# buhay pa yung kapatid ko!!



## jospalato

Can you please help me with the translation with this. Someone wrote this under the facebook picture of my friend. 

"intimate?! ayos ha! eto ba yung bagong asawa ng kapatid nyo?... close na close agad! wow! ...buhay pa yung kapatid ko!!"


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## DotterKat

(_They're already_) intimate? (_Isn't that_) great! Is this the new spouse of your sibling? And they're so close to each other already! Wow! My sibling is still alive!

[As you may know, *kapatid *is a gender neutral noun in Tagalog. The angry and sarcastic message above is directed to the writer's sibling's previous in-laws, expressing frustration that the previous husband / wife has moved on so quickly to another intimate relationship so soon after breaking up with the writer's sibling. An interesting note at the end about the sibling still being alive makes me wonder whether that person is somehow incapacitated and was left behind at a great time of need --- just a speculation.]


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## jospalato

Thank you very much for you answer. Everything you said is correct. 

Can you explain me better this KAPATID please? Because I didnt get a point. And what makes you think that the person is incapacited and in a need?


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## DotterKat

_*Kapatid*_ is just as gender-neutral as the English _*sibling*_, that is, it can refer to either a _brother or a sister_. However, in English it would sound odd if _sibling _is used instead of the more specific brother or sister when both parties in the conversation know exactly who is being discussed. For instance, your text would be odd in English:
"...is this the new husband of your sibling? ...... my sibling is still alive!" That sentence would more likely be said as "....is this the new husband of your sister?....my brother is still alive!" In Tagalog, however, this does not sound odd at all, and even if both parties know who is being discussed they may still resort to gender neutral nouns and pronouns (*kapatid* - sibling, *siya *- pronoun which can stand for either a man or woman, *kasintahan* - noun for either boyfriend or girlfriend or simply sweetheart, etc.). You will encounter a number of these gender neutral words in Tagalog. A caveat would be if the sibling being discussed is older than the speaker in which case the gender specific words *ate* (sister) or *kuya* (brother) could have been used. Still, the use of _kapatid_ is entirely appropriate for the sentence but since I do not know the genders of the people being discussed, I just used the neutral _sibling_.

As for my (pure) speculation that the person who got left is somehow incapacitated, I base it on the outraged tone of the writer and his insistence that the brother (let's just assume for discussion's sake that it's a brother) is indeed still alive. Although the writer specified "...is this the new husband of your sister?...." implying that his brother and the brother's former wife are already legally divorced, that may not be the case. The "former" wife and a new boyfriend may simply be living together as though they were husband and wife without the legality of marriage. The only other way for the "former" wife to be unmarried (besides divorce) would be if she becomes a widow (if the writer's brother dies) --- and thus the writer's insistence that his brother is "still alive!" with the subtext that the "former" wife cannot therefore be legally married yet (because she would be guilty of bigamy). Then, I further speculated that this brother must be somehow ill or incapacitated because of the writer's very indignant tone in saying "...*buhay pa* ang kapatid ko!" (...he is *still alive*! / he is *still very much alive!*). In my own (wild) imagination, this could mean that perhaps the brother is very ill, has been very ill, or even was near death at one point but has recently made a recovery and therefore _still very much alive_ and still very much the legitimate husband of his "former" wife, notwithstanding the fact that the wife has actually left him for another man during a time when he was ill, incapacitated or otherwise unable to pursue her.
Then again, as I have pointed out, all of the above (except for the translation) is pure speculation on my part. The writer in me may be teasing out a plot line where none exists!


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## jospalato

Thank you very much for explaining "kapatid". Now i fully understand.

And even your speculation are 100% complete right except the fact that the ex wasn't ill at all. Maybe the writter was just angry. 

Thank you.


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