# When to choose between -um- and -in-?



## MarFish

What is the difference between:

"kumain ako ng saging"
and
"kinain ko ang saging"

First of all, are these two sentences correct?
When should I prefer which? Do I choose the first option to emphasize that I performed the action of eating and the second option when I am talking specifically about the banana?

I have been trying to teach myself... !


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## DotterKat

Both sentences are correct and you are also correct in that they mean two different things.

Kumain ako ng saging means _I ate a banana.
_Kinain ko ang saging means _I ate the banana. ---- (or more appropriately but more awkwardly stated, __The banana was eaten by me.)
_
The first sentence uses the -um- affix, one of those that form actor-focus verbs (the others being _mag- _and _ma-_) in which the emphasis is on the action performed by the actor  --- in this case, that of _eating _a banana_.

_The second sentence uses the -in- affix, which forms object-focus verbs in which the emphasis is on the object_ ---- _in this case, the fact that a banana _has been eaten._


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## Equinozio

It's not really a matter of emphasis, but rather of definiteness of the object.

Kumain ako ng saging. - I ate _a_ banana.
-> banana is indefinite, the listener doesn't know which one (and it doesn't matter)

Kinain ko ang saging. - I ate _the _banana.
-> banana is definite, it matters which one is meant (it has been mentioned before, or the listener somehow knows which one)

When the object of an action is definite, it generally becomes the "Point of Departure"  (aka "focus", "topic", "trigger", "theme", "subject") of the sentence. This is one of the differences between the Tagalog POD and the English subject (see point #4.)

This does not apply to other "roles" with regard to the action, such as the doer, direction, location, beneficiary, instrument, cause, or reference. They can be definite without being the POD.
Pinuntahan ko _ang _condo. - I went to _the _condo. (ang condo is the POD)
Pumunta ako _sa _condo. - I went to _the _condo. (ako is the POD)
In both cases, the condo is definite and the direction of the action.

Which affix you use for those non-object focus (POD) verbs is more a matter of feeling or circumstance and there is usually more than one possibility.

Also, there is more than one -um- and more than one -in affix.
See this list of Tagalog verb affixes with their meanings.

Also see: Roles of the Tagalog POD.


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## mataripis

MarFish said:


> What is the difference between:
> 
> "kumain ako ng saging"
> and
> "kinain ko ang saging"
> 
> First of all, are these two sentences correct?
> When should I prefer which? Do I choose the first option to emphasize that I performed the action of eating and the second option when I am talking specifically about the banana?
> 
> I have been trying to teach myself... !


hi Marfish!  1.) you feel hungry and there are bananas in front of you- free. Then you can say = Kinain ko ang saging.   2.) in a party or occassion, they serve banana and most visitors eat, so you join them! It is time to say after you eat banana= Kumain ako ng saging.


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