1. Kamusta? (Ka-moos-ta) means Hello and/or How are you?

In informal conversation, ka is usually dropped so it becomes “Musta?”

2. Ano balita? (A-no ba-li-ta) means How are you? or What’s new?

This is also used when you haven’t seen or spoken to a person in a long time. 

3. Oo/Opo (O-o/O-po) means Yes in casual or polite form, respectively. We usually say “Opo”  when speaking to an elderly or to a person with a higher position to show respect.

4. Hindi  (Hin-di) means No.  Another casual way of expressing it is Dehins (de-hins) which is the reverse of Hindi added with –s at the end.

5. Paumanhin (Pa-oo-man-hin) or Pasensya na. (Pa-sen-sha na) to express an apology. Pasensya is derived paciencia which means patience in Spanish.  Paumanhin is more formal and polite but Pasensya when added with a courtesy term po  is more common and is still a polite expression.

6.  Ayos! (A-yos!) is a Tagalog expression for Yes!  and is used when someone is happy about a situation or a person. This should not be confused with Oo or Opo when agreeing to someone. 

7. Magandang Umaga (Ma-gan-dang Oo-ma-ga) is Good morning. If you add po, it becomes more polite. Note that Maganda is beautiful in Tagalog so we use it as a greeting to describe a period of the day.

8. Magandang Tanghali (Ma-gan-dang Tang-ha-li) means Good noon. But Filipinos are more inclined to say Magandang Hapon (Ma-gan-dang Ha-pon) when the clock strikes 12 noon until the whole afternoon before  6 o’ clock in the evening in which case we say

9. Magandang Gabi (Ma-gan-dang Ga-bi) for Good evening.

10. Ba-bay. (Ba-bay) is the most common way to say goodbye in Tagalog.

Ten Most Common Tagalog Words/Expressions