Lagyan mo ang tinapay ng mantikilya.

Put butter on the bread.

Breakdown of Lagyan mo ang tinapay ng mantikilya.

• mo: you
• tinapay: bread
• mantikilya: butter
• lagyan: to put

Questions & Answers about Lagyan mo ang tinapay ng mantikilya.

What does each word in Lagyan mo ang tinapay ng mantikilya correspond to in English?

Roughly, word for word:

• Lagyan – put (something) on/into (something), focusing on the place/target
• mo – you (the one doing the action)
• ang – marks the grammatical focus/topic (here: the bread)
• tinapay – bread
• ng – marks a non‑focus thing involved in the action (here: what you put)
• mantikilya – butter

So the structure is: [put-on] [you] [ANG bread] [NG butter] → You, put butter on the bread.

Which word is the verb here, and what form is it in?

The verb is lagyan.

• Its root is lagay (to put/place).
• The suffix -an makes it a locative-focus verb: it highlights the location/target of the action (here: tinapay, the bread).
• In this sentence, with mo, it functions as a command/immediate instruction: put (something) on/into (something).

What is the difference between lagyan, ilagay, and maglagay?

All three come from the root lagay (to put), but they focus on different parts of the action:

• maglagay – actor-focus: focuses on the doer.

  • Maglagay ka ng mantikilya sa tinapay.
  • Put some butter on the bread. (emphasis on you doing it)

• ilagay – object/patient-focus: focuses on the thing being moved/placed.

  • Ilagay mo ang mantikilya sa tinapay.
  • Put the butter on the bread. (emphasis on the butter)

• lagyan – locative-focus: focuses on the place/target.

  • Lagyan mo ang tinapay ng mantikilya.
  • Put butter on the bread. (emphasis on the bread as the thing being “loaded” with butter)

Your sentence uses lagyan, so the bread is the highlighted element.

What exactly does mo mean here, and why not ka or ikaw?

Mo is the second-person singular pronoun (you) in its genitive form. In simple terms:

• For non‑actor-focus verbs like lagyan and ilagay, the doer is usually marked by ng or a genitive pronoun → mo.

  • Lagyan *mo ang tinapay ng mantikilya.*

• Ka/ikaw are nominative forms and typically appear as the focus/subject with actor‑focus verbs:

  • Maglagay *ka ng mantikilya sa tinapay.*

So mo is correct here because the verb lagyan is not actor-focused; the focus is on the bread (ang tinapay), not on you.

What does ang do before tinapay? Why not just say Lagyan mo tinapay?

In Filipino, ang is a marker that shows which noun is the focus/topic (often treated like the grammatical subject).

• Ang tinapay tells us that the bread is the focus, which fits the locative-focus verb lagyan.
• If you drop ang, the sentence sounds ungrammatical or very wrong to native ears:
  
  • ✗ Lagyan mo tinapay ng mantikilya – incorrect.

So ang is not optional; Lagyan mo ang tinapay… is the normal, grammatical form.

What does ng before mantikilya mean? Is it like the English word “of”?

Here ng is not the English “of”; it is a case marker:

• It marks mantikilya as a non‑focus noun that is directly involved in the action: the thing you are putting.
• In the pattern with lagyan, you typically get:
  
  • Lagyan
    • [ANG location/target] + [NG thing being added]

So ang tinapay = focus/target; ng mantikilya = the substance you apply to it.
This ng is different from nang (an adverbial particle); they sound the same but are used and written differently.

Can I change the order to Lagyan mo ng mantikilya ang tinapay? Is that still correct?

Yes, Lagyan mo ng mantikilya ang tinapay is also correct.

• Filipino word order is fairly flexible as long as the markers (ang, ng) stay with their nouns.
• Both:
  • Lagyan mo ang tinapay ng mantikilya.
  • Lagyan mo ng mantikilya ang tinapay.
    are natural. The second version can sound a bit more like “Put butter on the bread” with slight extra emphasis on mantikilya because you hear it earlier, but the basic meaning is the same.

Is Lagyan mo ang tinapay ng mantikilya only a command, or could it also mean “You will put butter on the bread”?

By itself, in normal conversation, it is understood as a command/request: Put butter on the bread.

• The form lagyan can also appear in other tenses/aspects with markers:
  • Lalagyan mo ang tinapay ng mantikilya. – You will put butter on the bread. (future)
  • Nilagyan mo ang tinapay ng mantikilya. – You put/put on butter on the bread. (completed)

But in the bare form Lagyan mo… at the start of a sentence, it is interpreted as an imperative.

How would I say this more politely or formally?

You can add po (politeness marker) and use the more formal plural ninyo for “you”:

• Lagyan po ninyo ang tinapay ng mantikilya. – respectful, e.g., speaking to an older person or a group.

If you want a softer “please” tone, you can use paki-:

• Pakilagyan po ninyo ang tinapay ng mantikilya. – Please put butter on the bread.
• To one person but polite: Pakilagyan mo po ang tinapay ng mantikilya.

If I’m talking to more than one person, how does the sentence change?

Change mo (you, singular) to ninyo (you, plural):

• Singular: Lagyan mo ang tinapay ng mantikilya. – talking to one person
• Plural: Lagyan ninyo ang tinapay ng mantikilya. – talking to several people

In casual speech, ninyo is often shortened to nyo:

• Lagyan nyo ang tinapay ng mantikilya. (common in everyday conversation, texting, etc.)

Is lagyan one word, or is it like lagay + -an that I should think of separately?

In writing and speech, lagyan is treated as one word, but it’s useful to understand its parts:

• lagay – root (“to put/place”)
• -an – a suffix that typically makes a locative-focus verb (target/location is in ang phrase)

So for learning, it’s good to think lagay + -an → lagyan (locative-focus: put something on/into a target), but you always write and say it as a single word: lagyan.

Can I use lagyan only with food, or also in other situations?

You can use lagyan in many contexts, not just food. It always has the idea “put (something) on/into (a target)”:

• Lagyan mo ang papel ng pirma. – Put a signature on the paper.
• Lagyan mo ang bote ng tubig. – Fill the bottle with water.
• Lagyan mo ang kahon ng mga libro. – Put books in the box.

The pattern is the same: Lagyan + ANG target + NG thing you are adding.