Ihanda mo ang sibuyas at bawang bago lagyan ng mantika ang kaldero.

Ihanda means prepare or get ready.

It comes from the root handa, which means ready or prepared. With the verbal form ihanda, it becomes a command meaning prepare it / prepare them.

So in this sentence, Ihanda mo ang sibuyas at bawang means Prepare the onion and garlic.

Because handa by itself is usually not the normal verb form for this meaning.

In Filipino, roots often need affixes to become full verbs. Here, i- helps form a verb that focuses on the thing being prepared. So:

• handa = ready, prepared
• ihanda = to prepare something

That is why ihanda mo is the natural command form.

Mo means you in this sentence.

More specifically, it is the genitive form of ikaw. In commands and many verb sentences, Filipino often uses this form for the doer:

• Ihanda mo... = You prepare...
• Lagyan mo... = You put/fill...

So mo marks the person doing the action.

That is a very common word order in Filipino.

Verb-first order is normal, so you often get:

• Ihanda mo ang sibuyas
• Lagyan mo ng mantika ang kaldero

This is different from English, which usually starts with the subject: You prepare...

In Filipino, putting the verb first is very natural, especially in commands and everyday instructions.

Because one ang can cover a whole coordinated noun phrase.

So ang sibuyas at bawang means the onion and garlic. You do not need to repeat ang before both nouns.

This is similar to saying that sibuyas at bawang works together as one unit.

Because it is joined to sibuyas by at (and), and the marker before the first noun applies to the whole phrase.

So:

• ang sibuyas at bawang = the onion and garlic

You could sometimes repeat markers in other structures for emphasis or clarity, but here the normal form is just one ang.

Filipino nouns usually do not change form for singular vs. plural the way English nouns do.

So:

• sibuyas can mean onion or onions
• bawang can mean garlic or sometimes garlic cloves, depending on context

The exact meaning comes from the situation. In a cooking instruction, English might translate this as either the onion and garlic or the onions and garlic, depending on the recipe.

Bago here means before.

It introduces the action that should happen later:

• Ihanda mo ang sibuyas at bawang bago lagyan ng mantika ang kaldero.
• Prepare the onion and garlic before oil is put into the pot.

Be careful: bago can also mean new in other contexts. Here, because it connects two actions, it clearly means before.

Because lagyan and ilagay focus on different things.

• ilagay focuses more on the thing being placed
  
  • Ilagay ang mantika sa kaldero = Put the oil in the pot
• lagyan focuses more on the place/container receiving something
  
  • Lagyan ng mantika ang kaldero = Put oil into the pot / Add oil to the pot

In your sentence, the structure highlights ang kaldero as the thing being affected, so lagyan is the natural choice.

This is one of the most important parts of Filipino grammar.

In lagyan ng mantika ang kaldero:

• ang kaldero is the focused noun, the thing receiving the action
• ng mantika is what is being added

So the sentence is structured around the pot as the main grammatical focus:

• Lagyan ng mantika ang kaldero = Put oil in the pot / Add oil to the pot

A helpful way to think about it is:

• ang often marks the noun the verb is focused on
• ng often marks a non-focus noun like the thing used, added, or affected in a secondary way

It is better not to think of it as exactly the same as English passive.

Filipino is usually explained more accurately in terms of focus or voice. The verb changes depending on which noun is being highlighted.

So instead of saying it is simply passive, it is more accurate to say:

• lagyan is a form that focuses on the location or recipient
• ang kaldero is the focused noun in that clause

English translations sometimes sound passive, but Filipino grammar is working differently.

The doer is understood from context.

Since the whole sentence is a command, the implied doer is still you. Filipino often leaves out repeated pronouns when they are obvious.

So the full idea is basically:

• Prepare the onion and garlic before you put oil in the pot.

But Filipino does not need to repeat mo if the meaning is already clear.

Yes, that is also possible.

• bago lagyan ng mantika ang kaldero
• bago mo lagyan ng mantika ang kaldero

Both can work. Adding mo makes the doer more explicit: before you put oil in the pot.

Without mo, the sentence is still very natural because recipe instructions often omit obvious pronouns.

It sounds neutral and natural, especially for instructions like cooking directions.

It is not especially formal, but it is perfectly standard Filipino. It would fit well in:

• recipes
• cooking lessons
• spoken instructions
• written household directions

Yes, Filipino allows some flexibility, but not every version sounds equally natural.

For example, the main clause could stay as:

• Ihanda mo ang sibuyas at bawang

The second clause could also appear as:

• bago mo lagyan ng mantika ang kaldero

That said, your original sentence already sounds natural and clear for an instruction.

Usually, yes in cooking contexts.

Kaldero is a cooking pot or metal pot. In many recipe translations, pot is the best English equivalent.

Depending on context, English could also use cooking pot or pan, but pot is the safest basic meaning here.

Because Filipino does not have articles that work exactly like English the and a/an.

Instead, markers like ang, ng, and sa do grammatical jobs that partly overlap with English articles, but they are not the same thing.

So in ang sibuyas at bawang, ang is not just the. It marks the focused noun phrase. In many translations it becomes the, but its real job in Filipino grammar is broader than that.