Learn Hardcore Filipino: Lahat kami sa pamilya ay may maliit na proyekto sa bahay. - All of us in the family have a small project at home.

If you used tayo, you would be implying that the listener is also part of the same “family” being talked about, which normally isn’t the case unless you’re literally family (or jokingly including them).

What’s the difference between lahat kami and kaming lahat?

Both are grammatical and very common. They mean roughly the same thing: “all of us.”

lahat kami – a bit more neutral, often used in fronted/topic position
- Lahat kami sa pamilya ay…
kaming lahat – slightly more emphatic on “we,” like “we all”
- Kaming lahat sa pamilya ay…

You can say:

Lahat kami sa pamilya ay may maliit na proyekto sa bahay.
Kaming lahat sa pamilya ay may maliit na proyekto sa bahay.

No real meaning change; it’s mainly style and emphasis.

Why is it lahat kami sa pamilya and not lahat ng pamilya namin?

These two patterns express slightly different things:

lahat kami sa pamilya – focuses on “we (us family members)”
- Literally: “All of us in the family…”
lahat ng pamilya namin – sounds more like “our whole family” as a unit
- Literally: “the whole of our family…”

Your sentence emphasizes each family member as individuals having a project.
Lahat kami sa pamilya ay may maliit na proyekto… naturally suggests “each of us in the family has a small project at home.”

Lahat ng pamilya namin ay may maliit na proyekto sa bahay sounds more like the entire family as a group has a small project (or each member does; context would decide).

Should it be sa pamilya namin instead of just sa pamilya?

You can say both:

Lahat kami sa pamilya ay may maliit na proyekto sa bahay.
Lahat kami sa pamilya namin ay may maliit na proyekto sa bahay.

Adding namin (our) makes it explicitly “in our family”.
Without namin, it’s still usually understood as “in our family” because kami already implies it’s the speaker’s own family.

So:

With namin – clearer and a bit more explicit.
Without namin – still natural; the possessive is often omitted when it’s obvious.

What does ay do in this sentence? Is it necessary?

ay is a topic/subject marker often used in more formal, careful, or written Filipino. It’s part of an inverted/topic-fronted word order:

Lahat kami sa pamilya ay may maliit na proyekto sa bahay.
→ Topic: Lahat kami sa pamilya
→ Comment/predicate: may maliit na proyekto sa bahay

In everyday spoken Filipino, you can often drop ay and use more “basic” order:

May maliit na proyekto sa bahay ang lahat sa pamilya namin.
Or keep the fronting but drop ay in casual talk:
- Lahat kami sa pamilya, may maliit na proyekto sa bahay.

So ay is not strictly necessary in conversation, but it’s very common in written or somewhat formal speech and helps signal that the topic has been moved to the front.

Can I move the parts around, like in English?

You have some flexibility, but not total freedom. These are all natural:

Lahat kami sa pamilya ay may maliit na proyekto sa bahay.
Kaming lahat sa pamilya ay may maliit na proyekto sa bahay.
May maliit na proyekto sa bahay ang lahat sa pamilya namin.

Less natural or ungrammatical:

✗ May maliit na proyekto sa lahat kami sa pamilya bahay.
✗ Lahat kami ay sa pamilya may maliit na proyekto sa bahay.

General idea:

If you front something (like Lahat kami sa pamilya), you usually follow with ay in careful speech.
If you start with may, that’s fine, but then the doer/topic (like ang lahat sa pamilya namin) normally comes after it.

What exactly does may mean here? Is it the same as meron / mayroon?

In this sentence, may means roughly “have/has” or “there is/are.”

may maliit na proyekto – “has a small project” / “there is a small project”

may, meron, and mayroon are closely related:

may – used directly before a following word:
- may bahay, may proyekto, may pera
mayroon / meron – can stand alone or before ng, na, pronouns:
- Mayroon akong proyekto.
- Meron siyang proyekto.
- Meron na akong ginawa.

In your sentence, using may is the most natural:

…ay may maliit na proyekto sa bahay. ✅
…ay mayroon maliit na proyekto sa bahay. ❌ (this sounds off; you’d expect mayroong or a pronoun after mayroon)

Why is proyekto singular when “all of us” are involved? Should it be mga proyekto?

Filipino often leaves nouns unmarked for plural, especially when context already shows plurality.

may maliit na proyekto literally: “has a small project”

With lahat kami sa pamilya in front, listeners can understand it in two ways:

Each person has their own small project (most natural reading).
The whole family together has one small project.

If you want to be clearer:

To stress each has one:
- Lahat kami sa pamilya ay may kanya-kanyang maliit na proyekto sa bahay.
  (“Each of us in the family has their own small project at home.”)
To stress one project shared by all:
- Lahat kami sa pamilya ay may iisang maliit na proyekto sa bahay.
  (“All of us in the family share one single small project at home.”)

You’d use mga proyekto (projects) if you want to emphasize more than one project per person or in total:

…ay may maliliit na mga proyekto sa bahay. (various small projects)

Shouldn’t maliit agree in number, like maliliit for many projects?

Not necessarily. Filipino doesn’t require adjectives to agree in number the way many European languages do.

Your sentence:

may maliit na proyekto – “has a small project”

This is fine even if lahat kami suggests multiple people, because we can interpret it as:

each person has one small project → maliit na proyekto (singular)

If you used maliliit na proyekto, it’d emphasize:

small projects (plural projects, and each project is small)
- may maliliit na proyekto sa bahay – “has small projects at home”

So:

maliit na proyekto – one small project (per person or in total)
maliliit na proyekto – multiple small projects

What exactly does sa bahay mean here? “In the house” or “at home”?

sa bahay can mean both “in the house” and “at home,” depending on context.

In your sentence:

…may maliit na proyekto sa bahay.

Natural English translations would be:

“has a small project at home”
“has a small home project”

If you want to specify whose house:

sa bahay namin – at our house
sa bahay nila – at their house
sa bahay ko – at my house

So you could also say:

Lahat kami sa pamilya ay may maliit na proyekto sa bahay namin.
– “All of us in the family have a small project at our house.”

Could I say bawat isa sa amin instead of lahat kami sa pamilya?

Yes, but nuance changes slightly.

Lahat kami sa pamilya… – “All of us in the family…”
Bawat isa sa amin sa pamilya… – “Each one of us in the family…”

bawat isa emphasizes individuality, like “each and every one.” For example:

Bawat isa sa amin sa pamilya ay may maliit na proyekto sa bahay.
– “Each one of us in the family has a small project at home.”

This makes it very clear that everyone individually has a project, not just the family as a unit.

Is the sentence still okay if I drop ay and say: Lahat kami sa pamilya may maliit na proyekto sa bahay?

Yes, that’s very natural in casual spoken Filipino:

Lahat kami sa pamilya may maliit na proyekto sa bahay.

This is common in conversation and informal writing (like chats, texts).

Subtle differences:

With ay – sounds more formal or careful:
- Lahat kami sa pamilya ay may maliit na proyekto sa bahay.
Without ay – sounds more conversational:
- Lahat kami sa pamilya may maliit na proyekto sa bahay.

Both are grammatical; it’s mainly a difference in style and register.