Breakdown of Mahilig si Maria kumain ng panghimagas.
Questions & Answers about Mahilig si Maria kumain ng panghimagas.
Mahilig means something like “fond of / has a liking for / is into (as a habit or hobby)”, not just a simple “likes” in a one‑time sense.
- It often implies:
- a strong preference, and
- something done regularly or habitually.
Compare:
- Mahilig si Maria kumain ng panghimagas.
→ Maria really enjoys / is fond of eating dessert (as a usual habit). - Gusto ni Maria ang panghimagas.
→ Maria likes dessert (more neutral; can be a simple preference).
So mahilig is especially used for hobbies, favorite activities, or things people often do or consume:
- Mahilig siya sa kape. – He/She is fond of coffee.
- Mahilig silang maglaro ng basketball. – They love playing basketball.
In Filipino, si is a special marker used only for personal names when they are the focus/topic of the sentence.
- si Maria = “Maria” (as the subject/topic, and a person’s name)
- si Juan, si Pedro, si Ana, etc.
You generally don’t say ang Maria for a person’s name in this kind of sentence. Instead, you use ang with common nouns:
- ang babae – the woman
- ang bata – the child
So:
- Mahilig si Maria kumain… – correct for a person’s name.
- Mahilig ang babae kumain… – if you replace “Maria” with “the woman.”
Both word orders are possible, but they have slightly different emphasis.
Mahilig si Maria kumain ng panghimagas.
- Starts with the adjective/description (mahilig).
- Emphasis is on the quality: “Maria is fond of eating dessert.”
Si Maria ay mahilig kumain ng panghimagas.
- More “textbook” / neutral order with ay.
- Emphasis is on Maria, then you describe her.
Si Maria mahilig kumain ng panghimagas.
- You’ll hear this in very casual speech, dropping ay.
- Grammatically less “formal” but common in conversation.
Your sentence (Mahilig si Maria kumain…) is very natural and common in everyday speech. Filipino word order is flexible; what you put first usually gets more focus.
Filipino verbs have aspects rather than simple tenses:
- kumain – completed aspect, but also used as a kind of “dictionary form / infinitive” (“to eat”)
- kumakain – ongoing / habitual aspect (“is eating / eats”)
- kakain – future aspect (“will eat”)
After mahilig, Filipino often uses the base/completed form of the verb as a sort of “to + verb”:
- mahilig kumain – likes to eat
- mahilig magbasa – likes to read
- mahilig manood – likes to watch
So kumain here functions like “to eat.”
If you said:
- Mahilig si Maria na kumakain ng panghimagas.
it would sound odd or overly literal. The natural pattern is mahilig + (base/completed verb).
ng marks panghimagas as the direct object of the verb kumain (“to eat”).
Basic pattern:
- [Verb] + ng + [object]
Examples:
- kumain ng mansanas – to eat an apple
- uminom ng tubig – to drink water
- nagbasa ng libro – read a book
So in your sentence:
- kumain ng panghimagas – to eat dessert
Note: ng often corresponds to English “a / some / (no article)” before objects, but its main role is grammatical, not just about definiteness.
Panghimagas means “dessert”.
- The root is himagas, which is connected with the idea of food eaten at the end of a meal.
- The prefix pang- often means “used for / meant for / something for doing X”.
So pang- + himagas → panghimagas:
something that is for dessert, i.e., a dessert dish.
Parallel patterns:
- sipilyo (toothbrush) from sipi (to scrape)
but with pang- type forms: pang-ahit (for shaving), pang-kain (for eating—like utensils), etc.
In everyday use, you can simply treat panghimagas as the word for dessert.
Yes, Mahilig kumain si Maria ng panghimagas. is also grammatically correct and natural.
Differences in feel:
- Mahilig si Maria kumain ng panghimagas.
Slightly stronger focus on Maria as someone who is fond of this activity. - Mahilig kumain si Maria ng panghimagas.
Slightly stronger focus on the activity of eating, with Maria introduced a bit later.
Both are fine and common. Filipino allows fairly flexible word order as long as the markers (si, ng, sa, etc.) are correct.
Yes, you can say:
- Mahilig si Maria sa panghimagas.
This is also natural, but the nuance changes slightly:
- Mahilig si Maria kumain ng panghimagas.
→ Focus on the activity: Maria likes eating dessert. - Mahilig si Maria sa panghimagas.
→ Focus on the thing: Maria is fond of dessert (as a type of food).
Both are fine.
Patterns:
- mahilig + verb → likes doing something
- mahilig magbasa, mahilig sumayaw
- mahilig + sa + noun → likes some thing or category
- mahilig sa kape, mahilig sa aso, mahilig sa musika
To negate it, you put hindi before mahilig:
- Hindi mahilig si Maria kumain ng panghimagas.
→ Maria is not fond of eating dessert.
General pattern:
- Hindi + [adjective / verb / expression]
Examples:
- Hindi gutom si Maria. – Maria is not hungry.
- Hindi mahilig si Juan sa kape. – Juan doesn’t like coffee (isn’t fond of coffee).
When referring to multiple named people, you use sina instead of si.
Examples:
- Mahilig sina Maria at Juan kumain ng panghimagas.
→ Maria and Juan are fond of eating dessert.
Patterns:
- si + [one name]
- si Maria, si Juan
- sina + [two or more names]
- sina Maria at Juan
- sina Ana, Pedro, at Liza
So for more than one person’s name as the topic, use sina.
Yes, they overlap in meaning but are not identical.
- mahilig – “fond of / is into / has a passion for,” often implying habit, hobby, or strong liking.
- gusto – “likes / wants,” more general; can be momentary or a simple preference.
Compare:
- Mahilig si Maria kumain ng panghimagas.
→ Habitual enjoyment; dessert is something she’s generally into. - Gustong kumain ng panghimagas si Maria.
→ Maria wants to eat dessert (right now, in this situation). - Gusto ni Maria ang panghimagas.
→ Maria likes dessert (more neutral preference).
For personality traits and hobbies, mahilig is more natural:
- Mahilig siya sa pelikula. – He/She is into movies.
- Mahilig siya magluto. – He/She loves to cook.