Questions & Answers about Masakit ba ang kamay mo?
Why does the sentence start with Masakit instead of the subject?
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.
What does ba do in this sentence?
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?
What is the role of ang here?
marks the noun phrase that is being focused on or identified as the topic of the sentence. In this sentence, is the noun phrase being described by .