# "Nga" and other enclitics



## romelako

Hello all again.  I've got a couple more questions about the enclitic "nga" as well as ground rules for said enclitcs.  I want to know because many Filipinos in conversation as well as in chat often use "nga," "naman" even though you don't necessarily "have to."  I want to be able to make my writing a lot more "diverse" and not so straight up.

My first question was regarding "nga" and "huwag."  Since "nga" is used to "soften" commands, if you were telling someone:

"Huwag ka *nga* mag-logoff*"

...would that be correct to say that?  Or would I have to say:

"Huwag ka *ngang* (including the NA linker?) mag-logoff"

I know it's kind of a stupid question, but I don't know if you need a linker here or not, or if I'm even saying anything.

And my second question is the order in which enclitics are put.  I know the "general rule" is shortest to longest, but what happens when you have enclitics like "na" and "po?"  Example:

"Sabihin n'yo *po* sa kanya"

When I'm practicing, I'm usually speaking to adults, so I want to know a general rule of where to put the "po" and any other enclitics.

Thanks in advanced.


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## niernier

We don't necessarily "have to" use enclitics but they exist and are part of the language. You can consider them as emoticons which convey or express the mood of the sentence.

Loosely speaking, nga without the ligature "-ng" is fine to say but if I am to say that phrase, I would say it with the ligature. Huwag ka *nga* maglog-off and Huwag ka *ngang *maglog-off are both okay.  Nga softens the command so that it sounds more like a request but there are times it would be perceived as bossy depending on your tone.

While we are in to it,if you would like your writing to be a lot more diverse, you could also use the temporal enclitic *muna*. Its direct translation is _first _or _a while. _Temporal enclitics are used to indicate time. Na and pa are also temporal enclitics. "Huwag ka *munang *maglog-off" tells the listener "For the moment do not log-off"(we still have a lot to talk about).

Funny thing is I don't know this rule shortest to longest. The order if you are to use na and po in sequence are "na po".

Sabihin n'yo *na po* sa kanya.

I am sorry but I cannot seem to formulate a general rule on where to put the enclitics. They are certainly not randomly located so all you can do is observe how they were placed in sentences.


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## romelako

Okay, thanks a lot niernier.  You're always quick to answer the questions that I have


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