Ilagay mo ang walis sa tabi ng pinto.

The root word is lagay, which has the general idea of put, place, or set down.

The form ilagay is a very common way to say put/place something in a command. The prefix i- here helps make the sentence focus on the thing being placed.

So in this sentence, ang walis is the thing being acted on, and ilagay matches that structure well.

A useful comparison:

• Ilagay mo ang walis... = Put the broom...
• Maglagay ka ng walis... = more like Put/place a broom... or Do some placing of a broom...

The first one is more natural when you are talking about a specific object, like the broom.

Mo means you (singular), but not in the basic subject form English speakers expect.

In Filipino, short pronouns often come right after the first word of the clause, and here that first word is the verb ilagay.

So:

• ilagay = put/place
• mo = by you / you

Together, ilagay mo means you put it / put it in a command sense.

This word order is very normal in Filipino. English speakers often expect something like you put, but Filipino commonly starts with the verb instead.

Yes, you can.

Ilagay ang walis sa tabi ng pinto is still understandable and natural as a command.

Adding mo makes the addressee more explicit:

• Ilagay ang walis... = Put the broom...
• Ilagay mo ang walis... = You, put the broom...

In many real conversations, Filipino speakers include or omit short pronouns depending on tone, clarity, and context.

Because walis is the focused noun in this sentence—the thing being put somewhere.

With ilagay, the thing being acted on is commonly marked by ang:

• Ilagay mo ang walis...

If you changed the verb structure, you could get a different marker:

• Maglagay ka ng walis sa tabi ng pinto.

That version sounds more like Put a broom beside the door, with ng walis sounding less definite or less specifically focused.

So a good shortcut is:

• ilagay often goes with ang for the thing being placed
• maglagay often goes with ng for the thing being placed

Ang marks the noun that is in focus in the sentence.

In ang walis, it marks the broom as the main noun tied to the verb form ilagay.

English does not have a direct equivalent to this system, so it can feel unusual at first. It is not exactly the same as the, even though ang walis is often translated as the broom.

So in this sentence:

• ang walis = the focused noun, the broom

Literally, it breaks down like this:

• sa = at / in / on / to
• tabi = side
• ng pinto = of the door

So sa tabi ng pinto is literally at the side of the door, which in natural English becomes beside the door or next to the door.

This is a very common Filipino way to express location.

Here, ng links pinto to tabi.

So:

• tabi = side
• tabi ng pinto = side of the door

In this sentence, ng works a bit like of in English.

It is important not to confuse this ng with ang:

• ang marks a focused noun
• ng often marks relationships like of, or marks certain other noun roles depending on the sentence

Here it is simply showing the relationship side of the door.

Because verb-first order is very common in Filipino.

This sentence follows a common pattern:

• Verb: Ilagay
• Actor pronoun: mo
• Focused noun: ang walis
• Location phrase: sa tabi ng pinto

So the structure is roughly:

Put + you + the broom + beside the door

That may feel backward from English, but it is normal Filipino syntax.

A polite version would be:

Ilagay po ninyo ang walis sa tabi ng pinto.

Here:

• po adds politeness
• ninyo is the polite/plural form of you

Another very common polite command is:

Pakilagay po ang walis sa tabi ng pinto.

That sounds a bit like Please put the broom beside the door.

When ng is a separate word like this, it is usually pronounced roughly like nang.

So:

• tabi ng pinto sounds roughly like ta-bi nang pin-to

But when ng is part of a word, it can represent the ng sound by itself, like in ngipin.

So learners should remember:

• separate ng word: usually pronounced like nang
• ng inside a word: often just the ng sound

That difference in writing vs. pronunciation is very common in Filipino.