Linisin mo ang ilong mo bago tayo umalis ng bahay.

the house

Breakdown of Linisin mo ang ilong mo bago tayo umalis ng bahay.

• mo: you
• tayo: we
• bago: before

Questions & Answers about Linisin mo ang ilong mo bago tayo umalis ng bahay.

What does linisin mean here, and how is it different from maglinis?

Linisin comes from the root linis, meaning clean. In this sentence, linisin means clean [something specific].

The difference is:

• Linisin = clean a particular thing
• Maglinis = do cleaning / clean up in general

So:

• Linisin mo ang ilong mo. = Clean your nose.
• Maglinis ka. = Clean up.

Here, linisin is used because the sentence is talking about cleaning one specific thing: ang ilong mo.

Why is it mo after linisin, not ka?

That is because linisin is an object-focus verb form.

With this kind of verb, the doer is marked by mo. Compare:

• Linisin mo ang ilong mo.
• Maglinis ka.

So the pronoun changes depending on the verb form:

• mo with linisin
• ka with maglinis

A very rough way to think about it is:

• maglinis ka = you do the cleaning
• linisin mo ang... = you clean the...