# Almost



## rockjon

Hey guys,

I'm a little confused about the usage of the two words in Tagalog for almost, muntik and halos.  As I currently understand, muntik (though often seen as muntik na) is used along side verbs and halos seems to be used as type of adverb/adjective (I am not sure though).

Examples:
muntik na akong namatay sa gutom. I almost died from hunger.
muntik na akong lumuha sa ginawa niya sa kaniya. I almost cried from what he did to her.
halos dalawang oras kami nag-usap sa telephono. We talked for almost two hours on the telephone.  
natulog ako sa halos buong araw. I slept for almost the entire day.

I've also seem some examples where both words are used simultaneously. 

Examples from the internet:
_halos muntik_ ko _na_ makalimutang may flight pa pala ako. I almost forgot (accidentally) that I have (surprise feeling for pala) a flight. 
_halos muntik na_ kaming sumigaw sa tuwa. We almost shouted in delight.

I think that using both halos and muntik together as a form of intensifying the almost similar to using the mas and lalo (or higit na) together eg. mas lalong maganda si maria kaysa kay evelyn. Maria is a lot more beautiful than Evelyn.  However, I'm not too sure.  

Thanks for the help in advance.


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## niernier

Let us differentiate the usage by examining these sentences. 

1. *Muntik *na akong mamatay sa gutom.
2. *Halos *mamatay na ako sa gutom.

Both of them translates to "I almost died from hunger."
*Muntik *on the first sentence denotes something like 99% you were about to die from hunger. It somehow has the element of chance though not apparently seen.
On the other hand, *halos *plainly means "almost". 


In this sentence, just try to look at the element of chance denoted by muntik.

_halos muntik_ ko _na_ makalimutang may flight pa pala ako. I almost forgot (accidentally) that I have (surprise feeling for pala) a flight. 

Hope its quite clear to you now.


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## annely

I think you can also look at muntik and halos meaning as follows:

*Muntik* - (just) about to
*Halos* - almost

*halos muntik ko na makalimutang may flight pa pala ako.*
I was almost about to forget that I had a flight.

That sounds weird so I`m not sure if it`s right. Another friend asked the same question so I`m trying to figure out how to explain it to him. Advice?


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## niernier

I think rockjon is correct that halos and muntik together is a form of intensifying the "almost". (Wow, very good observation rockjon!) But I still stand by my judgment that muntik has the element of chance in it.


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## mataripis

1.)almost done= halos tapos na.      2.)Almost reached by the thief= muntik nang maabot ng magnanakaw.   These two words puzzled most Tagalog learners . From these samples, They can be used alternately.


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