Sinabi ng drayber na maupo ako sa upuan malapit sa bintana.

A helpful rough breakdown is:

• Sinabi = said
• ng drayber = by the driver / the driver
  
  • here ng marks the doer with this verb form
• na = that
• maupo = sit / take a seat / should sit in a directive sense
• ako = I / me as the subject of the embedded clause
• sa upuan = in/on the seat
• malapit sa bintana = near the window

So the structure is roughly:

Sinabi + ng drayber + na + maupo ako + sa upuan malapit sa bintana

Very literally, it is something like:

The driver said that I sit on the seat near the window.

Natural English would usually smooth that out as The driver told me to sit in the seat near the window or something similar.

This is a very common Filipino voice question.

Sinabi is a form of sabihin that puts the focus on what was said. Because of that, the speaker/doer is marked with ng:

• Sinabi ng drayber na... = The driver said that...

By contrast, nagsabi ang drayber puts more focus on the driver as the one who did the saying:

• Nagsabi ang drayber na... = The driver said...

Both can be grammatical, but sinabi ng drayber na... is very natural when introducing the content of what was said. It is a very common pattern in Filipino.

Here, na means that and introduces the content of what was said.

So:

• Sinabi ng drayber na... = The driver said that...

This na is functioning as a complementizer, not as the adjective linker you also see elsewhere in Filipino.

That distinction matters because learners often meet na/-ng in two different jobs:

• na as that, introducing a clause
• na/-ng as a linker, connecting words inside a phrase

In this sentence, after sinabi, it is the first kind: that.

This is one of the trickiest parts for learners.

In this sentence, maupo has a directive/request-like sense: to sit / should sit / take a seat. It can sound more polite or formal than a blunt command.

Compare:

• Umupo ka. = Sit down.
  More direct/plain command.
• Maupo ka. = Please sit / Take a seat.
  Often more formal or polite.

In reported speech, that polite/directive feeling can carry over:

• Sinabi ng drayber na maupo ako...
  = The driver said that I should sit / told me to sit...

By contrast:

• uupo usually means will sit
• umupo can be a direct command or can refer to the act of sitting down, depending on context

So maupo here is not just simple future. It fits the idea of an instruction or invitation to sit.

Because ako is the pronoun form used for the subject/focus of the clause.

In maupo ako, ako is the one doing the sitting, so it is the subject of that clause.

Compare:

• ako = subject/focus form
• ko = non-subject form, often like my or I/me in a different grammatical role

So:

• maupo ako = correct
• maupo ko = incorrect here

Even though English just uses I/me, Filipino pronouns change form depending on grammatical role.

Sa is a very broad location/direction marker in Filipino.

It can correspond to several English prepositions, depending on context:

• at
• in
• on
• to

So sa upuan can be understood as in the seat or on the seat, depending on how English would naturally say it.

Filipino usually does not force the same fine distinction that English does here. Native speakers rely on context.

That is why:

• sa upuan is perfectly normal
• you should not expect a one-to-one match with a single English preposition every time

Malapit sa bintana means near the window.

It describes which seat is being referred to:

• sa upuan = in/on the seat
• malapit sa bintana = near the window

Together:

• sa upuan malapit sa bintana = in/on the seat near the window

So the phrase malapit sa bintana is modifying upuan.

This is very normal in Filipino: descriptive material often comes after the noun it describes.

Many learners notice this, and it is a good question.

You will also hear or read forms like:

• sa upuang malapit sa bintana
• sa upuan na malapit sa bintana

These make the connection to upuan more explicit.

The sentence you were given, sa upuan malapit sa bintana, is understandable and natural in conversational usage, but learners are often taught the linked versions because they show the structure more clearly.

So as a learner, it is useful to recognize all of these as close in meaning:

• sa upuan malapit sa bintana
• sa upuang malapit sa bintana
• sa upuan na malapit sa bintana

Yes. Drayber is a common Filipino spelling of the English loanword driver.

Filipino often adapts English words to match local spelling and pronunciation:

• driver → drayber

This kind of borrowing is extremely common in everyday Filipino.

You may also hear:

• tsuper = driver/chauffeur

But drayber is very common and natural.

Yes, and that is actually a very useful comparison.

• Sinabi ng drayber na... = The driver said that...
• Sinabihan ako ng drayber na... = The driver told me...

The difference is mainly one of focus/emphasis:

• sinabi focuses more on the content/message
• sinabihan ako focuses more on the person being told

So if you want to emphasize that I was the one being told, sinabihan ako ng drayber is often a very natural choice.

It most naturally sounds like a reported instruction/request.

Because of maupo, the idea is not just that the driver stated a fact. It suggests that the driver wanted the speaker to sit there.

Depending on context, English might translate it as:

• The driver told me to sit in the seat near the window.
• The driver asked me to sit in the seat near the window.
• The driver said I should sit in the seat near the window.

So the exact English wording can shift, but the Filipino sentence clearly has a directive flavor.

Filipino has some flexibility, but the given order is a very natural neutral one.

The original sentence:

• Sinabi ng drayber na maupo ako sa upuan malapit sa bintana.

works well because it presents:

1. what happened
2. who said it
3. the content of the statement
4. the location

You can sometimes move parts around for emphasis, but that may change the feel:

• Sinabi ng drayber na sa upuan malapit sa bintana ako maupo.

This emphasizes the seat near the window more strongly.

So yes, word order can shift, but beginners should first get comfortable with the more neutral pattern used in your sentence.