Breakdown of Nasa gilid ng istasyon ang mataas na gusali at isang restawran.
Questions & Answers about Nasa gilid ng istasyon ang mataas na gusali at isang restawran.
In Nasa gilid ng istasyon ang mataas na gusali at isang restawran, Filipino uses predicate–subject order:
- Predicate (location): Nasa gilid ng istasyon = at the side of the station / beside the station
- Subject (thing located): ang mataas na gusali at isang restawran = the tall building and a restaurant
So the literal structure is:
At the side of the station (predicate) [are] the tall building and a restaurant (subject).
This is very common in Filipino:
[Location] + ang [thing] = The [thing] is at [location].
nasa is a locative word that roughly means “to be at / in / on (a place)”.
- nasa + location often acts like “is/are at + location”:
- Nasa bahay siya. = He/She is at home.
- Nasa opisina ako. = I am at the office.
sa by itself is more like a basic preposition at / in / to:
- Pumunta siya sa istasyon. = He/She went to the station.
In many everyday sentences, especially when you’re just saying where something is, nasa + place is the natural pattern:
- Nasa gilid ng istasyon ang mataas na gusali.
Rather than just Sa gilid ng istasyon ang mataas na gusali. (which can sound less standard in this pattern).
gilid literally means side or edge.
In Nasa gilid ng istasyon, the idea is:
- gilid ng istasyon = the side of the station / the edge of the station
When you say nasa gilid ng X, it often ends up meaning something like “beside X”, “along the side of X”, so:
- Nasa gilid ng istasyon ≈ At the side of the station / Beside the station.
Related words:
- tabi ng istasyon – right next to the station, beside it
- malapit sa istasyon – near the station (more general “near”, not necessarily at the side)
In gilid ng istasyon, the ng connects gilid (side) to istasyon (station) and works like “of”:
- gilid ng istasyon = side of the station
So:
- ng often marks the “of” / possessor / whole relationship after a noun:
- pinto ng bahay = door of the house
- pangalan ng bata = name of the child
By contrast:
- ang istasyon would mark istasyon as the main topic/subject, roughly like “the station” as the main thing being talked about, which is not what we want here. Here, istasyon just completes gilid (“side of what?”), so it uses ng.
ang is a marker that usually points to the grammatical topic/subject of the sentence.
In this sentence:
- ang mataas na gusali at isang restawran is the ang-phrase, the thing located at that place.
You can think of ang as:
- Like “the” + subject marker combined:
- ang mataas na gusali ≈ the tall building
- ang aso = the dog
- Ang bata ay kumakain. = The child is eating.
Here, ang scopes over both:
- ang [mataas na gusali at isang restawran]
= the tall building and a restaurant (as the things being talked about).
In Filipino, the usual order is:
Adjective + linker + noun
So:
- mataas na gusali = tall building
The na is a linker joining the adjective to the noun:
- mataas (tall) + na (linker) + gusali (building)
The linker has two forms:
- na – used when the word before it ends in a consonant other than n
- mataas na gusali – tall building
- mahal na kotse – expensive car
- -ng – attached to words ending in a vowel or n
- bagong bahay – new house
- magandang tanong – good question
So the pattern mataas na gusali is the standard adjective–linker–noun structure.
isang is marking restawran as indefinite (“a restaurant”), while ang already marks mataas na gusali (“the tall building”) as the main topic.
The phrase is structured like this:
- ang [mataas na gusali] = the tall building
- [at isang restawran] = and a (certain) restaurant
Putting isang only before restawran tells you:
- The building is a specific tall building (the one you and the listener know about).
- The restaurant is one, unspecified restaurant near it.
You could say:
- Ang isang mataas na gusali at isang restawran – A tall building and a restaurant (both indefinite) But the original sentence wants the tall building (specific) and a restaurant (less specific), so only restawran gets isang.
isang is literally the number one, but very often it functions like the English “a / an”.
Two common uses:
Pure number “one” (emphasizing quantity):
- May isang aso sa labas. = There is one dog outside.
- Bumili ako ng isang libro. = I bought one book.
Indefinite “a / an” (not stressing the exact number):
- May isang lalaki sa pintuan. ≈ There is a man at the door.
- Nasa gilid ng istasyon ang isang restawran. = There is a restaurant at the side of the station.
Context tells you whether isang is more like “one” or more like “a/an”. In your sentence, it’s naturally understood as “a restaurant”.
Filipino usually does not use a separate word for “to be” (is/are) in simple equational and locative sentences.
In Nasa gilid ng istasyon ang mataas na gusali at isang restawran:
- nasa gilid ng istasyon already carries the idea “is/are at the side of the station”.
- You don’t need an extra “is/are”.
Compare:
- English: The tall building is beside the station.
- Filipino: Nasa gilid ng istasyon ang mataas na gusali.
(No separate word for “is”.)
You can use ay in a more formal or inverted pattern:
- Ang mataas na gusali at isang restawran ay nasa gilid ng istasyon. But ay is more of a linker/inversion marker than a true verb “to be” like English is/are.
A more English-like (subject-first) order would be:
- Ang mataas na gusali at isang restawran ay nasa gilid ng istasyon.
Structure:
- Ang mataas na gusali at isang restawran – subject/topic
- ay – linker/inversion marker
- nasa gilid ng istasyon – predicate (location)
Meaning is essentially the same:
- The tall building and a restaurant are at the side of the station.
Both:
- Nasa gilid ng istasyon ang mataas na gusali at isang restawran.
- Ang mataas na gusali at isang restawran ay nasa gilid ng istasyon.
are correct. The first one just puts the location first for emphasis, which is very natural in Filipino.