The i- conveyance voice: Completed-Aspect Formation | Filipino Grammar

Completed i- benefactive/instrumental voice normally keeps the prefix i- and inserts -in- before the first vowel of the root: ibigay → ibinigay, itapon → itinapon, isulat → isinulat. The result presents the transfer, placement, application, or other lexical event as bounded.

“Conveyance voice” is a conventional label for this frequent theme-selecting pattern. The guide's broader label benefactive/instrumental (i-) voice also covers established verbs whose pivot is a beneficiary or instrument-like participant. Aspect formation is regular inside a family, but the selected role remains lexical.

Completed formation by root shape

Root	Basic	Completed analysis	Completed form
bigay	ibigay	i + b + in + igay	ibinigay
tapon	itapon	i + t + in + apon	itinapon
sulat	isulat	i + s + in + ulat	isinulat
pukpok	ipukpok	i + p + in + ukpok	ipinukpok
lagay	ilagay	i + ni + lagay	inilagay
abot	iabot	i + ni + abot	iniabot

Before a vowel-initial root or roots beginning in l, y, or certain other sonorants, the begun marker has a ni- surface realization in this family. Record established words such as inilagay and iniabot rather than inserting letters mechanically. Analytical spacing does not appear in ordinary spelling.

The general semantics of boundedness are reviewed on completed aspect.

A bounded transfer or placement

Ibinigay ni Mara sa tagapangasiwa ang susi bago siya umuwi.

Mara gave the key to the manager before going home.

Inilagay ng nars sa malamig na lalagyan ang gamot.

The nurse put the medicine in a cold container.

The key and medicine are selected pivots. Actors ni Mara/ng nars are non-pivots, while recipient sa tagapangasiwa and destination sa malamig na lalagyan remain oblique. English begins with the actor; neutral Filipino begins with the predicate and follows the voice-marked frame.

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Completed i- is a package: i- + internal -in- + non-pivot actor + selected ang/si pivot. Do not change only the verb or only the markers.

Completed does not simply mean past

Completed forms often report past events, but English may require a present perfect or past perfect according to the surrounding time relation.

Ipinadala na namin ang mga pahintulot, kaya maaari nang magsimula ang paghahanda.

We have already sent the permits, so preparations can now begin.

English uses present perfect because the result matters now. Filipino uses completed ipinadala plus particle na.

Pagdating ng inspektor kahapon, inilagay na namin sa kabinet ang lahat ng talaan.

By the time the inspector arrived yesterday, we had already placed all the records in the cabinet.

Kahapon and the arrival clause establish a past reference point; inilagay na presents the placement as complete before that arrival. The completed form is aspectual, while English chooses a past perfect for the relative ordering.

Basic and completed forms differ

Iabot mo kay Liza ang listahan bago magsimula ang pulong.

Hand the list to Liza before the meeting begins.

Iniabot ni Pio kay Liza ang listahan bago magsimula ang pulong.

Pio handed the list to Liza before the meeting began.

Basic iabot forms a directive; completed iniabot reports the bounded transfer. Both make ang listahan the conveyed pivot and mark the recipient with kay Liza.

Controlled comparison with actor voice

Nagtapon si Kardo ng mga sirang kahon pagkatapos ng paglilinis.

Kardo threw away broken boxes after cleaning.

Itinapon ni Kardo ang mga sirang kahon pagkatapos ng paglilinis.

Kardo threw away the broken boxes after cleaning.

Actor-voice nagtapon selects si Kardo; completed i- form itinapon selects ang mga sirang kahon and marks Kardo with ni. English article choice may suggest the discourse difference, but ng/ang are not simply “some/the.”

Beneficiary and instrument-like completed forms

Ibinili ni Rosa ng makapal na kumot ang kaniyang ama.

Rosa bought her father a thick blanket.

Here beneficiary ang kaniyang ama is pivot and the purchased theme is ng makapal na kumot. The form resembles conveyance ibinigay, but the lexical ibili frame selects a different role.

Ipinukpok ng karpintero sa pako ang hawak niyang martilyo.

The carpenter used the hammer he was holding to strike the nail.

The hammer is an instrument-like pivot. These examples justify the guide's benefactive/instrumental umbrella while showing why the exact role must be learned per verb.

Negatives, questions, and a short exchange

Hindi isinama ni Pilar sa talaan ang mga kulang na dokumento.

Pilar did not include the incomplete documents in the list.

Negation leaves the completed form and participant alignment intact.

—Ipinadala mo na ba kay Ruben ang kopya? —Oo, ipinadala ko kaninang umaga.

—Have you sent Ruben the copy yet? —Yes, I sent it this morning.

The copy is explicit as pivot in the question and recoverably omitted in the reply. Mo/ko are non-pivot actors, and kay Ruben is recipient.

Lexical restrictions and accepted variation

The outer i- pattern does not license every root. A root is a family of constructions, and one citation form hides its derivational system. Isulat selects content placed into writing; sulatin can select a text composed or worked on; sulatan selects an addressee or surface. Their completed forms overlap in English but not freely in Filipino.

With some vowel-initial bases, contemporary sources and speakers show variation in the realization or retention of adjacent vowels and -in-/ni-. Use the established form of the lexical verb; do not treat variation around one root as a universal alternative.

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For roots with vowel or sonorant beginnings, verify the completed surface form directly. Forms such as inilagay and iniabot are safer principal parts than a guessed letter-by-letter rule.

Common Mistakes

Using the basic form for a completed event

❌ Ibigay ni Nilo kay Aya ang resibo kahapon.

Wrong for a completed statement — ibigay is the basic form used in commands and dependent contexts.

✅ Ibinigay ni Nilo kay Aya ang resibo.

Nilo gave Aya the receipt.

The correction adds the internal completed marker while preserving the i- voice prefix.

Leaving the actor as pivot

❌ Itinapon si Kardo ang basang karton.

Incorrect — itinapon selects the cardboard as pivot, so Kardo requires ni.

✅ Itinapon ni Kardo ang basang karton.

Kardo threw away the wet cardboard.

Adding English -ed

❌ Inilagay-ed ng nars ang gamot sa kabinet.

Incorrect — inilagay already expresses completed aspect.

✅ Inilagay ng nars sa kabinet ang gamot.

The nurse put the medicine in the cabinet.

Using the wrong -in- position

❌ Ilinagay ni Tessa sa mesa ang susi.

Incorrect standard surface form — the completed form is inilagay.

✅ Inilagay ni Tessa sa mesa ang susi.

Tessa put the key on the table.

Key Takeaways

Completed i- normally retains i- and inserts begun marker -in- inside the root.
Surface ni- appears in established forms such as inilagay and iniabot.
Completed aspect presents a bounded event and can correspond to English simple-past, present-perfect, or past-perfect forms according to context.
The selected pivot role—theme, beneficiary, or instrument-like participant—comes from the lexical frame.
Voice morphology and phrase markers must change together.

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