Masakit ba ang kamay mo?

In Filipino, it is very common for the predicate to come first.
So in Masakit ba ang kamay mo?, the word masakit (painful / hurting) comes first, and then the thing being described comes after it: ang kamay mo (your hand).

A very literal breakdown is:

• Masakit = painful / hurts
• ba = question marker
• ang kamay mo = your hand

So the structure is closer to:

Hurting, is your hand?

Even though that sounds strange in English, it is normal in Filipino.

Ba is a question marker. It turns a statement into a yes/no question.

Compare:

• Masakit ang kamay mo. = Your hand hurts.
• Masakit ba ang kamay mo? = Does your hand hurt? / Is your hand painful?

A useful thing to remember is that ba usually comes after the first word or phrase of the sentence.

More examples:

• Mabait siya. = He/She is kind.
• Mabait ba siya? = Is he/she kind?

Ang marks the noun phrase that is being focused on or identified as the topic of the sentence. In this sentence, ang kamay mo is the noun phrase being described by masakit.

So:

• ang kamay mo = your hand

You do not translate ang directly as the in every case, even though it sometimes looks similar in function. It is better to think of ang as a marker rather than a simple English article.

Mo means your.

In Filipino, possession is often expressed by putting the possessor after the noun:

• kamay mo = your hand
• literally: hand your

This is completely normal word order in Filipino.

Some similar examples:

• bahay ko = my house
• kaibigan niya = his/her friend
• ulo mo = your head

Because Filipino noun phrases follow a regular pattern:

• ang
  • noun + possessor

So:

• ang kamay mo = the/your hand

Not:

• ang mo kamay ✘
• mo ang kamay ✘

The noun comes first, and the possessive pronoun like mo, ko, or niya comes after it.

It can feel like either one in English, depending on context.

In this sentence, masakit describes the condition of the hand, so it can be understood as:

• Is your hand painful?
• Does your hand hurt?
• Is your hand hurting?

All of these are natural ways to translate the idea.

So while masakit is often taught as painful or sore, in real use it often corresponds to English hurt / hurting.

The root is sakit, which is connected with pain, hurt, illness, or sickness, depending on context.

From that root:

• sakit = pain / illness
• masakit = painful / hurting
• sumakit = to start hurting
• masakit ang ulo = the head hurts / headache
• nasasaktan = being hurt (emotionally or physically, depending on context)

In masakit, the prefix ma- helps form an adjective-like word meaning painful or in pain.

Kamay here is singular: hand.

If you wanted to say hands, you would usually say:

• mga kamay = hands

So:

• Masakit ba ang kamay mo? = Does your hand hurt?
• Masakit ba ang mga kamay mo? = Do your hands hurt?

Usually kamay most naturally means hand, but in everyday Filipino it can sometimes refer more broadly to the arm/hand area depending on context.

If someone is being specific:

• kamay = hand
• braso = arm

So if the intended meaning is clearly arm, many speakers would prefer:

• Masakit ba ang braso mo? = Does your arm hurt?

But in casual speech, body-part terms can sometimes be used a bit loosely.

You can answer it in a few simple ways.

Yes / No:

• Oo. = Yes.
• Hindi. = No.

More complete answers:

• Oo, masakit. = Yes, it hurts.
• Oo, masakit ang kamay ko. = Yes, my hand hurts.
• Hindi, hindi masakit. = No, it doesn’t hurt.
• Hindi, okay lang. = No, it’s okay.

Notice that if you are talking about your own hand, you say kamay ko (my hand), not kamay mo.

That is generally not the normal word order.

The usual placement is:

• Masakit ba ang kamay mo? ✔

This is because ba normally comes after the first element of the sentence. Since masakit is the first element, ba follows it.

So learners should strongly prefer:

• Masakit ba ang kamay mo?

It is neutral and natural. You can use it in everyday conversation.

However, mo is the singular informal/familiar form of your. That means it is normal when speaking to:

• a friend
• a family member
• a child
• someone you know well

If you want to be more polite or respectful, you may use ninyo:

• Masakit ba ang kamay ninyo?

This can be polite singular or plural, depending on context.

A simple pronunciation guide is:

• Masakit → mah-sah-KIT
• ba → bah
• ang → ahng
• kamay → kah-MAI
• mo → moh

So the whole sentence sounds roughly like:

mah-sah-KIT bah ahng kah-MAI moh

A few notes:

• The stress in masakit is on the last syllable: -kit
• kamay is stressed on the second syllable: -may
• ng in ang is pronounced as the ng sound in sing

Yes. You can keep the same basic sentence pattern and swap out the descriptive word.

Examples:

• Manhid ba ang kamay mo? = Is your hand numb?
• Namamaga ba ang kamay mo? = Is your hand swollen?
• Sugatan ba ang kamay mo? = Is your hand injured/wounded?

This is a useful pattern:

[description] + ba + ang + [body part] + mo?

So once you learn this sentence, you can build many similar ones.

Because Filipino forms yes/no questions differently from English.

English often needs an auxiliary verb:

• Does your hand hurt?

Filipino does not need an equivalent of does here.
Instead, it uses the question marker ba:

• Masakit ba ang kamay mo?

So when translating from English, do not try to insert a separate Filipino word for does in this kind of sentence.

A very literal gloss would be:

• Masakit = painful / hurting
• ba = question marker
• ang = topic marker
• kamay = hand
• mo = your

So very literally:

Painful, is your hand?

That is not natural English, but it helps show how the Filipino sentence is built. The natural English meaning is something like:

Does your hand hurt?