# May ipapakita ako sa iyo



## linguaholic

Hi everyone

I was wondering if somebody could tell me what the following Tagalog sentence means in English:

*May ipapakita ako sa iyo*


A proper translation and some information about the grammar and morphology would be highly appreciated.

Regards

Lingua


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## mataripis

hi linguaholic! i can provide you the translation but not  explanations.  The English translation is " I have something to show you".


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## DotterKat

Verbal focus plays an important part in Tagalog grammar.

Your sentence is *May ipapakita ako sa iyo *[*May* (indefinite phrase construction) + *ipapakita* (root verb _kita _conjugated in the contemplated object-focus form) *ako *(first-person singular _"ang" personal pronoun)_ *sa *(marker) *iyo *(second-person singular _"sa" _personal pronoun)].

Since the sentence is object-focused, the more appropriate equivalent is _There is something I will show you_. This sentence mimics the emphasis that the Tagalog original text places on the object to be revealed rather than on the actor that does the revealing.  The correspondence is not perfect since English does not conjugate verbs according to focus but instead has active and passive verb forms that can be considered the closest analog, albeit imperfect, of Tagalog verbal focus.

All that being said, the sentences _I have something to show you, There is something I will show you, There is something I have to show you_ of course all mean roughly the same thing and could all be taken as the equivalent of _May ipapakita ako sa iyo_.  However, if one is trying to learn Tagalog it is critical to appreciate the nuances and syntactical differences required by verbal focus.


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