Mababa ang balanse.

low

Breakdown of Mababa ang balanse.

• ang: subject/topic marker
• balanse: balance (of money)

Questions & Answers about Mababa ang balanse.

Why does the sentence start with mababa instead of balanse?

Because Filipino very often puts the predicate first.

In Mababa ang balanse, the predicate is mababa (low), and ang balanse is the topic being described.

A very literal structure is:

• Low
  • the balance

This predicate-first pattern is extremely common in Filipino, especially with adjectives:

• Mataas ang presyo. = The price is high.
• Mabigat ang bag. = The bag is heavy.
• Mababa ang balanse. = The balance is low.

So even though it feels reversed from English, it is normal Filipino word order.

What does ang mean here?

Ang is a marker that highlights the topic of the sentence.

In Mababa ang balanse:

• mababa = low
• ang balanse = the balance / the balance being talked about

So ang does not directly mean the in the same way English the does, but in many simple translations it can feel similar.

Its job here is grammatical: it marks balanse as the noun phrase that the sentence is about.

Is there a missing word for is?