How to Build and Read a Verb Paradigm | Filipino Grammar

A useful Filipino verb paradigm is not a chart of “I, you, he, we” forms. Verbs do not agree with person or number. Instead, a paradigm records an attested derivational or voice family across aspect: basic/infinitive, completed, incompleted, and contemplated. It also records the participant-marker frame that stays associated with that family.

The root luto therefore needs more than one row. Actor-voice magluto and patient-voice lutuin are different constructions, and each has its own aspect series. A complete learner entry also notes surface changes, because forms cannot always be created by simply attaching visible strings. All unlabelled forms below are neutral contemporary Filipino.

For the conceptual overview behind this worksheet method, see verb paradigms as aspect and voice families.

The two dimensions of a paradigm

Start with the voice family vertically and aspect horizontally. This compact chart gives the central forms of two luto families.

Family and frame	Basic / infinitive	Completed	Incompleted	Contemplated
actor voice: si/ang actor + ng food	magluto	nagluto	nagluluto	magluluto
patient voice: ni/ng actor + ang food	lutuin	niluto	niluluto	lulutuin

The rows are not English active and passive. Both can describe an actor intentionally cooking food. Voice determines which participant is the pivot; aspect determines how the event is viewed. The choice between voices also depends on discourse and specificity, a topic handled on dedicated pages.

Step 1: identify the root and an attested family

Do not begin by attaching a favorite affix to a root. Begin with a verb speakers actually use and locate its root. Magluto contains prefix mag- plus luto; lutuin contains root luto plus patient-family suffix -in, with the final o surfacing as u before the suffix.

Gusto ni Belen na magluto ng ginataang kalabasa ngayong gabi.

Belen wants to cook squash in coconut milk tonight.

Basic magluto is selected after gusto ... na. Its actor-voice identity is already present even though the form is not independently completed, unfolding, or projected.

Lutuin mo ang kalabasa bago lumapot nang husto ang gata.

Cook the squash before the coconut milk becomes too thick.

Basic lutuin is a positive command. Understood actor mo is an ng-form pronoun, while ang kalabasa is patient pivot. A citation form therefore hides no voice-neutral “to cook”: it identifies one construction family.

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A good paradigm starts from an attested citation plus its marker frame. The root alone cannot tell you which family is conventional.

Step 2: form aspect within that family

In the mag- family, completed aspect commonly replaces mag- with nag-. Incompleted aspect uses nag- plus reduplication of the first root consonant–vowel sequence: nag-lu-luto. Contemplated aspect uses mag- with the same reduplication: mag-lu-luto. Hyphens here expose analysis; ordinary spelling is nagluluto and magluluto.

Nagluto si Belen ng ginataang kalabasa para sa mga kapitbahay.

Belen cooked squash in coconut milk for the neighbors.

Nagluluto si Belen ng ginataang kalabasa habang nagsasaing ako.

Belen is cooking squash in coconut milk while I cook the rice.

Magluluto si Belen ng ginataang kalabasa sa piyesta sa Linggo.

Belen will cook squash in coconut milk at the fiesta on Sunday.

These forms are completed, incompleted, and contemplated—not past, present, and future tense. Nagluluto can be habitual or past-progressive with a suitable context; magluluto presents an event as not yet begun.

In the patient family, completed niluto contains -in- after the first consonant, incompleted niluluto additionally reduplicates lu-, and contemplated lulutuin reduplicates lu- before the suffixal citation shape. The visible operations differ from the mag- row, so copying one row's rule into another will fail.

Niluluto ni Belen ang kalabasa sa mahinang apoy para hindi dumikit.

Belen is cooking the squash over low heat so it will not stick.

Lulutuin ni Belen ang kalabasa pagdating ng mga bisita.

Belen will cook the squash when the guests arrive.

This controlled comparison keeps patient voice and its frame constant while shifting from incompleted to contemplated aspect.

Step 3: record real surface alternations

The root bili shows why abstract formulas are not enough.

Family	Basic	Completed	Incompleted	Contemplated
actor voice, -um-	bumili	bumili	bumibili	bibili
patient voice, -in	bilhin	binili	binibili	bibilhin

Basic and completed bumili coincide in spelling. Clause type and context identify whether the form is a directive/dependent basic form or a completed predicate. In patient basic bilhin, the final vowel of bili is not preserved as a mechanical biliin. A paradigm must list the actual surface form.

Bumili ka ng kandila bago dumilim.

Buy candles before it gets dark.

Bumili si Noel ng kandila bago nagsara ang tindahan.

