Malamig ang kape kapag nahuli ka.

to be

Breakdown of Malamig ang kape kapag nahuli ka.

• kapag: when
• ka: you
• mahuli: late

Questions & Answers about Malamig ang kape kapag nahuli ka.

Why does the sentence start with the adjective malamig?

Tagalog is typically predicate-initial. The property or comment comes first, then the topic. Here, malamig (cold) is the predicate, and ang kape (the coffee) is the topic/pivot. You can also say Ang kape ay malamig, which is more formal or contrastive, but Malamig ang kape is the default, everyday order.

Do I need a word for “is” in Malamig ang kape?

No. Adjectives (and many other words) can function as predicates by themselves. Malamig ang kape literally works as “Cold the coffee,” which corresponds to “The coffee is cold.” The particle ay in Ang kape ay malamig is not “is”; it’s an inversion/topic marker used for a different word order.

What does ang do in ang kape?

Ang marks the topic/pivot (often the subject-like noun) and often implies definiteness (“the”). Use:

• ang
  • common noun (singular): ang kape
• ang mga
  • common noun (plural): ang mga tasa (the cups)
• si for personal names: si Maria So, ang kape is “the coffee” as the clause’s pivot.

Why use kapag here? Could I use kung instead?