Mabuti ang tauhan.

good

Breakdown of Mabuti ang tauhan.

• ang: subject/topic marker
• tauhan: character (in a story)

Questions & Answers about Mabuti ang tauhan.

Why does mabuti come first in Mabuti ang tauhan?

A very common Filipino sentence pattern puts the predicate first and the topic after it.

So in Mabuti ang tauhan:

• mabuti = the predicate
• ang tauhan = the topic

This is normal Filipino word order. In English, we usually say The character is good, but in Filipino, it is very natural to begin with good and then mention what is good.

Where is the word for is?

In this sentence, there is no separate word for is. Filipino often leaves out the copula in simple sentences like this.

So:

• Mabuti ang tauhan = The character is good

Even though there is no direct word for is, the sentence is complete and natural.

What does ang do here?

Ang marks the topic of the sentence. In Mabuti ang tauhan, it tells you that tauhan is the thing being talked about.

So:

• mabuti = what is being said
• ang tauhan = the topic, the one being described

For English speakers, ang does not exactly equal the, although in many cases it can feel similar.