# Dalawa, pangalawa



## zhonglin

Please help me with some Tagalog sentences:

1) dalawa lang kaming mag kapatid, -> can i say "there's only 2 of us as siblings?
2) pangalawa ako sa magkakapatid -> can I say "I'm the second to the youngest in siblings"


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## DotterKat

zhonglin said:


> 1) dalawa lang kaming mag kapatid, -> can i say "there's only 2 of us as siblings?



No.
You simply say _There's only two of us siblings in the family_.



zhonglin said:


> 2) pangalawa ako sa magkakapatid -> can I say "I'm the second to the youngest in siblings"



No.
First, recall that the adjectival affix _magkaka-_ is used to denote a relation or common quality among three or more entities.
To express a relation or shared quality between only two entities, use the adjectival affix _magka-_.

Dalawa kayong magkapatid.
Tatlo kayong magkakapatid.

Magkamukha kayong dalawa.
Magkakamukha kayong tatlo.

Kayong dalawa ay magkaibigan.
Kayong tatlo ay magkakaibigan.

Magkapitbahay kaming dalawa.
Magkakapitbahay kaming tatlo.

Thus, the correct sentence is:

_Pangalawa ako sa dalawang magkapatid._

Now, you have mentioned that there are only two children in your family, you being the last to be born. If this is accurate then you are the younger child of your parents and the younger of two siblings. You are not "_the second to the youngest_" for there are only two siblings in the family. Recall that for the superlative adjective _youngest_ to be invoked, there has to be at least three siblings being discussed.

Family A (two children)
Child #1: older sibling
Child #2: younger sibling

Family B (three children)
Child #1: oldest sibling
Child #2: younger sibling
Child #3: youngest sibling

Thus:

_Pangalawa ako sa dalawang magkapatid_ =_ I am the second of two siblings_ OR _I am the younger of two siblings_.

The phrases _second to the youngest sibling or  child _or_ second to the last sibling or child_  should be reserved for a family of at least four children, if not more, in order to avoid confusion.

Family C (four children)
Child #1: oldest sibling
Child #2: second sibling
Child #3: third sibling OR second to the last sibling OR second to the youngest sibling
Child #4: youngest sibling


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## zhonglin

I definitely learned a lot from this thread! Thank you a lot!


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