# I don't want to go to school today



## lukaa18

How would you translate this sentence? : "I don't want to go to school today"


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## DotterKat

_Ayokong pumunta sa eskwela ngayon._

A more colloquial, and more Taglish, way to say it would be _Ayokong pumunta sa school ngayon._


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## lukaa18

DotterKat said:


> _Ayokong pumunta sa eskwela ngayon._
> 
> A more colloquial, and more Taglish, way to say it would be _Ayokong pumunta sa school ngayon._




Could you help me understand that sentence please? Or more specifically the "Ayokong"? I'm new to Tagalog and I was expecting to see at least a "hindi" or "gusto" somewhere but now I'm confused.


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## DotterKat

*Ayaw* is a negator which roughly means _does not like_ or _does not desire_ or _not inclined to._  Think of it as the opposite of gusto which means _does like, desires _or_ is inclined to_. Both ayaw and gusto are psedo-verbs.

*Ako* is a subject pronoun which in English is the subject pronoun I.

*Pumunta* is the actor-focused form of the verb punta (to go).

*Sa* is a directional marker (in English, the _to_ preposition of place).

*Eskwela* means school, a borrowed word from the Spanish escuela. The proper Tagalog word is paaralan.  Eskwela is more colloquial.

The core of the sentence is:
Ayaw (Don't like) + ako (I) + pumunta (to go) + sa (to) + eskwela (school).

Linkers are used to connect a subject pronoun with its predicate.  In this case, we need the linker na between ako and pumunta:
Ayaw ako na pumunta sa eskwela.

In spoken language, ako is frequently shortened to ko. Properly written, it should be 'ko to indicate the dropping of the letter a. Strictly speaking, this would differentiate it from the non-focused pronoun ko.
Ayaw 'ko na pumunta sa eskwela.

Colloquial speech further simplifies this core sentence by elision and liaison.
Ayaw + 'ko = Ayoko
Ayoko na pumunta sa eskwela.

Further simplification in colloquial speech converts the na linker to ng resulting in:
Ayokong pumunta sa eskwela.
(Some would shorten this even more to '_Yokong pumunta sa eskwela_, but that would really be stretching the limits of acceptable grammar. This latter form sounds juvenile and is best avoided, though it is frequently heard).

Your suggestion of using the pseudo-verb gusto with the negator hindi is also possible.

Hindi (not) + gusto (like) = Hindi gusto (not like)

The core would be:
Hindi + gusto + ako + pumunta + sa + eskwela.

When the hindi negator is used, it is followed immediately by the pronoun:
Hindi + ako + gusto + pumunta + sa + eskwela.

Elision:
Hindi + 'ko + gusto + pumunta + sa + eskwela.

The na linker now goes after the pseudo-verb gusto:
Hindi + 'ko + gusto + na + pumunta + sa + eskwela.

Liaison converts na to ng:
Hindi + 'ko + gustong + pumunta  + sa + eskwela.

Colloquial speech simplifies this further by using di instead of hindi resulting in:
Di ko gustong pumunta sa eskwela.

Either *Ayokong pumunta sa eskwela* or *Di ko gustong pumunta sa eskwela* are acceptable in colloquial speech.
Written proper grammar would stop at either *Ayaw kong pumunta sa eskwela* or *Hindi ko gustong pumunta sa eskwela*. Language purists would use paaralan instead of eskwela.


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## lukaa18

DotterKat said:


> *Ayaw* is a negator which roughly means _does not like_ or _does not desire_ or _not inclined to._  Think of it as the opposite of gusto which means _does like, desires _or_ is inclined to_. Both ayaw and gusto are psedo-verbs.
> 
> *Ako* is a subject pronoun which in English is the subject pronoun I.
> 
> *Pumunta* is the actor-focused form of the verb punta (to go).
> 
> *Sa* is a directional marker (in English, the _to_ preposition of place).
> 
> *Eskwela* means school, a borrowed word from the Spanish escuela. The proper Tagalog word is paaralan.  Eskwela is more colloquial.
> 
> The core of the sentence is:
> Ayaw (Don't like) + ako (I) + pumunta (to go) + sa (to) + eskwela (school).
> 
> Linkers are used to connect a subject pronoun with its predicate.  In this case, we need the linker na between ako and pumunta:
> Ayaw ako na pumunta sa eskwela.
> 
> In spoken language, ako is frequently shortened to ko. Properly written, it should be 'ko to indicate the dropping of the letter a. Strictly speaking, this would differentiate it from the non-focused pronoun ko.
> Ayaw 'ko na pumunta sa eskwela.
> 
> Colloquial speech further simplifies this core sentence by elision and liaison.
> Ayaw + 'ko = Ayoko
> Ayoko na pumunta sa eskwela.
> 
> Further simplification in colloquial speech converts the na linker to ng resulting in:
> Ayokong pumunta sa eskwela.
> (Some would shorten this even more to '_Yokong pumunta sa eskwela_, but that would really be stretching the limits of acceptable grammar. This latter form sounds juvenile and is best avoided, though it is frequently heard).
> 
> Your suggestion of using the pseudo-verb gusto with the negator hindi is also possible.
> 
> Hindi (not) + gusto (like) = Hindi gusto (not like)
> 
> The core would be:
> Hindi + gusto + ako + pumunta + sa + eskwela.
> 
> When the hindi negator is used, it is followed immediately by the pronoun:
> Hindi + ako + gusto + pumunta + sa + eskwela.
> 
> Elision:
> Hindi + 'ko + gusto + pumunta + sa + eskwela.
> 
> The na linker now goes after the pseudo-verb gusto:
> Hindi + 'ko + gusto + na + pumunta + sa + eskwela.
> 
> Liaison converts na to ng:
> Hindi + 'ko + gustong + pumunta  + sa + eskwela.
> 
> Colloquial speech simplifies this further by using di instead of hindi resulting in:
> Di ko gustong pumunta sa eskwela.
> 
> Either *Ayokong pumunta sa eskwela* or *Di ko gustong pumunta sa eskwela* are acceptable in colloquial speech.
> Written proper grammar would stop at either *Ayaw kong pumunta sa eskwela* or *Hindi ko gustong pumunta sa eskwela*. Language purists would use paaralan instead of eskwela.




Maraming salamat for your explanation! I learned many useful things


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