May dunong siya sa pag-recycle.

In this sentence, may means something like has / possesses / there is.

So May dunong siya... literally feels like She/He has know-how...

A useful pattern is:

• May + noun + subject

Examples:

• May oras ako. = I have time.
• May talent siya. = He/She has talent.
• May dunong siya sa pag-recycle. = He/She has skill/know-how in recycling.

You can also think of may as the shorter everyday form of mayroon, though may cannot be used in every exact position where mayroon can.

Dunong is a noun meaning knowledge, skill, know-how, expertise, practical understanding.

In this sentence, it does not just mean knowing a fact. It suggests having ability or competence in something.

So dunong is closer to:

• skill
• know-how
• practical knowledge

than to simple factual knowledge.

For example:

• May dunong siya sa pagluluto. = He/She has skill in cooking.
• May dunong siya sa computers. = He/She knows about computers / has computer know-how.

This is a very common question, because these ideas overlap.

• alam = to know a fact, information, or something learned
  • Alam ko iyon. = I know that.
• marunong = to know how to do something, to be able/skilled
  • Marunong siyang magluto. = He/She knows how to cook.
• dunong = knowledge/skill/know-how as a noun
  • May dunong siya sa pagluluto. = He/She has skill in cooking.

So in your sentence:

• May dunong siya sa pag-recycle. focuses on having skill or know-how in recycling.

A very natural alternative is:

• Marunong siyang mag-recycle.

That version is probably more common in everyday speech if you simply want to say someone knows how to recycle.

Because the sentence follows a common Filipino pattern:

• May + noun + subject

So:

• May dunong siya... not
• Siya may dunong... in normal neutral phrasing

This word order is very natural in Filipino.

Compare:

• May pera siya. = He/She has money.
• May sasakyan kami. = We have a vehicle.
• May talento ka. = You have talent.

Here, siya is the subject pronoun placed after the thing being possessed.

Yes. Siya can mean he or she.

Filipino third-person singular pronouns usually do not mark gender, so the same word is used for both.

That means:

• May dunong siya sa pag-recycle. could mean either:
• He has skill in recycling.
• She has skill in recycling.

You need context to know which one is intended.

Here, sa means something like in, at, with regard to, or when it comes to.

It links dunong to the field or area of skill:

• dunong sa pag-recycle = skill in recycling

Other examples:

• May alam siya sa batas. = He/She knows something about law.
• May galing siya sa musika. = He/She is talented in music.
• May karanasan ako sa pagtuturo. = I have experience in teaching.

So sa introduces the area where the knowledge or skill applies.

Because pag-recycle is being used as a verbal noun—something like recycling as an activity.

Compare:

• mag-recycle = to recycle
• pag-recycle = recycling, the act/process of recycling

So:

• Marunong siyang mag-recycle. = He/She knows how to recycle.

but

• May dunong siya sa pag-recycle. = He/She has skill in recycling.

After sa, Filipino often uses this pag- form to name an activity or field:

• sa pagluluto = in cooking
• sa pagsulat = in writing
• sa pagmamaneho = in driving

The hyphen is used because recycle is a borrowed word from English, and Filipino commonly hyphenates certain affixes when attaching them to foreign roots.

So:

• pag- + recycle → pag-recycle
• mag- + recycle → mag-recycle

This helps show the structure clearly.

You will often see similar forms such as:

• mag-drive
• pag-text
• nag-park

In casual writing, people may be inconsistent, but the hyphenated form is very common and helpful.

Yes, it is understandable and natural enough, but it sounds a bit more like skill/know-how than just basic ability.

Depending on context, many speakers might more naturally say:

• Marunong siyang mag-recycle. = He/She knows how to recycle.
• May alam siya sa pag-recycle. = He/She knows something about recycling.
• Sanay siya sa pag-recycle. = He/She is used to / experienced in recycling.

So May dunong siya sa pag-recycle is fine, especially if you want to emphasize competence or know-how, not just the bare fact that the person can do it.

Here, dunong is a noun.

That is why it works after may:

• May dunong siya... = He/She has skill/know-how...

If it were an adjective, the structure would be different.

A good way to see it is:

• dunong = skill, know-how
• marunong = skilled, knows how

So these are related, but they do different jobs in the sentence:

• May dunong siya sa pag-recycle. → noun-based structure
• Marunong siyang mag-recycle. → adjective-based structure

Yes.

If you use a personal name, use si before the name:

• May dunong si Ana sa pag-recycle.
• May dunong si Carlo sa pag-recycle.

If you use a common noun, you would usually use ang:

• May dunong ang estudyante sa pag-recycle.

So the pattern becomes:

• May dunong + si/ang + subject + sa...

No, sa is the natural choice here, not ng.

With nouns like dunong, galing, kasanayan, and similar words referring to ability or skill, Filipino commonly uses sa to introduce the area of expertise:

• dunong sa pag-recycle
• galing sa matematika
• kasanayan sa pagsusulat

Using ng here would sound wrong or unnatural.

A very literal breakdown is:

• May = has / there is
• dunong = skill / know-how
• siya = he/she
• sa = in / regarding
• pag-recycle = recycling

So, word-for-word, it is roughly:

• Has skill he/she in recycling

Of course, natural English rearranges that into normal English word order.

This kind of literal breakdown can help you see the Filipino structure:

• possession/existence first (may)
• the thing possessed (dunong)
• the subject (siya)
• the area or field (sa pag-recycle)