The -in- patient voice: Completed-Aspect Formation | Filipino Grammar

Completed -in patient voice presents a bounded event while selecting the patient as pivot. For many consonant-initial roots, -in- appears after the first consonant: sulat → sinulat, basa → binasa, gawa → ginawa. With a vowel-initial root, in- appears before the root: ayos → inayos.

The basic suffix disappears in the completed form. Thus basahin becomes binasa, not binasahin, and lutuin becomes niluto, not nilutuin. This position change is central to the family.

The completed pattern by root shape

Root type	Root	Basic	Completed	Formation note
Consonant-initial	sulat	sulatin	sinulat	-in- follows initial s
Final-vowel base	basa	basahin	binasa	basic -hin disappears
Final o	luto	lutuin	niluto	completed form restores root-final o
Vowel-initial	ayos	ayusin	inayos	in- precedes the written root
Irregular basic	bili	bilhin	binili	completed form uses the full root shape
Irregular basic	kuha	kunin	kinuha	do not build completed form from kunin

Some roots surface with a prefix-like ni- pattern. Standard luto → niluto and linis → nilinis, for example, are not built by placing the letters in mechanically after the first written consonant. Roots beginning in l, r, w, or y can show lexical or accepted variation in where this marker surfaces, so learn the attested form of each family.

Inayos ni Samir ang sirang kandado bago magsara ang tindahan.

Samir fixed the broken lock before the shop closed.

Kinuha ng kawani ang susi sa ibabaw ng mesa.

The employee took the key from the top of the table.

Nilinis ni Aling Minda ang pasilyo bago dumating ang mga panauhin.

Ms. Minda cleaned the hallway before the guests arrived.

Each clause places the affected item in the ang phrase. The actors—ni Samir, ng kawani, and ni Aling Minda—are non-pivots.

💡

Derive completed forms from the root and the established family, not from the visible basic word. Kunin → kinuha and bilhin → binili cannot be produced by merely moving letters in the citation form.

Completed aspect, not past tense

Completed aspect views the event as a bounded whole. Past time is common because a finished event often precedes speech time, but an adverb or larger construction supplies the temporal location.

Tinapos ni Laila ang presentasyon kagabi.

Laila finished the presentation last night.

Kagabi locates the bounded event in the past. A completed form can also support a present-result reading:

Ginawa ko na ang listahan, kaya puwede na tayong mamili.

I've made the list already, so we can shop now.

Here na connects the completed making to a current consequence. English uses a present perfect, but Filipino does not change the patient-voice verb into a separate perfect tense.

Completed aspect can be interpreted relative to a future condition as well:

Kapag inayos na ng mekaniko ang preno, iuuwi namin ang bisikleta.

Once the mechanic has fixed the brake, we will take the bicycle home.

The repair is completed before the still-unbegun taking-home event. For the wider system, see completed aspect.

💡

Translate the whole time frame. The same completed morphology can correspond to English “fixed,” “has fixed,” or “will have fixed by then.”

Patient voice remains constant across aspect

Compare completed and incompleted forms from pili:

Pinili ng tagapagsanay ang tatlong manlalaro kaninang umaga.

The coach selected the three players this morning.

Pinipili pa ng tagapagsanay ang mga sasali sa huling laro.

The coach is still selecting those who will join the final game.

Pinili presents a bounded selection; pinipili presents an ongoing one. In both clauses, the selected people are pivots and the coach is a non-pivot actor. Aspect changed, but voice and the marker frame did not.

Now hold the completed event constant and change voice:

Bumili si Irma ng bagong bentilador para sa opisina.

Irma bought a new fan for the office.

Binili ni Irma ang bentilador na pinakamura sa tindahan.

Irma bought the cheapest fan in the shop.

Bumili selects Irma as actor pivot; binili selects the fan as patient pivot. Both are completed. English uses the same active verb, which is why English tense labels cannot explain the Filipino contrast.

Negation, questions, and clitic actors

An ng-form pronoun such as ko, mo, niya, namin, natin, ninyo, or nila expresses the actor. In a positive clause it normally follows the initial predicate; after hindi, it follows the negator.

Hindi namin tinanggap ang alok dahil kulang ang detalye.

We did not accept the offer because the details were insufficient.

The exclusive namin refers to the speaker's group but excludes the addressee. It is the actor, not a possessor attached to the following verb.

—Inayos ba ninyo ang talaan? —Oo, inayos namin iyon bago ang pagpupulong.

—Did you organize the register? —Yes, we organized it before the meeting.

Both turns use completed inayos. Ninyo respectfully or plurally addresses the actor in the question, while exclusive namin refers to the respondents' group without including the questioner.

Lexical families and surface irregularity

A root is a family of constructions, and one citation form hides its derivational system. Gawa has patient gawin → ginawa, actor gumawa, and other derived families. Kuha has kunin → kinuha for a selected thing and kumuha with an actor pivot. One English word such as “take” or “make” cannot generate the Filipino forms.

Ginawa ng mga boluntaryo ang mga karatula mula sa lumang karton.

The volunteers made the signs from old cardboard.

The created result is pivot. Although gawin has an irregular basic shape, completed ginawa transparently shows the root gawa with infixed -in-.

Some verbs have accepted variants, but they are lexical. Dakpin and dakipin both serve as basic patient-voice forms for “arrest/catch,” and their completed form is dinakip. Do not infer that every final vowel may be freely retained or deleted.

💡

Irregularity often affects the suffixal basic or contemplated shape while completed and incompleted forms reveal more of the root. Record the whole paradigm.

Common Mistakes

Retaining the basic suffix

❌ Binasahin ni Enzo ang kontrata bago pumirma.

Incorrect — completed aspect removes the suffix found in basic basahin.

✅ Binasa ni Enzo ang kontrata bago pumirma.

Enzo read the contract before signing.

The change is morphological, not a spelling preference.

Inserting -in- after l

❌ Linuto ng kusinero ang isda sa gata.

Incorrect standard form — luto uses the preferred ni- pattern in completed patient voice.

✅ Niluto ng kusinero ang isda sa gata.

The cook cooked the fish in coconut milk.

The initial sound class affects the surface position of the completed marker.

Adding an English past ending

❌ Tinapos-ed ni Rey ang gawain bago magtanghali.

Incorrect — completed tinapos never takes English -ed.

✅ Tinapos ni Rey ang gawain bago magtanghali.

Rey finished the task before noon.

Filipino aspect morphology already presents the event as bounded.

Using an ang-form actor pronoun

❌ Pinili ako ang asul na tela para sa kurtina.

Incorrect patient-voice alignment — ako would be a pivot, but the cloth is already the selected pivot.

✅ Pinili ko ang asul na tela para sa kurtina.

I chose the blue fabric for the curtain.

Actor ko is the required ng-form pronoun.

Key Takeaways

Completed -in patient voice uses -in- after many initial consonants and in- before vowel-initial roots.
The suffix of the basic form disappears: basahin → binasa, lutuin → niluto.
Initial l/r/w/y roots and irregular citation forms require attested surface forms, not mechanical spelling.
Completed aspect is bounded event view, not a dedicated past tense.
Patient-pivot markers and non-pivot actor markers remain stable when aspect changes.

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