# Paki Tulong



## Valkyr

Just need a little clarification on this phrase-->

Paki tulong ako!

Does this mean, please help me! 

Thanks in advance guys


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## Wacky...

Precisely!
But it's actually incorrect to say "Paki tulong ako."
It should be "Pakitulungan (mo) ako."


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## Valkyr

hey, thanks for the quick reply

I was just wondering why you would choose to say it the way you did, and why was what I wrote the wrong way of saying it.

just a brief explanation would be really appreciated.

thanks in advance


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## Wacky...

Let us see:
Filipino transitive verbs take two kinds of direct objects. It's a little hard to explain since English does not make any distinction between the two.
For us, "help" is not an action that you are going to do directly to the needy but it's something you are going to do for that person, but don't get it wrong, I'm not talking about indirect objects since it is still something different in the Filipino concept. Thus, it is not the "real" direct object. Most of the time, this kind of object is the "place" or the "direction" of the action.
"Tulong" never takes the first kind of direct object or the "real" one and to leave it without any ending in the _paki_- form (_pakitulong_) means that the object you are going to identify after it is a "real" direct object. Therefore, you must add the ending -_an_ to show that the direct object after it is the other kind.

This is just one of the complexities of the Filipino verb system which needs elaborated discussions but I tried to explain it the simpliest I could.


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## niernier

Tulong, whether in paki form or not must take the suffix -an. Why should there be a suffix -an? Because it simply needs the suffix! But why -an? To be specific, 
-an is a suffix which marks the beneficiary focus of the verb tulong. 

Other verbs in imperative form uses the suffix -an, but there is another reason behind. I think this is what Wacky was trying to tell us, that these verbs also use the -an suffix but its role is to mark the location or direction of the action. It's called the locative and directional focus of the verb.  

Another thing, you should always give the addressee of the command and that can either be mo(singular you) or ninyo(plural/polite you). This is something unique in Tagalog (from what I heard), because Tagalog requires you to put an addressee after the command verb. This is a rule not imposed in other regional languages.


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## Wacky...

niernier said:


> Another thing, you should always give the addressee of the command and that can either be mo(singular you) or ninyo(plural/polite you).


True, but not in _paki-_form, you need not mention either of these pronouns.
Take a look at these sentences:


Pakihubad po ang sapatos.
Pakisabi na lamang sa kanya.
Pakiabot po itong bayad.
Pakitingnan nga po kung anong sira.
 They don't sound incomplete, do they?
Requests like these are less personal so they are most common in written or indirect requests.

We also omit the "mo" or "ninyo" in normal commands (non-paki imperatives) but it's not too common. Most of them are written.


Bilugan ang titik ng tamang sagot.
Basahin ang mga sumusunod.
Tingnan ang larawan.
 In chants or slogans where the "natin" is omitted:


Tutulan ang cha cha!
Labanan ang global warming!
Purihin ang Maykapal!
 Or a superior's order to his pawns:


Lusubin sila.
Parusahan ang mga bihag.
 Or other similar cases, otherwise they are only infinitives.

By the way, verbs in _mag-_ or _-um-_ forms (imperative) *cannot* exist in the _paki_-form.

Umalis ka na dito. --> Pakialis ka na dito. 
Maghanda ka na ng pagkain. --> Pakihanda ka na ng pagkain.
But this one is possible: Ihanda mo na ang pagkain. --> Pakihanda mo na ang pagkain.


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## niernier

I see. Thanks for the correction.  I thought that all imperatives in Tagalog always need the pronoun referring to the addressee. I completely forgot there are circumstances when you can omit the pronoun. 

Nevertheless, without the pronoun referring to the addressee, native speakers judge examples of this kind to be odd:

Pakitulungan ako!

The addressee [mo or ninyo] is required.


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## Ajura

Valkyr said:


> Just need a little clarification on this phrase-->
> 
> Paki tulong ako!
> 
> Does this mean, please help me!
> 
> Thanks in advance guys



I don't see a member of Philippine language group that does not use Paki-...

Philippine Languages seem to be more intelligible to each other than sinitic languages...


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