Questions & Answers about Ilagay mo ang basura sa basurahan.
What does ilagay mean, and why is it not just lagay?
Lagay is the root word meaning place or put.
Ilagay is the form used here for put/place it or put/place something. The prefix i- is very common in verbs about moving or placing something somewhere. In this sentence, it is the natural command form.
So a learner can think of it like this:
- lagay = the basic idea, place/put
- ilagay = put it / place it
Why is mo used for you instead of ikaw or ka?
Filipino has different sets of pronouns, and the form depends on the verb pattern.
In Ilagay mo ang basura..., the doer is marked with mo, which is the form used with this kind of verb.
A simple way to remember it:
- mo = used here after ilagay
- ka = used with other verb forms, such as Maglagay ka...
- ikaw = usually used when you is the main topic of the sentence
So mo does mean you here, even though it does not look like ikaw.
Why is it ang basura?