Learn Hardcore Filipino: Siguro uuwi siya nang maaga kung matapos ang trabaho sa ospital. - She will probably go home early if the work at the hospital is finished.

Context (people already know who you’re talking about), or
Adding nouns like lalaki (man) or babae (woman), e.g.
- Yung lalaking iyon, uuwi siya nang maaga.
  That man, he will go home early.

Why is it nang maaga and not ng maaga? What’s the difference between ng and nang here?

In this sentence, nang is used as a linker between the verb and an adverb (or adverb-like word):

uuwi siya nang maaga
literally: will go home in an early way → will go home early

Basic guidelines:

ng (short form of nang) is mainly:
- Object marker: Kumain siya ng isda. (He ate fish.)
- Possessor/“of” marker: libro ng bata (child’s book / book of the child).
nang (spelled with a) is used:
1. Before an adjective/adverb that modifies a verb:
  - Tumakbo siya nang mabilis. (He ran quickly.)
  - Uuwi siya nang maaga. (He will go home early.)
2. As certain conjunctions (“when,” “so that,” etc.), in other contexts.

So here, because maaga (“early”) is acting as an adverb modifying uuwi, we write nang maaga, not ng maaga.

Can I drop nang and just say “uuwi siya maaga”?

In natural Tagalog, you shouldn’t drop nang here.

✅ Uuwi siya nang maaga. – correct and natural
❌ Uuwi siya maaga. – sounds ungrammatical or very foreign

When an adjective like maaga (early) functions as a manner adverb for a verb, you normally link it with nang:

Uuwi siya nang maaga. – will go home early
Natulog siya nang huli. – he/she slept late

Where can siguro go in the sentence? Is it only correct at the beginning?

Siguro (“maybe / probably / I guess”) is fairly flexible in position. All of these are possible:

Siguro uuwi siya nang maaga kung matapos ang trabaho sa ospital.
Uuwi siguro siya nang maaga kung matapos ang trabaho sa ospital.
Uuwi siya siguro nang maaga kung matapos ang trabaho sa ospital.

They all mean roughly the same: Maybe he/she will go home early if the work at the hospital is finished.

Subtle tendencies:

Sentence-initial “Siguro …” feels like you’re qualifying the whole statement from the start.
Siguro right after the main verb or subject can subtly emphasize your uncertainty about that part, but in casual speech people don’t overthink this; the difference is slight.

So it’s not restricted to the beginning, though that’s a very common place to put it.

What’s the difference between siguro and baka if I say “Baka uuwi siya nang maaga …” instead?

Both siguro and baka can translate as “maybe / perhaps.” But they feel different:

siguro
- More like “probably / I guess / I suppose.”
- Often sounds like a personal guess or opinion.
baka
- More like “might / could / there’s a possibility that.”
- Can sound more cautious, speculative, or even like a warning depending on context.
- Also a noun meaning “cow” in other contexts.

In your sentence:

Siguro uuwi siya nang maaga …
→ He/she will probably go home early…
Baka uuwi siya nang maaga …
→ He/she might go home early… (there’s a chance).

Both are grammatical; siguro often feels a bit more confident than baka.

Why is kung used here? How is kung different from kapag or pag?

In this sentence, kung introduces a condition:

kung matapos ang trabaho sa ospital
= if the work at the hospital is finished

Rough guidelines:

kung ≈ “if” (often more hypothetical or uncertain)
kapag / pag ≈ “when / whenever” (something expected or habitual)

Compare:

Kung matapos ang trabaho sa ospital, uuwi siya nang maaga.
If the work at the hospital (does) get finished, he/she will go home early.
(It might or might not happen.)
Kapag/Pag natatapos ang trabaho sa ospital, uuwi siya nang maaga.
Whenever the work at the hospital gets finished, he/she goes home early.
(More about a regular or expected pattern.)

In everyday speech, people sometimes mix kung and kapag, but the “if” (uncertain) vs. “when/whenever” (expected) distinction is a helpful guideline.

What exactly does matapos mean here? Why not matatapos, tapusin, or natapos?

Root: tapos = finished, done.

Some related forms:

matapos – to be finished / get finished (stative/inchoative; ma‑ verb)
natapos – was finished / got finished (completed aspect of matapos)
natatapos – is being finished / gets finished (incompleted)
matatapos – will be finished / is going to be finished (contemplated)
tapusin – to finish (something) (object‑focus verb, with a doer)

In kung matapos ang trabaho sa ospital:

matapos is in a kind of irrealis / subordinate use:
“if the work (should) get finished / if the work ends up being finished.”

You could also hear:

Kung matatapos ang trabaho sa ospital, uuwi siya nang maaga.
(more explicit future sense: if the work will be finished…)

If you want to highlight the doer, you’d shift to another form:

Kung tapusin niya ang trabaho sa ospital, uuwi siya nang maaga.
If he/she finishes the work at the hospital, he/she will go home early.

The original kung matapos ang trabaho focuses on the state/result (“the work being finished”) rather than who finishes it.

Why is it ang trabaho sa ospital and not ang trabaho niya sa ospital? Where did “his/her” go?

Both are possible; they just emphasize slightly different things.

ang trabaho sa ospital
= the work at the hospital (work there in general, or contextually “the work to be done at the hospital”)
ang trabaho niya sa ospital
= his/her work at the hospital (more clearly possessive)

In many contexts, it’s obvious from context whose work it is, so Filipino can omit the possessive pronoun:

If earlier you were already talking about this person’s job at the hospital,
ang trabaho sa ospital will naturally be understood as his/her work at the hospital.

If you really need to avoid any ambiguity, you can explicitly say:

Kung matapos ang trabaho niya sa ospital, siguro uuwi siya nang maaga.

What does sa ospital indicate? How is it different from ng ospital?

sa ospital = location: at/in the hospital
ng ospital = “of the hospital”, usually possession or description.

Examples:

trabaho sa ospital – work at the hospital (place where the work is done)
trabaho ng ospital – the hospital’s work / work of the hospital (belonging to or associated with the hospital as an institution)

In your sentence, we’re talking about work being done at that place, so sa ospital is the natural choice.

Could I move the kung-clause to the beginning of the sentence?

Yes, and it’s very natural to do so. Both orders are fine:

Siguro uuwi siya nang maaga kung matapos ang trabaho sa ospital.
Kung matapos ang trabaho sa ospital, siguro uuwi siya nang maaga.

Moving the kung‑clause to the front makes the condition stand out more, but the basic meaning stays the same: If the work at the hospital is finished, maybe he/she will go home early.

Can I omit siya and just say “Siguro uuwi nang maaga kung matapos ang trabaho sa ospital”?

Yes, if the subject is obvious from context, you can drop siya:

Siguro uuwi [siya] nang maaga kung matapos ang trabaho sa ospital.

Tagalog is often “pro-drop”: pronouns like siya, ako, sila can be omitted when they’re understood from context.

However, in isolated example sentences (like in textbooks), learners will usually see the pronoun kept in, because it shows you clearly who the subject is.