# Magpa affix verb construction.



## Inglip

I am trying to understand magpa/pa...in verbs. 

My book isn't helping me much haha. It literally says that it is a verb construction that means an act done on, or to another. 

It then gives 20 or so examples, but offers no translation, bar a couple.

Nagpakain ako ng mahihirap na tao

This is how I understand the sentence to work.

[Nagpakain] - Past tense, giving food to another.
[Ako] - Singular 'I', in 'ang' form.
[mahihirap na tao] - Poor people, in the 'ng' form because of the preceding article. 

So the verb means to do something to another, the _*'ang' *_object is doing the verb, and the _*'ng'*_ object is having the verb done onto them. 

So the translation is - _I gave food to poor people.
_
I know it is not the poor people who gave food to me, because of the _*'ang'*_ and *'ng'*

I can switch the sentence around by alternating the objects to their other form:
Nagpakain ko ang mahihirap na tao - _Poor people gave food to me. Or, I was given food by poor people. _

It would be wrong to say - _Nagpakain ko ng mahihirap na tao._  - It is wrong because we have two objects in _*'ng'*_ form. 
It is equally wrong to say - _Nagpakain ako ang mahihirap na tao_. - Because we have two objects in '*ang'* form.
Something would need to be changed or added. 

So that was my logic of the sentence, and how I understand it.

I hope you're still with me.

Another example:

Ang aking katulong ay nagpapakain ng bata
My helper is giving food to the child.

This again follows the logic I understand. The '_*ang'*_ object acts on the verb, and the _*'ng'*_ object is being acted on. So we know the helper is giving food to the child, and not the other way around.


Now this is where I know I must be wrong:

Nagpapagamot ng sakit ang matandang babae sa doktor
The way I underatnd things:

Nagpapagamot - Something is currently being treated.
The 'ng' object (the sickness) is being treated.
The 'ang' object (old lady) is the one doing the treating.

So the old woman is treating the sickness. 

Then we have another object in _*'sa'*_ form. Now I don't know why!

I know the sentence should actually be: _the old ladys sickness is being treated by a doctor._ 
But in the way I understand things, I would expect the sentence to be:
Nagpapagamot ang doktor ng sakit ng matandang babae.

This was a long winded way of asking how the magpa/pa...in verb is contructed, and how the objects are acting around the verb.

Thanks


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## niernier

> So the verb means to do something to another, the _*'ang' *_object is doing the verb, and the _*'ng'*_ object is having the verb done onto them.



Yes, that's correct.

Let's start with this very simple sentence, *"Nagpapagamot ang matandang babae."* In case you are wondering, this sentence is complete and can stand on its own.  Put in mind, just like what you have mentioned that the ang object is doing the verb.  Think in Filipino, when we say nagpapagamot it means, "to get treatment". In this respect, it means that the old lady is getting the treatment. In the case of the verb nagpapagamot, the ang object functions as a _receiver _of the treatment, unlike the verb nagpapakain, the ang object functions as the _giver_. When compared to other verbs, I think that the only peculiar verb here is nagpapakain because of the reason I mentioned. 

 I know, it's also confusing on my part if I say that the "*act done to another*" by the old lady is to get treatment from the doctor. It might better if we define magpa- affix to mean "to have someone do something". 

Back to our sentence, she's getting treatment from whom? From the doctor. So let's put it into the sentence. *Nagpapagamot ang matandang babae sa doktor.*  Or you can also say *Nagpapagamot sa doktor ang matandang babae.* They're just the same. Remember that _sa _is our universal preposition in Tagalog.

I hope my explanation is not confusing.


EDIT:



> I can switch the sentence around by alternating the objects to their other form:
> Nagpakain ko ang mahihirap na tao - _Poor people gave food to me. Or, I was given food by poor people. _



Pinakain ako ng mahihirap na tao. <-_ Poor people gave food to me.
_Pinakain ko ang mahihirap na tao. _<- I gave food to poor people.

Nagpa- affix is always actor focused s_o you can't say "nagpakain ko". It's always "nagpakain ako".


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## Inglip

I think I get it. It is because the verb isn't 'give treatment to something' it is 'receive treatment to something'

So I was right with the 'ang/ng' but the verb it's self is confusing.

So the old lady is the one doing the verb, and that verb is receiving treatment to something. So she is receiving treatment to the sickness, from the doctor.

Ok,thank you  I get it now...just haha


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## mataripis

Inglip said:


> I am trying to understand magpa/pa...in verbs.
> 
> My book isn't helping me much haha. It literally says that it is a verb construction that means an act done on, or to another.
> 
> It then gives 20 or so examples, but offers no translation, bar a couple.
> 
> Nagpakain ako ng mahihirap na tao
> 
> This is how I understand the sentence to work.
> 
> [Nagpakain] - Past tense, giving food to another.
> [Ako] - Singular 'I', in 'ang' form.
> [mahihirap na tao] - Poor people, in the 'ng' form because of the preceding article.
> 
> So the verb means to do something to another, the _*'ang' *_object is doing the verb, and the _*'ng'*_ object is having the verb done onto them.
> 
> So the translation is - _I gave food to poor people.
> _
> I know it is not the poor people who gave food to me, because of the _*'ang'*_ and *'ng'*
> 
> I can switch the sentence around by alternating the objects to their other form:
> Nagpakain ko ang mahihirap na tao - _Poor people gave food to me. Or, I was given food by poor people. _
> 
> It would be wrong to say - _Nagpakain ko ng mahihirap na tao._  - It is wrong because we have two objects in _*'ng'*_ form.
> It is equally wrong to say - _Nagpakain ako ang mahihirap na tao_. - Because we have two objects in '*ang'* form.
> Something would need to be changed or added.
> 
> So that was my logic of the sentence, and how I understand it.
> 
> I hope you're still with me.
> 
> Another example:
> 
> Ang aking katulong ay nagpapakain ng bata
> My helper is giving food to the child.
> 
> This again follows the logic I understand. The '_*ang'*_ object acts on the verb, and the _*'ng'*_ object is being acted on. So we know the helper is giving food to the child, and not the other way around.
> 
> 
> Now this is where I know I must be wrong:
> 
> Nagpapagamot ng sakit ang matandang babae sa doktor
> The way I underatnd things:
> 
> Nagpapagamot - Something is currently being treated.
> The 'ng' object (the sickness) is being treated.
> The 'ang' object (old lady) is the one doing the treating.
> 
> So the old woman is treating the sickness.
> 
> Then we have another object in _*'sa'*_ form. Now I don't know why!
> 
> I know the sentence should actually be: _the old ladys sickness is being treated by a doctor._
> But in the way I understand things, I would expect the sentence to be:
> Nagpapagamot ang doktor ng sakit ng matandang babae.
> 
> This was a long winded way of asking how the magpa/pa...in verb is contructed, and how the objects are acting around the verb.
> 
> Thanks


here are my Tagalog sentences for 1.) Pinakain ko ang mahirap na mga Tao( I fed them[the poor people]). We can write it this way= Ang mga mahirap na tao ay pinakain ko.  the correctness of grammar in Tagalog has the rhyme unchanged even you place the verb on 1st part of the sentence(but we must omit "ay" (is/are) ).2.) Ang katulong ko ay nagpapakain ng bata. = or  = Nagpapakain ng bata ang katulong ko.(my maid is feeding the child).3.) Ang Matandang babae na may sakit ay nagpagamot sa Doktor. or = Nagpagamot sa Doktor ang matandang babae na may sakit.(The sick old lady asked help from a Doctor).


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