Patient voice selects an affected, created, consumed, perceived, or otherwise delimited participant as the pivot. That patient takes the ang series, while the actor takes the ng series: ng with common phrases, ni/nina with personal names, or an ng-form pronoun such as ko, mo, niya, namin, natin, ninyo, or nila.
Traditional descriptions call this pokus sa layon or object focus. Patient/undergoer voice is more precise because English “object” covers recipients, locations, and other roles that Filipino may align through different voices.
The Core Patient-Voice Map
| Participant | Common/nonpersonal phrase | Personal name | Pronoun |
|---|---|---|---|
| patient pivot | ang | si/sina | ang-form pronoun |
| actor non-pivot | ng | ni/nina | ng-form pronoun |
| location, source, or recipient | sa | kay/kina | sa-form pronoun |
Tinahi ni Aling Sela ang punit na kurtina bago bumalik ang may-ari.
Aling Sela sewed the torn curtain before the owner returned. (patient voice)
Completed tinahi selects ang punit na kurtina as patient pivot. Ni Aling Sela is the named actor; the actor remains semantically responsible for the sewing even though it is not pivot.
An animate patient uses the personal pivot series:
Sinundo ni Mara si Ivo sa terminal nang gabing iyon.
Mara picked Ivo up at the terminal that evening. (patient voice; named patient pivot)
Si Ivo is the selected person affected by the pickup, while ni Mara is actor and sa terminal is location. Animacy does not force actor voice.
A Controlled Comparison with Actor Voice
Nagtahi si Aling Sela ng punit na kurtina bago magtanghali.
Aling Sela sewed a torn curtain before noon. (actor voice)
Tinahi ni Aling Sela ang punit na kurtina bago magtanghali.
Aling Sela sewed the torn curtain before noon. (patient voice)
The event and time are held constant. Actor-voice nagtahi selects the sewer as pivot and marks the curtain ng. Patient-voice tinahi selects the curtain and marks the sewer ni. The English translations suggest a likely difference in how accessible the curtain is, but both clauses can translate actively.
Patient voice is especially natural when the patient is already under discussion, contrastive, fully affected, or important as a bounded result. These are interacting tendencies rather than a rule that every definite noun must become pivot.
Patient Voice Is Not English Passive
Binasa ng kapitan ang sertipiko sa harap ng mga saksi.
The captain read the certificate in front of the witnesses. (patient voice with an expressed core actor)
Natural English keeps the captain as subject. Filipino ng kapitan is not an optional by-phrase, and the predicate contains no counterpart of English was. The -in patient family illustrated here has its own aspect paradigm rather than an English auxiliary-plus-participle structure.
The actor may be omitted when generic or irrelevant:
Nililinis tuwing alas-nuwebe ng gabi ang tarangkahan sa likod ng gusali.
The gate behind the building is cleaned every night at nine. (generic unexpressed actor)
English passive is a good translation here, but actor omission does not define patient voice. When context supplies an actor, an ng-series phrase is entirely normal.
The -in Patient-Voice Family Across Aspect
The root basa “read” illustrates a frequent patient-voice pattern.
| Aspect/form | Predicate | Illustrative frame |
|---|---|---|
| basic | basahin | basahin mo ang liham |
| completed | binasa | binasa mo ang liham |
| incompleted | binabasa | binabasa mo ang liham |
| contemplated | babasahin | babasahin mo ang liham |
In completed binasa, the infix -in- follows the first consonant. In incompleted binabasa, the initial root syllable ba- is reduplicated in addition to the aspect morphology. In contemplated babasahin, reduplication combines with the basic-form suffix -hin, the surface allomorph after the vowel-final root basa.
Binabasa ni Teo ang manwal ngayon habang hinihintay niya ang tekniko.
Teo is reading the manual now while waiting for the technician. (incompleted patient voice)
Babasahin niya ang huling bahagi mamayang gabi.
He will read the final section later tonight. (contemplated patient voice)
The manual and final section remain patient pivots. Ngayon and mamayang gabi locate the events; aspect presents their internal contour. Patient voice itself contributes no past or future tense.
Not every root forms a patient-voice family by mechanically adding -in/-hin. Some roots select -an, i-, or lexicalized patterns with different role alignments; others lack a natural counterpart. Learn a root with its attested voice-and-aspect family.
Referentiality: Strong Tendency, Not Article Substitution
Patient pivots in eventive clauses are commonly specific or delimited.
Kinuha ng tagapangasiwa ang kahong may pulang tatak.
