Sintunado ang mang-aawit.

Filipino very often uses a predicate-first sentence pattern.

So in Sintunado ang mang-aawit, the structure is roughly:

• sintunado = the predicate, out of tune
• ang mang-aawit = the topic, the singer

A very literal breakdown would be something like:

• Out of tune
  • the singer

But in natural English, that becomes The singer is out of tune.

This word order is completely normal in Filipino, especially in simple descriptive sentences.

Yes, from an English point of view, you can think of is as being understood.

Filipino usually does not use a separate present-tense verb to be in sentences like this. So:

• Sintunado ang mang-aawit. = The singer is out of tune.

That does not mean a word is missing. It is simply how Filipino grammar works.

Ang is a marker that identifies the noun phrase being talked about, often called the topic of the sentence.

In this sentence:

• ang mang-aawit = the topic, the singer

It often lines up with English the, but ang is not exactly the same thing as the English article the. Its job is grammatical, not just definite/indefinite marking.

So here, ang tells you that mang-aawit is the noun phrase the sentence is about.

Yes. That is also grammatical.

You have two common patterns here:

• Sintunado ang mang-aawit.
• Ang mang-aawit ay sintunado.

They mean essentially the same thing: The singer is out of tune.

The difference is mostly in style and emphasis:

• predicate-first (Sintunado ang mang-aawit) is very common and natural
• topic-first with ay (Ang mang-aawit ay sintunado) can sound a bit more formal, organized, or emphatic

Also, ay is not the same as English is. It is a marker used in this alternative sentence pattern.

Mang-aawit means singer.

It is built from the root awit, which is related to song/sing, plus an agentive pattern that gives the idea of a person who does the action.

So mang-aawit means something like:

• one who sings
• singer

The hyphen appears because the prefix attaches to a root that begins with a vowel. In writing, Filipino often uses a hyphen in this kind of case.

You can also notice the repeated vowel sound:

• awit
• mang-aawit

That is part of how the word is formed.

Here, sintunado is an adjective meaning out of tune or off-key.

In this sentence, it functions as the predicate adjective:

• Sintunado ang mang-aawit. = The singer is out of tune.

You can also use it directly to modify a noun, but then the structure changes. For example:

• ang sintunadong mang-aawit = the out-of-tune singer

So:

• Sintunado ang mang-aawit = full sentence
• sintunadong mang-aawit = adjective + noun inside one noun phrase

Because in Sintunado ang mang-aawit, sintunado is not directly modifying mang-aawit inside the same noun phrase. It is the predicate of the whole sentence.

Compare these:

• Sintunado ang mang-aawit.
  = The singer is out of tune.

• Ang sintunadong mang-aawit...
  = The out-of-tune singer...

In the second example, sintunado directly modifies mang-aawit, so you need the linker -ng:

• sintunado
  • -ng
    • mang-aawit
• sintunadong mang-aawit

So the absence of a linker in the original sentence is correct.

As written, mang-aawit is singular: the singer.

To make it plural, use mga:

• Sintunado ang mga mang-aawit.
  = The singers are out of tune.

Notice that sintunado itself does not have to change.

It is natural, but it can sound blunt, because you are directly saying someone is off-key.

Depending on context, that may be perfectly fine, especially in a factual comment. But if you want to soften it, you could say things like:

• Medyo sintunado ang mang-aawit.
  = The singer is a bit out of tune.

• Parang sintunado ang mang-aawit.
  = The singer seems out of tune.

So the original sentence is correct, but not especially gentle.

A simple learner-friendly pronunciation guide would be:

• sin-tu-NA-do ang mang-a-A-wit

A few helpful points:

• ng in ang and mang- sounds like the ng in sing
• the hyphen in mang-aawit helps show a break before the vowel
• the vowel sequence in aawit should be pronounced clearly, not collapsed too much

So the sentence is said with a natural flow, but you should still hear the parts clearly:

• Sintunado ang mang-aawit.