Noel bought candles before the shop closed.

The first bumili is basic in a command; the second is completed. This is genuine surface identity, not an exception that an English tense ending should repair.

Step 4: test the frame with a natural clause

A memorized list of forms can still produce bad sentences if markers are missing. For each row, store at least one full clause. With bumili, actor si Noel is pivot and purchased item ng kandila is non-pivot. With patient-voice bilhin, the item is pivot and the actor uses ni/ng form.

Bibilhin ni Noel ang mga kandila kung hindi masyadong mahal.

Noel will buy the candles if they are not too expensive.

Aspect and voice predict structure together: contemplated bibilhin, actor ni Noel, and patient pivot ang mga kandila. The plural marker remains mga; the verb itself does not agree with number.

How to read an unfamiliar surface form

When you meet a form such as nagsusulat, use a disciplined sequence:

Find likely repeated root material: su- plus sulat.
Identify the family marker: nag- points to a mag- actor-voice family.
Interpret the combination: nag- plus reduplication is incompleted here.
Confirm the lexical family in a dictionary; do not strip pieces blindly.
Check the clause's markers and participants.

The result is the incompleted actor-voice form of magsulat, but the sentence context decides whether incompleted means ongoing, repeated, or habitual.

Nagsusulat si Celina ng mga paanyaya tuwing tahimik na ang opisina.

Celina writes the invitations whenever the office is quiet.

Negatives and questions do not create new tense endings

Hindi niluto ni Belen ang lahat ng gulay dahil kaunti lang ang bisita.

Belen did not cook all the vegetables because there were only a few guests.

Completed patient-voice niluto remains completed under hindi. The negator is separate; no suffix equivalent to English didn't appears.

—Magluluto ka ba bukas? —Oo, pero hindi ako bibili ng sangkap hangga't wala ang listahan.

—Will you cook tomorrow? —Yes, but I will not buy ingredients until the list is here.

The exchange contains contemplated magluluto and bibili from two different actor-voice families. Question particle ba follows short pronoun ka; negation uses hindi before the actor phrase and contemplated verb.

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Read morphology in layers: lexical family first, then aspect, then the clause's participant markers. Translating the surface word before identifying those layers invites English-style errors.

Lexical restrictions and additional cells

Not every root has every row. Some lack a common patient voice; others have locative, benefactive, instrumental, causative, or recent-perfective formations with specialized meanings. Add a row only when the verb is established. Similarly, phonological alternations, nasal substitution, and stress-sensitive contrasts can reshape forms beyond the two transparent examples here.

Traditional descriptions may label the basic form “infinitive,” and some analyses place it inside the aspect system while others keep it separate. The practical cells remain distinguishable. Register does not change the core paradigm, though formal writing may avoid context-dependent omission and express participants more explicitly.

Common Mistakes

Organizing the chart by person

❌ Nagluluto ako, naglulutos siya, nagluluto sila.

Incorrect — Filipino verbs do not add a third-person or plural agreement ending.

✅ Nagluluto ako, nagluluto siya, at nagluluto sila.

I am cooking, she is cooking, and they are cooking.

The pronouns express person and number; nagluluto remains unchanged.

Adding English past morphology

❌ Niluto-ed ni Belen ang kalabasa kahapon.

Incorrect — completed niluto already supplies the aspect form and never takes -ed.

✅ Niluto ni Belen ang kalabasa kahapon para sa salu-salo.

Belen cooked the squash yesterday for the gathering.

Copying one family's affix rule into another

❌ Nagbili si Noel ng kandila kanina.

Incorrect for the ordinary completed actor-voice form of bili — this root selects the bumili family in this meaning.

✅ Bumili si Noel ng kandila kanina para sa brownout.

Noel bought candles earlier for the power outage.

Preserving the root mechanically before -in

❌ Biliin mo ang mas matibay na kandado.

Incorrect standard surface form — bili plus the patient-family suffix surfaces as bilhin.

✅ Bilhin mo ang mas matibay na kandado para sa likod na pinto.

Buy the sturdier padlock for the back door.

Key Takeaways

Build paradigms by crossing an attested voice family with aspect, not by person or English tense.
Record the root, citation form, completed, incompleted, and contemplated forms plus a marker frame.
Reduplication and affixes interact differently across mag-, -um-, and -in families.
List actual surface forms such as bilhin; do not repair them through spelling-by-formula.
A root needs multiple rows when it supports multiple constructions, and absent or lexicalized rows cannot be invented.

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