Naghihintay pa rin ang aplikante sa counter.

Naghihintay means waiting or is waiting.

It comes from the root hintay, which means wait. A common actor-focus infinitive form is maghintay (to wait). The form naghihintay is the imperfective form, which is made by:

• changing mag- to nag-
• repeating the first syllable of the root: hi

So:

• maghintay = to wait
• naghihintay = is waiting / waiting

This is a very common verb pattern in Filipino.

Not exactly in the English sense. Filipino verbs are usually described by aspect, not tense.

Naghihintay shows an ongoing or incomplete action. Depending on context, it could mean:

• is waiting
• was waiting
• sometimes has been waiting

In this sentence, without any past-time marker, the most natural English meaning is is still waiting.

Because verb-first word order is very normal in Filipino.

So:

• Naghihintay pa rin ang aplikante sa counter.

is a natural Filipino sentence pattern.

English usually starts with the subject:

• The applicant is still waiting at the counter.

But Filipino often starts with the predicate or verb phrase first, then gives the marked noun phrase after it.

Ang is a marker for the sentence’s topic/focus noun. In this sentence, ang aplikante is the one doing the action of waiting.

So:

• ang aplikante = the applicant, as the focused/topic noun in the sentence

It often translates as the applicant, but ang is not exactly the same as English the. It is a grammatical marker, not just an article.

Pa rin means still.

It shows that the action is continuing. So the sentence suggests that the applicant was already waiting before, and the waiting has not ended yet.

Compare:

• Naghihintay ang aplikante. = The applicant is waiting.
• Naghihintay pa rin ang aplikante. = The applicant is still waiting.

Rin and din are two forms of the same word.

A common rule is:

• use rin after a word ending in a vowel, w, or y
• use din after most other consonants

Since pa ends in a vowel, pa rin is the standard form.

So:

• pa rin = correct here

You may still hear pa din in casual speech, but pa rin is the expected standard form in this sentence.

Sa is a very common marker for location or direction. Depending on context, it can mean:

• at
• in
• on
• to

So sa counter means at the counter.

Also, counter is an English loanword that is commonly used in Filipino, especially in places like banks, offices, clinics, ticket booths, and stores.

After an action verb like naghihintay, a simple location phrase with sa is normal:

• Naghihintay ang aplikante sa counter. = The applicant is waiting at the counter.

Nasa is more commonly used when the sentence is directly stating someone’s location:

• Nasa counter ang aplikante. = The applicant is at the counter.

So both are possible in Filipino, but they are used in slightly different sentence structures.

Yes. A common alternative is:

Ang aplikante ay naghihintay pa rin sa counter.

This means the same thing.

The difference is mostly in style:

• Naghihintay pa rin ang aplikante sa counter. = very natural, ordinary verb-first structure
• Ang aplikante ay naghihintay pa rin sa counter. = also correct, often a bit more formal or deliberate

Here, ang aplikante is naturally understood as singular: the applicant.

Filipino nouns do not usually change form for plural the way English nouns do. If you wanted to say the applicants, you would normally add mga:

• ang aplikante = the applicant
• ang mga aplikante = the applicants

So number is often shown by context or by adding mga when needed.