Ewan ko kung nasaan ang tambakan.

Ewan ko means I don’t know.

A few notes:

• It is very common in everyday speech.
• It sounds casual/conversational.
• A more neutral or slightly more formal way to say it is Hindi ko alam or ’Di ko alam.

So:

• Ewan ko kung nasaan ang tambakan.
• Hindi ko alam kung nasaan ang tambakan.

Both mean the same basic thing, but ewan ko is more informal.

Ko means my / me / I depending on context. Here, it marks the speaker.

In Ewan ko, the expression literally behaves like Unknown to me or I don’t know.

This is very common in Filipino: short expressions often use pronouns like this.

Examples:

• Alam ko. = I know.
• Hindi ko alam. = I don’t know.
• Ewan ko. = I don’t know.

So ko is the part that tells you the speaker is the one who does not know.

Here, kung means something like whether or introduces an embedded question.

In this sentence:

• Ewan ko = I don’t know
• kung nasaan ang tambakan = where the dump site is

So kung connects the main clause to the indirect question.

Compare:

• Ewan ko kung darating siya. = I don’t know whether he will come.
• Ewan ko kung nasaan siya. = I don’t know where he is.

Even though kung is often taught as if, in sentences like this it is better understood as whether or as a marker introducing an indirect question.

Nasaan means where is / where are.

It is used when asking or stating location.

Examples:

• Nasaan si Ana? = Where is Ana?
• Nasaan ang susi? = Where is the key?

In your sentence:

• kung nasaan ang tambakan = where the dump site is

So nasaan is doing the job of expressing where something is located.

Saan by itself means where, but nasaan is a very common form used for where is/where are.

A simple way to think about it:

• saan = where
• nasaan = where is / where are

Examples:

• Saan ka pupunta? = Where are you going?
• Nasaan ka? = Where are you?

In your sentence, the meaning is specifically about location, so nasaan is natural:

• kung nasaan ang tambakan = where the dump site is

Because nasaan is treated as a fixed form in modern Filipino.

Learners often notice that it seems related to nasa + saan, and historically that helps explain it, but in actual usage nasaan is normally written as one word.

So you should learn these as standard written forms:

• nasaan = where is/are
• naroon / nandoon = there
• narito / nandito = here

The important practical point is: write nasaan as one word.

Because Filipino commonly puts the predicate first.

Here:

• nasaan is the predicate
• ang tambakan is the topic/focus noun phrase

So the natural order is:

• Nasaan ang tambakan? = Where is the dump site?

This predicate-first pattern is extremely common in Filipino.

Compare:

• Maganda ang bahay. = The house is beautiful.
• Nasa kusina ang nanay ko. = My mother is in the kitchen.
• Nasaan ang tambakan? = Where is the dump site?

English learners sometimes expect subject + verb order, but Filipino often works differently.

Ang marks the noun phrase that is being highlighted as the main topic/focus of the clause.

Here, ang tambakan is the thing whose location is being talked about.

So:

• nasaan = where is
• ang tambakan = the dump site / the dumping area

You can think of ang here as introducing the thing being located.

This is why:

• Nasaan ang libro? = Where is the book?
• Nasaan ang kotse? = Where is the car?
• Nasaan ang tambakan? = Where is the dump site?

Tambakan usually refers to a dumping place, dump site, or place where things are piled/thrown.

It comes from the root tambak, which relates to a pile or something heaped up.

The ending -an often forms a noun meaning a place associated with the root.

So roughly:

• tambak = pile / heap
• tambakan = place for piling or dumping things

Depending on context, it could mean:

• a garbage dump
• a dumping ground
• a place where materials are piled up

Not always.

It often suggests a place where things are dumped, heaped, or piled up, and in many contexts that can indeed mean a garbage dump. But it can also refer more generally to a place where items accumulate.

So the exact English translation depends on context:

• dump site
• dumping ground
• place where things are piled
• sometimes just dump

If the learner has already been shown the meaning in context, that context determines the best translation.

You may hear kung saan in some contexts, but kung nasaan ang tambakan is the clearer and more standard form for where the dump site is.

Why?

• nasaan explicitly expresses location: where it is
• saan alone is more bare: just where

So for a sentence meaning I don’t know where the dump site is, kung nasaan ang tambakan is the safer choice.

A learner should especially remember:

• Nasaan ang tambakan? = Where is the dump site?
• Ewan ko kung nasaan ang tambakan. = I don’t know where the dump site is.

It is a complete sentence.

It has:

• a main clause: Ewan ko = I don’t know
• a subordinate clause: kung nasaan ang tambakan = where the dump site is

Filipino often allows very compact sentence structure, so even though there is no separate word corresponding exactly to English is in the same position, the sentence is fully grammatical and complete.

A more neutral version is:

Hindi ko alam kung nasaan ang tambakan.

This is useful because:

• Hindi ko alam is very standard
• it is often easier for beginners to analyze literally: I do not know

Compare:

• Ewan ko kung nasaan ang tambakan. = casual, natural
• Hindi ko alam kung nasaan ang tambakan. = neutral, standard

Both are correct.