Incompleted -an/-han verbs normally combine internal -in- morphology with partial reduplication while keeping the suffixal family: sinulatan → sinusulatan, pinuntahan → pinupuntahan, binuksan → binubuksan. They present an event as ongoing, repeated, habitual, or viewed before its relevant endpoint.
The same form can translate English is doing, was doing, or does regularly. Time expressions and discourse select the reading. Voice remains stable: the selected place, goal, addressee, surface, or patient is pivot, and the actor takes ng/ni. All unlabelled examples are neutral contemporary Filipino.
The incompleted paradigm
| Basic | Completed | Incompleted | Copied material |
|---|---|---|---|
| sulatan | sinulatan | sinusulatan | su- |
| puntahan | pinuntahan | pinupuntahan | pu- |
| lagyan | nilagyan | nilalagyan | la- |
| buksan | binuksan | binubuksan | bu- |
| tawagan | tinawagan | tinatawagan | ta- |
| tirhan | tinirhan | tinitirhan | ti- |
| kunan | kinunan | kinukunan | ku- |
| kuhanan | kinuhanan | kinukuhanan | ku- |
| taniman | tinaniman | tinataniman | ta- |
| tamnan | tinamnan | tinatamnan | ta- |
The last four rows show two accepted variant pairs. Full taniman continues as tinaniman, tinataniman; syncopated tamnan continues as tinamnan, tinatamnan. Reduced kunan likewise contrasts with expanded kuhanan. Paradigms are networks of conventional surface forms, not strings produced by editing the preceding cell.
See reduplication in verb formation for the general copying patterns across voice families.
Ongoing action on a selected pivot
Nilalagyan ni Pio ng bilang ang mga kahon habang binabasa ko ang talaan.
Pio is numbering the boxes while I read the inventory.
The boxes are receiving surfaces and therefore pivot ang mga kahon. The actor is ni Pio, while the content placed on them is ng bilang. Reduplicated la- locates the event inside its development.
Binubuksan ng tagapangasiwa ang silid para sa mga tagasuri.
The manager is opening the room for the inspectors.
Here the pivot is a patient-like affected entity rather than a location in the narrow sense. The same aspect pattern applies because buksan belongs to this suffixal voice family.
Repeated and habitual readings
Pinupuntahan ni Dario ang botika tuwing Martes para kunin ang gamot ng kaniyang ina.
Dario goes to the pharmacy every Tuesday to collect his mother's medicine.
Sinusulatan ni Mila si Tita Coring kapag may bagong balita mula sa baryo.
Mila writes to Tita Coring whenever there is news from the village.
Tuwing Martes and kapag make the activities habitual. English uses simple present, but Filipino retains incompleted pinupuntahan and sinusulatan. The destination and addressee remain pivots.
A person contacted repeatedly is likewise the selected goal:
Tinatawagan ni Lino ang mekaniko tuwing muling umiingay ang makina.
Lino calls the mechanic whenever the engine starts making noise again.
Named-person actor ni Lino is non-pivot; common-noun personal pivot ang mekaniko uses ang, not si.
Past ongoing context
Kinukunan ni Aya ng larawan ang lumang tulay nang magsimulang umulan.
Aya was photographing the old bridge when it began to rain.
The completed event in the nang clause locates the photographing in the past. Kinukunan itself is not a past progressive tense; the same form can describe an activity unfolding now.
Tinitirhan pa ng pamilya ang bahay nang gumuho ang lumang balkonahe.
The family was still living in the house when the old balcony collapsed.
Particle pa marks continuation. The inhabited place ang bahay is pivot, and actor ng pamilya is non-pivot.
Controlled comparison with completed aspect
Tinaniman ng mga boluntaryo ng pechay ang maliit na lote noong Sabado.
The volunteers planted bok choy on the small lot on Saturday.
Tinataniman pa ng mga boluntaryo ng pechay ang natitirang bahagi ng lote.
The volunteers are still planting bok choy on the remaining part of the lot.