The administrator took the box with the red mark. (identified patient pivot)
The modifier identifies one box in the discourse. Yet ang does not mean the: a generic kind can also be pivot.
Karaniwang nilalaga sa gata ang dahon ng gabi bago ihain.
Taro leaves are commonly simmered in coconut milk before being served. (generic patient pivot)
Ang dahon ng gabi denotes a food kind. Meanwhile, actor voice can retain a demonstratively specific patient under ng. See the pivot and ang-marked phrase for the full contrast.
Commands Use the Basic Patient Form
Patient voice is frequent in instructions because the item to be acted on is often the natural pivot.
Basahin mo muna ang etiketa bago gamitin ang panlinis.
Read the label first before using the cleaning product. (patient-voice instruction)
Basic basahin is appropriate in the command. Mo is the ng-form actor and ang etiketa the patient pivot. English leaves imperative you unspoken; Filipino normally expresses the actor pronoun in this construction.
Questions, Negation, and Connected Use
Hindi pinunit ni Celia ang lumang resibo dahil kailangan pa iyon sa pag-uulat.
Celia did not tear up the old receipt because it is still needed for reporting. (negative patient voice)
Negation denies disposal but leaves ang lumang resibo as pivot. The verb's established patient-oriented form and markers remain aligned.
—Aling sobre ang bubuksan mo muna? —Bubuksan ko ang may selyo ng ospital.
—Which envelope will you open first? —I will open the one bearing the hospital's seal. (patient pivot tracked across the exchange)
The questioned and selected envelope is the participant being tracked, so patient voice is natural. Ko remains the actor in the answer.
Common Mistakes
Keeping si on the actor
❌ Tinahi si Aling Sela ang kurtina bago magtanghali.
Incorrect—patient-voice tinahi selects the curtain as pivot, so the named actor must take ni.
✅ Tinahi ni Aling Sela ang kurtina bago magtanghali.
Aling Sela sewed the curtain before noon. (patient voice)
Leaving the selected patient under ng
❌ Binasa ni Teo ng manwal habang naghihintay.
Incorrect—the selected patient of binasa must use the ang series.
✅ Binasa ni Teo ang manwal habang naghihintay.
Teo read the manual while waiting. (patient voice)
Using ng before a personal-name actor
❌ Kinuha ng Celia ang resibo mula sa sobre.
Incorrect—a singular personal-name actor takes ni, not ng.
✅ Kinuha ni Celia ang resibo mula sa sobre.
Celia took the receipt from the envelope. (patient voice)
Treating a patient form as an English participle
❌ Ay binasa ni Teo ang manwal kahapon.
Incorrect—ay cannot stand before the predicate as an English passive auxiliary.
✅ Binasa ni Teo ang manwal kahapon.
Teo read the manual yesterday. (neutral predicate-first patient voice)
The (formal) topic-first alternative is Ang manwal ay binasa ni Teo kahapon, but ay is an inversion marker, not an English passive auxiliary.
Key Takeaways
- Patient voice selects an affected or delimited participant as ang-series pivot.
- The actor remains a core participant marked by ng, ni/nina, or an ng-form pronoun.
- Natural English often translates patient voice actively; English passive is only one possible rendering.
- Specificity and full affectedness favor patient voice, but ang remains a pivot marker rather than an article.
- Aspect and voice combine in lexical paradigms; do not manufacture patient forms from arbitrary roots.
Now practice Filipino
Reading grammar gets you part of the way. The exercises are where it sticks — free, no signup needed.
Start learning Filipino →Related Topics
- Voice and Focus: The Big PictureB1 — Understand Filipino voice as a system that aligns verb morphology with the actor, patient, location, beneficiary, or instrument chosen as pivot.
- Why Focus Is Not Simple Active versus PassiveB1 — See why Filipino voice is a symmetrical pivot system rather than a renamed version of English active and passive.
- Actor VoiceB1 — Use actor voice to select an actor, experiencer, or moving participant as pivot while marking patients and obliques appropriately.
- The Pivot and ang-Marked PhraseB1 — Identify the Filipino pivot through the ang marker series, verb voice, referentiality, and clause structure.
- Marker Choice with Patient-Voice VerbsA1 — Choose ang, ng, and personal markers with patient-voice verbs by treating the patient as pivot and the actor as non-pivot.
- Choosing Actor Voice versus Patient VoiceB1 — Choose actor or patient voice by combining lexical verb structure, pivot selection, and the participant your discourse is tracking.