The -an locative and patient voice: Completed-Aspect Formation | Filipino Grammar

Completed -an/-han verbs commonly place -in- after the first root consonant while retaining the family’s suffix or its established surface descendant: sulatan → sinulatan, puntahan → pinuntahan, buksan → binuksan. Roots beginning with l often show initial ni-, as in lagyan → nilagyan.

The result presents an event as bounded or complete. It remains locative or patient voice: the selected place, goal, surface, addressee, or affected patient is the ang/si pivot, while the actor takes ng/ni. Completed aspect is not merely English past tense. All unlabelled examples below are neutral contemporary Filipino.

Principal parts and real surface forms

Root	Basic	Completed	Selected pivot
sulat	sulatan	sinulatan	addressee or surface
punta	puntahan	pinuntahan	destination or person visited
lagay	lagyan	nilagyan	receiving container/surface
bukas	buksan	binuksan	affected object
tawag	tawagan	tinawagan	person or office contacted
tanim	taniman	tinaniman	ground planted
tanim	tamnan	tinamnan	ground planted; syncopated variant
kuha	kunan	kinunan	source or photographic target
kuha	kuhanan	kinuhanan	source or photographic target; expanded variant

The table is why a learner should record whole paradigms. Full taniman → tinaniman and syncopated tamnan → tinamnan are both established; do not mix their cells as though one form were mechanically shortened only in completed aspect. The same principle applies to reduced kunan → kinunan and expanded kuhanan → kinuhanan. Nilagyan still needs its conventional initial ni- pattern rather than an invented transparent form.

For the cross-family logic of bounded events, see completed aspect.

Transparent internal -in-

With consonant-initial roots such as sulat, punta, bukas, and tawag, completed morphology appears after the first consonant.

Sinulatan ni Emy si Kuya Nestor tungkol sa nawawalang papeles.

Emy wrote to Kuya Nestor about the missing papers.

Pinuntahan namin ang lumang bahay bago tuluyang dumilim.

We went to the old house before it became completely dark.

Sinulatan selects personal endpoint si Kuya Nestor; pinuntahan selects destination ang lumang bahay. Actors ni Emy and exclusive namin are non-pivots. Internal morphology does not turn the verbs into English passives.

Tinawagan ni Dindo ang tanggapan para kumpirmahin ang oras ng pulong.

Dindo called the office to confirm the meeting time.

The contacted office is pivot. English uses the same transitive frame for “call a person” and “call an office,” but Filipino still follows the lexical tawagan family.

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Locate the first consonant of the lexical root, not merely the first visible consonant of a long citation form. Then verify the attested completed surface word.

Initial l and reduced stems

In nilagyan, the completed marker surfaces before root-initial l, while the citation’s reduced lagyan shape remains.

Nilagyan ni Pio ng malinaw na etiketa ang bawat kahon.

Pio put a clear label on each box.

The receiving containers ang bawat kahon are pivot, the placed theme is ng malinaw na etiketa, and the actor is ni Pio.

The tanim family illustrates accepted variation. Full taniman has completed tinaniman; syncopated tamnan has completed tinamnan. Both occur in contemporary standard Filipino, but each belongs to a coherent paradigm.

Tinamnan ng mga residente ng halamang-gamot ang bakanteng lote.

The residents planted medicinal herbs on the vacant lot.

Both actor ng mga residente and theme ng halamang-gamot are non-pivots. The selected ground ang bakanteng lote is the only pivot.

Reduced kunan → kinunan is another lexical surface pattern. Expanded kuhanan → kinuhanan is also accepted; the example below uses the reduced family:

Kinunan ni Mara ng larawan ang lumang parola bago lumakas ang ulan.

Mara took a photograph of the old lighthouse before the rain intensified.

The lighthouse is construed as photographic target pivot; ng larawan expresses what was taken of it. English does not reveal why the photographed entity is ang-marked.

Patient-like completed forms

Binuksan ng katiwala ang silid para makapasok ang mga tagasuri.

The caretaker opened the room so the inspectors could enter.

Ang silid is an affected patient rather than a literal destination. The verb still shares the marker alignment and aspectal morphology of the broader suffixal family. This is why the family is best described as locative and patient-like rather than forced under a single English case label.

Controlled comparison with incompleted aspect

Tinawagan ni Elsa ang tagapamahala kaninang umaga.

Elsa called the manager earlier this morning.

Tinatawagan ni Elsa ang tagapamahala ngayon pero walang sumasagot.

Elsa is calling the manager now, but no one is answering.

Completed tinawagan presents a bounded call. Incompleted tinatawagan copies ta- and places the listener inside repeated or ongoing attempts. The pivot and actor marking do not change.

Completed does not always mean past

Kapag nilagyan na ni Pio ng etiketa ang lahat ng kahon bukas, maaari na tayong maghakot.

Once Pio has labelled all the boxes tomorrow, we can start carrying them.

The sequence is future-oriented because of bukas, but nilagyan na presents the labelling as complete relative to the carrying. Calling nilagyan past tense would not explain this use.

Negative question and short exchange

Hindi ba pinuntahan ni Lira ang klinika pagkatapos ng klase?

Didn't Lira go to the clinic after class?

Negation and ba frame a question about completion; they do not change the destination pivot ang klinika.

—Aling pinto ang binuksan ng guwardiya? —Iyong malapit sa hagdan, hindi ang pangunahing pinto.

—Which door did the guard open? —The one near the stairs, not the main door.

Questioned aling pinto fills the patient pivot role. The answer uses a natural demonstrative phrase with an omitted recoverable noun.

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Completed -an voice combines event completion with pivot selection. Always read both: tinaniman and tinamnan are completed variants, and each selects the planted ground—not the plants or planter.

Common Mistakes

Dropping the suffix and changing voice

❌ Tinanim ng magsasaka ng pulang sibuyas ang silangang pilapil.

Incorrect marker frame — tinanim is patient voice and cannot select the planted ground as pivot here.

✅ Tinaniman ng magsasaka ng pulang sibuyas ang silangang pilapil.

The farmer planted red onions along the eastern embankment.

Using li- instead of the established ni- surface

❌ Linagyan ni Pio ng kandado ang kabinet.

Incorrect — completed lagyan is nilagyan.

✅ Nilagyan ni Pio ng kandado ang kabinet bago siya umalis.

Pio put a padlock on the cabinet before leaving.

Giving both actor and destination pivot marking

❌ Pinuntahan si Lito ang lumang himpilan kagabi.

Incorrect — pinuntahan selects the destination as pivot, so Lito requires ni.

✅ Pinuntahan ni Lito ang lumang himpilan kagabi upang kunin ang bisikleta.

Lito went to the old station last night to get the bicycle.

Adding an English past ending

❌ Tinawagan-ed ni Elsa ang tagapamahala bago magtanghali.

Incorrect — tinawagan already marks completed aspect.

✅ Tinawagan ni Elsa ang tagapamahala bago magtanghali tungkol sa iskedyul.

Elsa called the manager before noon about the schedule.

Key Takeaways

Completed -an/-han families commonly add internal -in- while retaining lexical suffixal structure.
Surface forms include transparent sinulatan and pinuntahan, initial nilagyan, and accepted variant pairs such as tinaniman/tinamnan and kinunan/kinuhanan.
The selected location, goal, surface, or patient remains pivot; the actor takes ng/ni.
Completed aspect expresses boundedness and can occur in a future-oriented sequence.
Store attested principal parts because a citation form conceals morphophonemic alternations.

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