Patient Voice: Commands | Filipino Grammar

A patient-voice command directs someone to act on a selected patient: a document to sign, a door to secure, or a task to finish. The patient is the pivot and normally takes the ang series, while the addressee is a non-pivot actor expressed by mo, ninyo, or an appropriate ng-form pronoun. English imperatives hide this alignment because their subject you is normally unspoken.

This page concentrates on voice and participant marking. The shapes of individual verb families remain partly lexical, so learn established command forms rather than attaching one suffix to every root. See patient voice for the broader system.

The Basic Command Frame

Ordinary positive commands use the basic form of the selected patient-voice family. A command supplies directive force; the verb need not carry the completed, incompleted, or contemplated reading of a statement.

Function	Usual pattern	Example
one addressee	basic patient-voice verb + mo + patient pivot	Tiklupin mo ang mga kumot.
plural or respectful addressee	verb + ninyo + patient pivot	Lagdaan ninyo ang kasunduan.
inclusive joint action	verb + natin + patient pivot	Ayusin natin ang silid.
prohibition	huwag ng-form actor + basic verb + patient pivot	Huwag mong galawin ang kawad.

Tiklupin mo ang mga kumot bago ilagay sa kabinet.

Fold the blankets before putting them in the cabinet. (neutral, one addressee)

Lagdaan po ninyo ang huling pahina pagkatapos ninyong basahin ang mga kondisyon.

Please sign the last page after reading the conditions. (formal/respectful)

In both clauses, the affected item is the pivot. Mo and ninyo are not possessives here; they are ng-form actor pronouns. Full noun actors are unusual in direct commands because the addressee is normally obvious, but the same role mapping appears in reported instructions: Ipinatupi ng tagapangasiwa kay Lino ang mga kumot has a different causative structure and should not be used as a mechanical substitute.

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Patient voice does not make a command passive. The addressee is still the intended actor; the grammar simply selects the affected participant as pivot.

Actor Voice and Patient Voice Direct Different Attention

Hold the practical task constant:

Maghiwa ka ng mangga para sa mga bata.

Slice a mango for the children. (actor voice: directs the addressee's activity)

Hiwain mo ang hinog na mangga para sa mga bata.

Slice the ripe mango for the children. (patient voice: selects the identifiable mango)

The actor-voice command selects ka and leaves ng mangga non-pivot. It readily introduces a mango as part of the requested activity. The patient-voice command selects ang hinog na mangga, while the addressee becomes mo. The modifier makes the intended fruit easy to identify.

Specificity is a tendency, not an automatic rule. A specific patient may remain ng-marked in actor voice, and an ang-marked pivot can be generic in a rule. What matters grammatically is the voice–marker package. For a direct comparison, see actor-voice commands.

Pronouns and Inclusive Commands

Patient voice uses ng-form actors even when English translates them as the subject of an active imperative.

Dalhin mo rito ang sirang bentilador para matingnan ko.

Bring the broken fan here so I can inspect it. (one addressee)

Suriin ninyo ang mga basag na bote bago itapon ang mga iyon.

Inspect the broken bottles before discarding them. (plural or respectful addressee)

For a proposal involving speaker and addressee, use inclusive natin:

Tapusin natin ang talaan bago tayo mananghalian.

Let's finish the list before we have lunch. (inclusive joint command)

Exclusive namin means “by us, excluding you” and therefore cannot create an ordinary let's command. The contrast is both person deixis and voice-conditioned pronoun form: actor voice uses tayo, whereas patient voice uses natin.

Word Order and Enclitic Placement

Short actor pronouns normally follow the first predicate or suitable host. Particles join the same early cluster.

Ibalik mo na ang susi sa kahera bago magsara ang opisina.

Return the key to the cashier now, before the office closes. (neutral but time-sensitive)

The cluster mo na is natural: actor pronoun before na in this combination. Moving mo after the full patient phrase to imitate English sounds highly marked. The endpoint remains sa kahera because the key, not the cashier, is the selected pivot.

Polite request morphology does not cancel voice:

Pakisuri po ninyo ang bilang ng mga kahon bago pumirma.

Please check the number of boxes before signing. (polite/formal request)

Paki- presents the action as a favor, po marks respect, and ninyo remains the non-pivot actor. In casual speech to one familiar person, Pakisuri mo... is possible, though a bare Suriin mo... is more direct.

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Politeness, command force, and voice are separate choices. Choose the pivot and markers first; then use po, paki-, or an indirect question to fit the relationship.

Prohibitions and Strong Standing Rules

Use huwag, not hindi, for a direct negative command. The neutral pattern takes the basic patient-voice form.

Huwag mong tanggalin ang etiketa hangga't hindi nasusuri ang kahon.

Do not remove the label until the box has been inspected. (neutral prohibition)

Huwag ninyong iiwan ang mga gamot sa sasakyan.

Do not leave the medicines in the vehicle. (emphatic or standing prohibition)

The contemplated-looking iiwan can present a firm future-oriented rule or ban repeated conduct. For a single neutral instruction, Huwag ninyong iwan... is the dependable form. Contemporary speakers vary between basic and contemplated-looking forms when the rule is already clearly habitual; the latter generally sounds more insistent. This is an aspect-and-mood contrast, not English future tense.

A Short Workplace Exchange

—Alin po ang uunahin namin? —Ayusin ninyo muna sa estante ang mga bagong folder, saka bilangin ang mga luma.

—Which ones should we handle first? —Arrange the new folders on the shelf first, then count the old ones. (formal workplace exchange)

The question uses contemplated uunahin for a proposed priority. The answer uses basic patient-voice command forms ayusin and bilangin. In the first command, the folders are the patient pivot; sa estante is their destination. The understood actor of coordinated bilangin remains the addressees.

Common Mistakes

Using an ang-form addressee with patient voice

❌ Tiklupin ka ang mga kumot bago umalis.

Incorrect—the patient-voice verb selects the blankets, so the addressee cannot also be the pivot.

✅ Tiklupin mo ang mga kumot bago umalis.

Fold the blankets before leaving.

Keeping actor voice but changing only the patient marker

❌ Maghiwa ka ang hinog na mangga para sa meryenda.

Incorrect—actor-voice maghiwa selects ka, so its patient cannot also take ang.

✅ Hiwain mo ang hinog na mangga para sa meryenda.

Slice the ripe mango for the snack. (patient voice)

Using hindi for a direct prohibition

❌ Hindi mong buksan ang selyadong sobre.

Incorrect—hindi does not form the neutral negative command, and the pronoun cluster is ill formed.

✅ Huwag mong buksan ang selyadong sobre.

Do not open the sealed envelope.

Marking the selected patient with ng

❌ Dalhin mo ng pulang kahon sa tanggapan.

Incorrect for the intended patient-voice command—the selected box requires ang.

✅ Dalhin mo ang pulang kahon sa tanggapan.

Take the red box to the office.

Key Takeaways

A basic patient-voice command selects an affected patient as pivot and marks it with the ang series.
The addressee is a non-pivot actor: mo for one familiar addressee and ninyo for plural or respectful address.
Actor- and patient-voice commands may describe the same task, but they organize attention and participant marking differently.
Use natin for inclusive joint action and huwag + basic form for a neutral prohibition.
Verb families are partly lexical; use attested command forms rather than manufacturing them from roots.

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