Verb Reference: pasok | Filipino Grammar

The root pasok centers on movement inward, but its everyday network reaches further: pumasok can mean enter, attend school, or go to work; pasukin selects a place entered; ipasok selects a person or thing moved inside; and bare pasok appears in schedules such as may pasok “have work/class.”

English distributes these meanings among enter, go in, attend, admit, insert, and bring inside. Filipino instead combines the root with established voice-and-aspect families. The aspect-and-voice overview supplies the larger system behind these forms.

Core forms and functions

Family	Basic	Completed	Incompleted	Contemplated	Typical pivot
actor voice	pumasok	pumasok	pumapasok	papasok	entrant, worker, or student
ability/opportunity actor voice	makapasok	nakapasok	nakakapasok	makakapasok	person able or permitted to enter
patient voice (entered place)	pasukin	pinasok	pinapasok	papasukin	place or domain entered
benefactive/instrumental i- voice	ipasok	ipinasok	ipinapasok	ipapasok	person or thing moved, inserted, or enrolled
causative patient voice	papasukin	pinapasok	pinapapasok	papapasukin	person allowed or required to enter
actor voice (bringing inside)	magpasok	nagpasok	nagpapasok	magpapasok	person moving something inside
causative actor voice	magpapasok	nagpapasok	nagpapapasok	magpapapasok	person allowing or requiring entry
locative voice	pasukan	pinasukan	pinapasukan	papasukan	workplace, school, opening, or selected site

These rows are lexical families, not a promise that every use is freely interchangeable. Papasukin is especially ambiguous: it can be contemplated place-selecting pasukin, but it is also the common basic form “let/admit someone in.” Context and participant marking identify the intended construction.

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Track direction and pivot separately. Pumasok selects the mover, pasukin selects the entered place, and ipasok selects what someone moves inside.

Pumasok: the entrant is the pivot

Actor-voice pumasok selects the person, animal, substance, or other entity that enters. The destination normally takes sa.

Pumasok si Mara sa silid nang tawagin ang kaniyang pangalan.

Mara entered the room when her name was called.

Pumapasok ang tubig sa ilalim ng pinto tuwing malakas ang ulan.

Water comes in under the door whenever the rain is heavy.

Papasok ako sa trabaho nang mas maaga bukas.

I will go to work earlier tomorrow.

The pivot need not be an intentional actor: water can enter. With a human pivot, pumasok sa trabaho/paaralan commonly means report to work or attend school, not merely cross a doorway. Incompleted pumapasok can describe current motion or regular attendance.

Hindi pumapasok si Nilo tuwing Sabado dahil sarado ang opisina.

Nilo does not go to work on Saturdays because the office is closed.

The habitual reading comes from incompleted aspect plus tuwing Sabado. There is no dedicated Filipino present-tense ending.

The ability/opportunity family adds whether entry is possible, permitted, or successfully achieved. Thus nakapasok can mean “managed to enter” or “got in,” not merely “entered.”

Makakapasok ka sa gusali kapag ipinakita mo ang iyong kard.

You will be able to enter the building when you show your card.

Pasukin: select the place entered

Pasukin organizes the clause around a place, institution, field, or activity someone enters. The selected place takes ang, while the entrant or cause takes an ng/ni form.

Pinasok ng magnanakaw ang tindahan sa likod.

A thief broke into the shop at the back.

Pinapasok ng tubig-ulan ang bodega tuwing bumabaha.

Rainwater enters the warehouse whenever flooding occurs.

The first clause often suggests unauthorized or forceful entry because of the actor and context; pinasok itself does not always mean “burglarized.” The second shows that the entering entity may be inanimate and that the selected place can be affected by entry.

Pasukin also extends figuratively to occupations, agreements, and risky activities.

Pag-aralan mo muna ang kasunduan bago mo pasukin ang negosyong iyon.

Study the agreement first before entering that business.

This use is neutral but more abstract than physical entry. It still presents the selected domain as something entered.

Controlled voice comparison

Pumasok si Dina sa lumang bodega para hanapin ang talaan.

Dina entered the old warehouse to look for the list. (actor voice)

Pinasok ni Dina ang lumang bodega para hanapin ang talaan.

Dina entered the old warehouse to look for the list. (patient voice)

The first clause selects si Dina and marks the warehouse with sa. The patient-voice clause selects ang lumang bodega and marks Dina with ni. It can make the warehouse more affected or discourse-prominent; it is not an English passive.

Papasukin: allow, require, or cause entry

When papasukin means “let/admit/cause to enter,” the admitted person is normally pivot and the gatekeeper or causer takes the ng series. Its completed form pinapasok overlaps with the incompleted form of place-selecting pasukin. Its own incompleted form is pinapapasok, and its contemplated form is papapasukin; markers and context identify the intended construction.

