# Naman



## rockjon

Hi guys,

I'm having a hard time figuring what ways I can use the Tagalog enclitic particle naman along with the other really confusing enclitic, nga. These are the ways I know so far:

1. Maganda nga siya pero tamad naman.  She's really beautiful but on the other hand she's lazy. The naman is being used for contrast.
2. Malaki ang lalaki at maliit naman ang babae.  The big one is a boy and the small one (in turn) is a girl.  The naman i think means in turn but this also seems like a form of contrast.
3. Marami namang restaurants sa mall.  Siguro mura naman.  Anyway, there are lots of restuarants to eat at the mall.  Further, it's probably cheap. The naman in the first sentence means anyway. The naman in the second means further. 
4. Hindi naman.  Not really.  The naman with the hindi somehow means not really.  
5. Kumusta ka na? Mabuti naman.  How are you? Fine considering/given the cirumstances.  The naman here means considering or given the circumstances.  I'm actually not too sure about this one.  This is what  one of my Tagalog books says the naman means in this sentence.  

Thanks for the help in advance.


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## AskLang

rockjon said:


> 1. Maganda nga siya pero tamad naman. She's beautiful except she's lazy.
> 2. Malaki ang lalaki at maliit naman ang babae. They guy is big but the girl is small.
> 3. Marami namang restaurants sa mall. Siguro mura naman. There are lots of restuarants to eat at the mall, anyway. Hopefully, they're cheap.
> 4. Hindi naman. I'm not sure about _hindi naman_'s equivalet.
> As for _Not really. _I think not really means talagang hindi (emphatic in sense)
> 5. Kumusta ka na? Mabuti naman. How are you? I'm doing fine (so far).


 
Hope they helped.


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## niernier

In the perspective of an English speaker, "Hindi naman" is equivalent to "Not really"


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## niernier

rockjon said:


> I'm having a hard time figuring what ways I can use the Tagalog enclitic particle naman along with the other really confusing enclitic, nga. These are the ways I know so far:
> 
> 1. Maganda nga siya pero tamad naman. She's really beautiful but on the other hand she's lazy. The naman is being used for contrast.
> 
> 2. Malaki ang lalaki at maliit naman ang babae. The big one is a boy and the small one (in turn) is a girl. The naman i think means in turn but this also seems like a form of contrast.
> 
> 3. Marami namang restaurants sa mall. Siguro mura naman. Anyway, there are lots of restuarants to eat at the mall. Further, it's probably cheap. The naman in the first sentence means anyway. The naman in the second means further.
> 
> 4. Hindi naman.  Not really.  The naman with the hindi somehow means not really.
> 
> 5. Kumusta ka na? Mabuti naman. How are you? Fine considering/given the cirumstances. The naman here means considering or given the circumstances. I'm actually not too sure about this one. This is what one of my Tagalog books says the naman means in this sentence.
> Yes, I agree with what your Tagalog book says.



I find all of them correct.


Okay, so I think I might add here the combination "na+naman" or "na naman", which means "again".  For example.

Na naman!? = Again!?
Hindi ko *na naman *siya nakita. = I was not able to see him *again*.
Umuulan *na naman*. = It's raining *again*.


This enclitic "naman" has very irregular usage and is usually added in a lot of sentences where it can be optional. Thus I say, that it acts like an emoticon, wherein the role is to put certain sense of emotion to sentences so that somehow it becomes conversational. That's why it has so many translations and is therefore used in many situations. 

 Another usage is when giving commands. Hmm.. Let's say you want somebody to open the window.

1. Buksan mo *naman *ang bintana.
vs
2. Buksan mo *nga  *ang bintana.

The first one is the humble way of requesting someone to open the window
whereas the second one is bossy.

Guessing with your examples given, I think that you already got a good foundation in speaking the Filipino language.


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## AskLang

niernier said:


> In the perspective of an English speaker, "Hindi naman" is equivalent to "Not really"


 
Just a caveat that we should not use "not really" when we want to express hindi naman in English, because we might get misinterpreted by the English speakers. Not really means 100% negative, while when filipinos speak of hindi naman, we don't actually express it that way. But there is a hint of expression like "kind of", "to some extent" or in Tagalog "medyo".


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## niernier

AskLang said:


> Just a caveat that we should not use "not really" when we want to express hindi naman in English, because we might get misinterpreted by the English speakers. Not really means 100% negative, while when filipinos speak of hindi naman, we don't actually express it that way. But there is a hint of expression like "kind of", "to some extent" or in Tagalog "medyo".



I actually don't know very much about how about they use "not really". Is it always negative?  But in a hypothetical situation where we would use "hindi naman" in Tagalog, I must say you are correct AskLang.

