tomas reached the end of the trail before it rained.

Using the wrong ability family

❌ Hindi makapagrating sa baryo ang ambulansiya dahil gumuho ang tulay.

Incorrect lexical family—ordinary ability or successful attainment uses makarating.

✅ Hindi makarating sa baryo ang ambulansiya dahil gumuho ang tulay.

The ambulance cannot reach the village because the bridge collapsed.

Using an ang-form pronoun after pagdating

❌ Pagdating kami sa terminal, nakaalis na ang bus.

Incorrect—the nominalized time expression requires ng-form namin.

✅ Pagdating namin sa terminal, nakaalis na ang bus.

When we reached the terminal, the bus had already left.

Key Takeaways

Dumating selects the arriving participant and marks the destination with sa.
Makarating adds ability, opportunity, or successful attainment; marating selects the reached goal.
Magdatingan describes plural or distributed arrival, not the ordinary arrival of one participant.
Incompleted forms can express schedules and recurring access, not only present progress.
Kararating, pagdating, “former” dating, and “presence” dating are distinct constructions within or beside the wider lexical network.

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