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Learn Hardcore Filipino: Mataas ang singil sa mga pakete. - The charge for the parcels is high.

Hardcore Filipino
/Sending a parcel at the post office
/Mataas ang singil sa mga pakete.

Mataas ang singil sa mga pakete.

Word

Mataas ang singil sa mga pakete.

Meaning

The charge for the parcels is high.

Part of speech

sentence

Pronunciation

Course

Hardcore Filipino

Lesson

Sending a parcel at the post office

Breakdown of Mataas ang singil sa mga pakete.

parcel; package

Questions & Answers about Mataas ang singil sa mga pakete.

Why is there no word for is/are in this sentence?

In Filipino, the copula is/are is often omitted in simple present-tense descriptions.

So:

Mataas ang singil sa mga pakete.

naturally means:

The charge for packages is high / Package charges are high.

This is a very common pattern:

Mahal ang pagkain. = Food is expensive.
Mainit ang kape. = The coffee is hot.

You can think of it as an adjective-based sentence where the meaning of is/are is understood.

What does mataas mean here?

Mataas literally means high or tall.

In this sentence, it means high in the sense of cost, price, or amount charged. Filipino uses mataas the same way English uses high in expressions like:

high prices
high fees
high charges

So here, mataas describes the singil as being expensive or high.

What does singil mean exactly?

Singil refers to a charge, fee, or amount being asked/collected for payment.

subject/topic marker

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Depending on context, it can mean things like:

charge
fee
rate
bill or amount charged

In Mataas ang singil sa mga pakete, the most natural idea is:

the charge for packages
the fee on packages
package charges

So singil is the thing being described as mataas.

Why is ang used before singil?

Ang marks the topic of the sentence — the thing being talked about.

In this sentence:

Mataas = the description
ang singil sa mga pakete = the thing being described

So ang singil sa mga pakete is the topic, and mataas tells us something about it.

A helpful way to see the structure is:

Mataas = is high
ang singil sa mga pakete = the charge for packages

So ang does not work exactly like English the, but in many cases it overlaps with that kind of meaning.

Why does the sentence start with mataas instead of ang singil?

Filipino very often puts the predicate first.

So this pattern is normal:

Mataas ang singil sa mga pakete.

Literally, it is structured more like:

High the charge for packages.

That sounds strange in English, but it is natural in Filipino.

You can also say:

Ang singil sa mga pakete ay mataas.

This has the same meaning, but it sounds a bit more formal or more explicitly structured. Both are correct.

What does sa mga pakete mean here?

Sa mga pakete means something like:

for packages
on packages
regarding packages

Here, it tells you what the singil applies to.

So:

singil sa mga pakete = charge for packages

The preposition sa has a wide range of uses in Filipino, including meanings like to, at, in, on, or for, depending on context.

In this sentence, for is the most natural English equivalent.

Why is it sa mga pakete and not ng mga pakete?

Because the idea here is a charge for packages, not the packages' charge.

sa often marks a relation like for, to, on, or with respect to
ng often marks relationships like of, possession, or the non-topic actor/object in other sentence types

So:

singil sa mga pakete = charge for packages

That is the natural construction here.

Using ng would suggest a different relationship and would not sound right for this meaning.

What does mga do?

Mga is the plural marker in Filipino.

So:

pakete = package
mga pakete = packages

It tells you that more than one package is involved.

Notice that mga is separate from the noun. Filipino does not usually add an ending like English -s. Instead, it uses mga before the noun.

Why isn’t mataas made plural if pakete is plural?

Because Filipino adjectives do not change form for singular vs. plural the way some languages do.

So:

mataas can describe one thing or many things
the adjective stays the same

Also, the main topic here is really ang singil, and sa mga pakete just tells us what the charge is for.

So there is no need to change mataas.

Does ang singil sa mga pakete mean one charge or many charges?

It can be understood either way depending on context.

It may refer to:

the charge for packages in a general sense
package charges/rates as a category

Filipino often leaves this kind of number interpretation to context.

So in natural English, this sentence could be translated as either:

The charge for packages is high.
Charges for packages are high.

Both can fit.

Is pakete a native Filipino word?

Pakete is a borrowed word, ultimately from Spanish paquete.

That is very common in Filipino. Many everyday words come from Spanish, English, or other languages and are fully natural in modern Filipino.

So learners should not be surprised when a Filipino word looks familiar.

Could this sentence also be said as Ang singil sa mga pakete ay mataas?

Yes. That is a correct alternative.

Compare:

Mataas ang singil sa mga pakete.
Ang singil sa mga pakete ay mataas.

Both mean the same thing.

The first one is the more common, natural predicate-first order in everyday Filipino.
The second one is more explicit and can sound more formal, careful, or emphatic.

Is ang here exactly the same as English the?

Not exactly.

Ang is better understood as a topic marker, not simply as the.

Sometimes it lines up with English the, but not always. In this sentence:

ang singil sa mga pakete

can be translated naturally as:

the charge for packages

But that does not mean ang always equals the word-for-word.

It is safer to learn ang as a marker for the noun phrase the sentence is centered on.

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