May lugar pa ba sa ref para sa gatas?

Is there still space in the refrigerator for the milk?

Breakdown of May lugar pa ba sa ref para sa gatas?

• ba: question particle
• sa: in
• para sa: for
• may: to have

Questions & Answers about May lugar pa ba sa ref para sa gatas?

What does may mean in this sentence?

Here, may is an existential word meaning there is / there are.

So May lugar... means There is space... or Is there space... once the question particle is added.

A few useful notes:

• may is very common in everyday speech.
• You may also hear mayroon or meron, which are closely related.
• This may is completely different from May the month; context makes that clear.

Why is there no separate word for is in the sentence?

Because Filipino often does not need a separate copula like English is/are in this kind of sentence.

In English, you say:

• Is there still space...?

In Filipino, may already does the job of expressing existence:

• May lugar... = There is space...

So a separate word for is is not needed.

What does lugar mean here?

Lugar literally means place, but in this context it means space or room.

So:

• May lugar pa ba sa ref... = Is there still space in the fridge...

This is a very natural use of when talking about whether something can fit somewhere.