Noong dumating ako sa bahay, nakita kong may maliit na sugat sa kamay ng bata at nilagyan ito ni Nanay ng benda.

Noong introduces a past-time setting. Here it means something like when or at the time when.

So:

Noong dumating ako sa bahay = When I arrived home / when I got to the house

It helps set the scene for the main event that follows. You may also see nang in similar time clauses, but noong very clearly anchors the situation in the past.

Dumating is the completed aspect of the verb from the root dating and uses the -um- actor-focus form.

• dumating = arrived / came
• dumarating = is arriving / arrives regularly
• darating = will arrive

In this sentence, the speaker is telling a completed past event, so dumating is the natural form.

Sa is the marker commonly used for location or destination.

So:

• sa bahay = at the house / to the house / at home

With a verb like dumating, sa marks the place reached:

• dumating sa bahay = arrived at the house/home

English uses at or to, but Filipino uses sa for both kinds of ideas depending on context.

Nakita kong is nakita ko plus the linker -ng.

• nakita ko = I saw
• nakita kong may... = I saw that there was...

The -ng links nakita ko to the clause that follows. This is a very common pattern in Filipino:

• alam kong... = I know that...
• isip ko'ng... or iniisip kong... = I think that...
• nakita kong... = I saw that...

So here, nakita kong may maliit na sugat... means I saw that there was a small wound...

May is used to say that something exists or is present. In this sentence:

• may maliit na sugat = there was a small wound

This is different from ang, which usually marks a more specific or already identified noun.

Compare:

• may sugat = there is a wound / has a wound
• ang sugat = the wound

Here the wound is being introduced as new information, so may is the natural choice.

Filipino usually uses a linker between an adjective and the noun it describes.

Here:

• maliit = small
• na = linker
• sugat = wound

So:

• maliit na sugat = small wound

The linker appears as:

• na after words ending in a consonant, like maliit
• -ng after words ending in a vowel or n

For example:

• maliit na sugat
• malaking sugat

Both mean small wound, but they come from different adjective forms.

This phrase breaks down like this:

• sa kamay = on the hand / in the hand area
• ng bata = of the child

So:

sa kamay ng bata = on the child's hand

Why these markers?

• sa marks the location of the wound
• ng bata marks possession: the hand belongs to the child

It is not kamay sa bata or kamay ng sugat because the intended meaning is that the wound is located on the child’s hand.

This is a very important Filipino grammar point: focus.

The root is lagay = put/place.

• naglagay focuses more on the doer: someone put something
• nilagyan focuses on the thing or place that received something: something was put on/in it

In this sentence:

• nilagyan ito ni Nanay ng benda

The thing receiving the bandage is ito (the wound). So nilagyan is the natural choice for put a bandage on it.

A rough comparison:

• Naglagay si Nanay ng benda sa sugat.
  Nanay put a bandage on the wound.

• Nilagyan ni Nanay ang sugat ng benda.
  Nanay put a bandage on the wound.

Both can translate similarly in English, but the Filipino grammar highlights different parts of the event.

Filipino does not have a separate everyday word exactly like English it for non-human things in all contexts. Instead, demonstratives such as ito, iyan, and iyon are often used.

Here, ito refers back to the wound.

So:

• nilagyan ito... = put a bandage on it...

This is very normal in Filipino. Even though ito literally often means this, in context it can function like it, especially when referring to something just mentioned.

These markers show different roles in the sentence.

• ni Nanay marks the doer/agent in this non-actor-focus construction
• ng benda marks the thing being applied or used

So:

• ni Nanay = by Mother / Mom
• ng benda = bandage

Because the verb is nilagyan, the actor is not marked with si here. If the sentence were in actor-focus, you would expect si Nanay instead.

Because the verb nilagyan is not actor-focus.

In Filipino:

• si marks a personal name or specific person when that person is the main focused noun
• ni marks that same kind of noun when it is the agent in a non-actor-focus sentence

So:

• Naglagay si Nanay ng benda... = actor-focus
• Nilagyan ito ni Nanay ng benda. = non-actor-focus

Nanay is still the doer, but the grammar is highlighting ito as the thing that received the action.

More exactly, Filipino verbs primarily show aspect, not tense in the same way English does.

In this sentence:

• dumating
• nakita
• nilagyan

all show completed aspect. That means the actions are viewed as finished.

Because the sentence also begins with Noong, the whole sentence is clearly understood as a past event. So in English, these are naturally translated with past tense verbs:

• arrived
• saw
• put / applied

Because may already introduces an indefinite noun naturally.

So:

• may maliit na sugat = there was a small wound
• may isang maliit na sugat = there was one small wound

Adding isang is possible, but it gives a stronger sense of one or makes the noun phrase a bit more explicit. In many everyday sentences, leaving it out sounds perfectly natural.