Completed tinaniman presents the first planting as a whole. Incompleted tinataniman shows another site while planting is underway. Actor, theme, and location-pivot roles remain parallel, and both examples stay within the full taniman variant. The syncopated pair would instead be tinamnan/tinatamnan.
Negation and questions
Hindi pa binubuksan ng kawani ang tanggapan dahil maaga pa.
The employee is not opening the office yet because it is still early.
Under hindi pa, the expected opening has not begun in the relevant interval. Filipino commonly uses incompleted aspect because the clause concerns the current phase of an anticipated event.
Sinusulatan ba ni Ramon ang lahat ng kasapi ng samahan?
Is Ramon writing to every member of the association?
Question particle ba follows the predicate. The personal actor is ni Ramon; quantified addressee pivot is ang lahat ng kasapi.
A short exchange
—Bakit laging basa ang mesa? —Nilalagyan ni Pio ng malamig na pitsel kahit walang sapin.
—Why is the table always wet? —Pio keeps putting a cold pitcher on it without a mat.
Laging and the recurring result favor a habitual reading of nilalagyan. The table is omitted in the answer because the question establishes it; omission does not change the verb's locative valency.
Common Mistakes
Keeping the completed form for an ongoing event
❌ Nilagyan ni Pio ng bilang ang mga kahon ngayon habang nakatingin tayo.
Wrong for the intended action in progress — nilagyan presents the labelling as completed.
✅ Nilalagyan ni Pio ng bilang ang mga kahon ngayon habang nakatingin tayo.
Pio is numbering the boxes now while we watch.
Copying the entire root
❌ Sinususulatan ni Mila ang kaniyang mga pinsan.
Incorrect ordinary incompleted form — copy su- once, not twice.
✅ Sinusulatan ni Mila ang kaniyang mga pinsan tuwing may pista.
Mila writes to her cousins whenever there is a fiesta.
Keeping the citation suffix inside the wrong blend
❌ Pinupuntahanan ni Dario ang botika tuwing Martes.
Incorrect blend — the incompleted form is pinupuntahan, not pinupuntahanan.
✅ Pinupuntahan ni Dario ang botika tuwing Martes bago magtrabaho.
Dario goes to the pharmacy every Tuesday before work.
Marking the actor as pivot
❌ Tinatawagan si Lino ang mekaniko kapag maingay ang makina.
Incorrect — the mechanic is pivot, so actor Lino requires ni.
✅ Tinatawagan ni Lino ang mekaniko kapag maingay ang makina.
Lino calls the mechanic when the engine is noisy.
Key Takeaways
- Incompleted -an/-han forms combine internal -in-, partial reduplication, and lexical suffixal morphology.
- Context gives ongoing, habitual, repeated, or past-background readings; the form is not present tense alone.
- Voice remains constant: the selected place, goal, addressee, or patient stays pivot.
- Keep accepted variant paradigms internally consistent: tinaniman → tinataniman and tinamnan → tinatamnan.
- Learn full paradigms and marker frames rather than copying an English progressive template.
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Start learning Filipino →Related Topics
- The -an locative and patient voice: Function and DistributionB1 — Understand how -an/-han verb families select places, surfaces, goals, addressees, and lexical patient-like pivots.
- The -an locative and patient voice: Completed-Aspect FormationB1 — Form completed -an/-han verbs with internal -in- morphology while preserving lexical suffix and stem alternations.
- The -an locative and patient voice: Contemplated-Aspect FormationB1 — Form contemplated -an/-han verbs through partial reduplication without completed -in- morphology.
- The -an locative and patient voice: Valency, Voice, and Lexical RestrictionsB1 — Map the actors, themes, places, addressees, and patient-like pivots licensed by established -an/-han verb families.
- Incompleted AspectA2 — Use incompleted or imperfective verb forms for events viewed as unfolding, repeated, or habitual across past and present contexts.
- Reduplication in Verb FormationA2 — Recognize partial and full reduplication in Filipino verbs without confusing aspect marking, lexical derivation, and standard hyphenation.