Sabihin po ninyo kung kailan darating ang nobela.

to tell

Breakdown of Sabihin po ninyo kung kailan darating ang nobela.

• po: politeness marker
• kung kailan: when
• dumating: to arrive

Questions & Answers about Sabihin po ninyo kung kailan darating ang nobela.

What kind of form is sabihin here? Is it a command?

Yes. In this sentence, sabihin is being used as an imperative, so the whole opening Sabihin po ninyo... means something like Please tell...

This pattern is very common in Filipino:

• Sabihin mo = tell
• Sabihin ninyo = tell, addressed to more than one person or to one person politely

So even though sabihin can also appear in other grammatical contexts, here it functions as a polite command/request.

Why is po there?

Po is a politeness particle. It adds respect and makes the sentence more courteous.

So:

• Sabihin ninyo... = Tell...
• Sabihin po ninyo... = Please tell... / Tell..., respectfully

It does not change the basic meaning very much, but it changes the tone. Native speakers use po when speaking politely, especially to elders, strangers, customers, or people of higher status.

Why does the sentence use ninyo instead of kayo?

That is because Filipino uses different pronoun sets depending on the grammatical structure.

In this sentence, after the verb sabihin, the pronoun appears in the genitive/enclitic form:

• mo = you, singular
• ninyo = you, plural or polite singular

So: