Articles

Articles are "the," "a," and "an." Hiligaynon doesn't have articles in the same way English does. While noun markers Ang, Sang, and Sa can act as articles, that's not their main job. Noun markers are primarily meant to show the role of words. Secondarily, they can act as articles, but they are more flexible and can change around for different situations.

Basic Demonstration

Actor Focus:

"The goat bit the cat." — "Ang kanding nagkagat sang koring." (goat = kanding; cat = koring)
"A goat bit a cat." — "Ang isa ka kanding nagkagat sang koring."

Object Focus:

"The goat bit the cat." — "Ginkagat sang kanding ang koring."
"A goat bit a cat." — "Ginkagat sang kanding ang isa ka koring."

Marking Objects vs Recipients

There is a slight difference in how you mark objects vs recipients when using Actor/Action focus. Objects are marked with Sang and recipients are marked with Sa.

Using an Object: "We taught math." — "Nagtudlo kami sang math." (teach = tudlo)

Using a Recipient: "We taught the class." — "Nagtudlo kami sa classe." (class = classe)

This only applies to those special verbs (di-transitive) that can have both an object and a recipient. In this case, "math" is the object and "class" is the recipient, so they are marked differently. This keeps everything straight when both are included in the sentence.

Example: - "We taught the class math."

"Nagtudlo kami sa classe sang math."
"Nagtudlo kami sang math sa classe."

Both sentences make sense as long as everything is properly labeled with noun markers.

Of, By

Examples:

"I was given a book by a teacher." — "Ginhatagan ako sang libro sang manunudlo." (give = hatag, book = libro, teacher = maestra/maestro or manunudlo)
"I will sit in the shade of the tree." — "Magpungkô ko sa landong sang kahoy." (sit = pungkô, shade = landong, tree = kahoy)

To, On, In, etc.

Sa is the universal preposition. It can be used when you need words like at, in, on, to, with, etc.

Examples:

"I live on Earth." — "Nagapuyô ko sa Earth." (reside = puyô)
"I live on the island." — "Nagapuyô ko sa pulo." (island = pulo)
"I live on an island." — "Nagapuyô ko sa pulo."

Sa was used for both "the" and "an" in the above examples. The listener will usually know whether you meant "a/an" or "the" from the context of the conversation. However, if you need to be more specific that something is "a" or "an," as opposed to multiple things, you can add "isa ka."

Example:

"I live on an island." — "Nagapuyô ko sa isa ka pulo."

No Articles

Noun markers are still used when there are no articles at all.

Examples:

"People will eat cake." — "Ang mga tawo magkaon sang cake." (person = tawo, eat = kaon; "mga" makes words plural)

Isa ka

"Isa ka" means "one." It can be used to specify that something is singular, instead of plural. It can also be used to specify that something is indefinite, as is "a/an," instead of "the." However, Hiligaynon is quite flexible, and the rules are more like guidelines.

Ang isa ka

Because "ang" has a strong tendency to be used as "the," when you need to use it as "a/an" you can add "isa ka." ("A dog is running." — Nagadalagan ang isa ka idô.) If a sentence starts with "Ang isa ka," you can even drop the "ang" completely. ("A boy spoke..." — "Isa ka lalaki naghambal...")

"Isa ka" isn't strictly necessary. "Ang" may be used as "a/an," but adding "isa ka" can make the sentence more clear.

Sang isa ka

When "A" or "an" are not the focus of a sentence, you can generally translate those as "sang." However, if you want to be very specific that the object is singular instead of plural, or you want to be extra formal, you can use "sang isa ka."

"The boy bought a puppy." — "Ang lalaki nagbakal sang isa ka totoy." (boy = lalaki, buy = bakal, puppy = totoy)
"The boy bought a puppy." — "Ang lalaki nagbakal sang totoy."

If there isn't a particular reason to specify that it's just one object you're talking about, you can use "sang." For clarity, or in more formal settings, you can use "sang isa ka."

Sa is ka

"I will talk to a family." — "Magistorya ko sa isa ka pamilya." (converse = istorya, family = pamilya)

A Few / Some

In order to say "a few," you can use "pila ka." Just make sure to use the appropriate noun marker before it.

"I will write a few words." — "Magsulat ako sang pila ka mga pulong." (write = sulat, word = pulong; "mga" makes words plural)

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