"*Hindi naman*" by itself is often used in situations where you would like to minimize the negative remark by another person, which implies that you disagree to the person. Maybe a very literal translation of its nuance is "*To some extent you are correct, but I disagree*"


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## AskLang

I'm afraid you're right niernier.. I found a thread where it shows that "not really" may actually be the equivalent of "hindi naman" in English.

http://forum.wordreference.com/showthread.php?t=678800


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## rockjon

Thanks niernier, I completely forgot about the na naman meaning again even though I use it all the time.  There is one thing that I'm confused about naman. The sequence na naman means again but how does its usage differ compared to muli or uli or ulit(though this usually means repeat to me).


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## niernier

rockjon said:


> Thanks niernier, I completely forgot about the na naman meaning again even though I use it all the time. There is one thing that I'm confused about naman. The sequence na naman means again but how does its usage differ compared to muli or uli or ulit(though this usually means repeat to me).


 
 I guess there is no definite rule. The only way you'll know when to use which one between "na naman", "muli" and "ulit" is familiarization with the Filipino language. 

Tagalog *ulit*! wala *na naman* makaintindi!

Or maybe somebody else can try to explain how they differ in usage. But essentially they all mean "again" in English.


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## Valkyr

rockjon said:


> Hi guys,
> 
> I'm having a hard time figuring what ways I can use the Tagalog enclitic particle naman along with the other really confusing enclitic, nga. These are the ways I know so far:
> 
> 1. Maganda nga siya pero tamad naman.  She's really beautiful but on the other hand she's lazy. The naman is being used for contrast.
> 2. Malaki ang lalaki at maliit naman ang babae.  The big one is a boy and the small one (in turn) is a girl.  The naman i think means in turn but this also seems like a form of contrast.
> 3. Marami namang restaurants sa mall.  Siguro mura naman.  Anyway, there are lots of restuarants to eat at the mall.  Further, it's probably cheap. The naman in the first sentence means anyway. The naman in the second means further.
> 4. Hindi naman.  Not really.  The naman with the hindi somehow means not really.
> 5. Kumusta ka na? Mabuti naman.  How are you? Fine considering/given the cirumstances.  The naman here means considering or given the circumstances.  I'm actually not too sure about this one.  This is what  one of my Tagalog books says the naman means in this sentence.
> 
> Thanks for the help in advance.



In the second sentece you use the "marker" *ang* twice, is this allowed as this would denote that both the boy and the woman are focuses of the sentence! should one of these use the "marker" *ng*

thankyou in advance


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## niernier

Valkyr said:


> In the second sentece you use the "marker" *ang* twice, is this allowed as this would denote that both the boy and the woman are focuses of the sentence! should one of these use the "marker" *ng*
> 
> thankyou in advance



This is allowed because two subjects are being compared and both should use "ang" and not "ng". In fact, you can also use "yung"

Malaki yung lalaki at maliit naman yung babae.


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## Valkyr

maraming salmat po si niernier!

i think thats right!

By the way i have been learning tagalog for 2 days now and think i am starting to get a grip on this language!

Interesting to note that i never really noticed how complicated our language (inggles) is, i guess you never know until you try and learn another langauge! 

once again many thanks for your patience and prompt reply!

P.s will probably be asking for help again at some stage


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## barok

rockjon said:


> Hi guys,
> 
> I'm having a hard time figuring what ways I can use the Tagalog enclitic particle naman along with the other really confusing enclitic, nga. These are the ways I know so far:
> 
> 1. Maganda nga siya pero tamad naman.  She's really beautiful but on the other hand she's lazy. The naman is being used for contrast.
> 2. Malaki ang lalaki at maliit naman ang babae.  The big one is a boy and the small one (in turn) is a girl.  The naman i think means in turn but this also seems like a form of contrast.
> 3. Marami namang restaurants sa mall.  Siguro mura naman.  Anyway, there are lots of restuarants to eat at the mall.  Further, it's probably cheap. The naman in the first sentence means anyway. The naman in the second means further.
> 4. Hindi naman.  Not really.  The naman with the hindi somehow means not really.
> 5. Kumusta ka na? Mabuti naman.  How are you? Fine considering/given the cirumstances.  The naman here means considering or given the circumstances.  I'm actually not too sure about this one.  This is what  one of my Tagalog books says the naman means in this sentence.
> 
> Thanks for the help in advance.



If I will define the word "naman" it simply as a word used to soften the tone of the speaker. It is used merely as a tonal additive for requests and answering questions. Whether use it or not it doesn't affect the meaning of the word it follows, only the feel of it. It always reflect a low tone. No equivalent in English.


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