Pinapasok ng guwardiya ang mga bisitang may pahintulot.

The guard let the authorized visitors in.

Pinapapasok ng guwardiya ang mga bisitang may pahintulot.

The guard admits visitors who have authorization.

Huwag mong papasukin ang sinuman hangga't hindi dumarating ang tagapangasiwa.

Do not let anyone in until the supervisor arrives.

In the third sentence, huwag takes the basic causative form papasukin. A future prediction with this causative family instead uses contemplated papapasukin, with the reduplicated pa shown in the table.

Ipasok: move or place something inside

Ipasok selects the person or thing conveyed into a destination. The actor takes an ng form and the destination remains a sa phrase.

Ipasok natin sa bahay ang mga damit bago bumuhos ang ulan.

Let's bring the clothes inside the house before the rain pours down.

Ipinasok ni Liza sa sobre ang nilagdaang kasulatan.

Liza put the signed document into the envelope.

The same family occurs with enrollment, employment, or inclusion: ipasok sa paaralan can mean enroll someone, while ipasok sa talaan means enter something on a list. These extensions preserve the idea of moving a selected theme into a bounded domain.

Actor-voice magpasok selects the person responsible for bringing things in; its non-pivot theme normally takes ng.

Nagpasok kami ng mga upuan bago umulan.

We brought the chairs inside before it rained.

The causative actor-voice family magpapasok more specifically selects the person who allows or requires entry. Its basic magpapasok overlaps in spelling with contemplated magpasok, and its completed nagpapasok overlaps with incompleted magpasok. Incompleted causative nagpapapasok preserves the extra reduplicated pa. Context and participant structure distinguish the overlapping forms.

Nagpapapasok ang guwardiya ng mga bisita nang paisa-isa.

The guard is admitting visitors one at a time. (causative actor voice)

Pasok, pasukan, and schedule expressions

Bare pasok is a noun in may pasok “have work/class” and walang pasok “there is no work/class.” English speakers sometimes try to insert pumasok after may, but the existential construction requires a nominal expression.

Walang pasok ang mga mag-aaral bukas dahil gagamitin ang paaralan bilang silungan.

The students have no classes tomorrow because the school will be used as a shelter.

Pasukan can be a noun meaning entrance, school opening/term, or a place regularly attended. As a verb, pinapasukan selects the institution or workplace associated with a person.

Malapit sa istasyon ang klinikang pinapasukan ni Rosa.

The clinic where Rosa works is near the station.

This is a relative construction: klinikang contains the linker, and pinapasukan ni Rosa identifies the workplace. It does not simply mean a doorway.

A short exchange

—May pasok ka ba bukas? —Wala, pero papasok ako sa opisina para kunin ang mga dokumento.

—Do you have work tomorrow? —No, but I will go to the office to collect the documents.

The question and wala use the schedule noun pasok. The answer shifts to contemplated actor voice papasok for a planned trip into work.

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Separate noun and verb uses: may pasok/walang pasok describe a work or class schedule, while pumasok/pumapasok/papasok describe an entering or attendance event.

Common Mistakes

Marking the destination like an actor-voice object

❌ Pumasok si Ben ang tanggapan nang alas-otso.

Incorrect — the destination of actor-voice pumasok normally takes sa.

✅ Pumasok si Ben sa tanggapan nang alas-otso.

Ben entered the office at eight o'clock.

Keeping the entrant as pivot with patient-voice pinasok

❌ Pinasok si Ben ang lumang gusali.

Incorrect — pinasok selects the entered building, so Ben takes the ni form.

✅ Pinasok ni Ben ang lumang gusali.

Ben entered the old building.

Using a verb after may for a schedule

❌ May pumasok ako bukas kahit pista opisyal.

Incorrect for ‘I have work’ — may introduces the noun pasok here.

✅ May pasok ako bukas kahit pista opisyal.

I have work tomorrow even though it is a public holiday.

Forming a prohibition with hindi

❌ Hindi kayong pumasok habang basa pa ang sahig.

Incorrect prohibition and clitic order — use huwag with the basic verb.

✅ Huwag kayong pumasok habang basa pa ang sahig.

Do not come in while the floor is still wet.

Key Takeaways

Pumasok selects the entrant; destinations normally take sa.
Pasukin selects the entered place, while ipasok selects what is moved inside.
Papasukin can be contemplated patient voice or basic causative; incompleted causative pinapapasok keeps both pa sequences.
Makapasok adds ability or opportunity; magpasok selects someone bringing things in, while magpapasok selects a causer of entry.
May pasok/walang pasok contain a noun referring to a work or class schedule.
Learn the root-centered network rather than translating every form as English enter.

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