Plural Adjectives in Waray

While there is no such thing as plural adjectives in the English language -- attractives, cutes, beautifuls, uglies -- it is common for Waray language speakers to express Waray adjectives in plural form.

digtoy nga sapatos (tiny shoes)

The letter "G" plays a very important role here because a word (adjective) changes its meaning whenever it (G) is inserted to any singular adjective. Let's start with the simplest Waray adjectives:

ditoy nga balay (a small house)	digtoy nga mga balay (small houses)
dako nga tamsi (a big bird)	dagko nga mga tamsi (big birds)
hataas nga kahoy (a tall tree)	hagtaas nga mga kahoy (tall trees)
habubo nga lingkuran (a low chair)	hagbubo nga mga lingkuran (low chairs)

In the same manner, add the letter "G" to the following adjectives and you'll have them in plural form.

magdakmol ngan magnipis nga mga libro

mahugos nga bata (a skinny child)	maghugos nga mga bata (skinny children)
marasa nga pagkaon (a delicious food)	magrasa nga mga pagkaon (an array of delicious food)
mahumot nga bukad (a fragrant flower)	maghumot nga mga bukad (fragrant flowers)
mahusay nga daraga (a beautiful lady)	maghusay nga mga daraga (beautiful ladies)
mabaysay nga balay (a lovely house)	magbaysay nga mga balay (lovely houses)
madakmol nga libro (a thick book)	magdakmol nga mga libro (thick books)
manipis nga libro (a thin book)	magnipis nga mga libro (thin books)

There may be some exceptions to this rule, but if you're new to the language this lesson will bring you a long way. Hope this helps.

How Plural Ideas Are Expressed in Waray

There are two ways of expressing plural ideas in the Waray language. The first one is easier -- you just add the word "mga" (ma-nguh) before any word. Take a look at these examples:

pagkaon (food)

bata (child) - mga bata (children)
kahoy (tree) - mga kahoy (trees)
harok (kiss) - mga harok (kisses)
sangkay (friend) - mga sangkay (friends)
bugto (sibling) - mga bugto (siblings)
lalaki (man) - mga lalaki (men)
babaye (woman) - mga babaye (women)
daraga (unmarried/young lady) - mga daraga (unmarried/young ladies)
ulitawo (unmarried/young man) - mga ulitawo (unmarried/young men)
urupod (relative) - mga urupod (relatives)
patud (cousin) - mga patud (cousins)
mananap (insect) - mga mananap (insects)

mga pagkaon

The second way of doing it is by adding a prefix and a suffix to the root word. Normally, the prefix KA and the suffix AN are added to the word; hence, bata becomes kabataan and kahoy becomes kakahoyan. Harok (kiss), however, cannot be expressed in plural form using this style. You either say harok or mga harok, but NOT kaharokan.

bata (child) - kabataan (children)
kahoy (tree) - kakahoyan (trees)
bugto (sibling) - kabugtoan (siblings)
sangkay (friend) - kasangkayan (friends)

kadaragan-an ug kaulitawhan (young ladies and young men)

There is a slight variation with how the words lalaki, babaye, and daraga are expressed in plural form in Waray. Instead of the suffix AN, the letter N is added to the root word before adding AN: kalalakin-an, kababayen-an, kadaragan-an.

lalaki (man) -kalalakin-an (men)
babaye (woman) - kababayen-an (women)
daraga (unmarried/young lady) - kadaragan-an (unmarried/young women)

ulitawo (unmarried/young man) - kaulitawhan (unmarried/young men)
patud (cousin) - kapaturan (cousins)
urupod (relative) - kaurupdan (relatives)
mananap (insect) - kamamanampan (insects)

With ulitawo, the letter "O" is replaced with letter "H" before adding the suffix AN: kaulitawhan. Moreover, "D" in patud is dropped and is replaced with the letter "R" before the suffix AN is added. "O" is likewise dropped in urupod when expressed in plural form. The way mananap, changes to its plural form is even more complicated. "M" is inserted between the two final letters (A and P); hence, mananap becomes kamamanampan.

One piece of advice: if you think the second style is complicated, you just stick to the simpler one: add "mga" to any Waray noun (place it before the word) and you will have it in plural form.

Canvass and Compare Prices Before Registering Your Domain Name

Sooner or later, you will consider the idea of buying your own domain name. If you are obsessed (this is too strong a word, I know, but I always like to exaggerate things) with your Google and Alexa rankings, I suggest that you do it early. Buy your own domain name while you still haven't reached a Google Page Rank of 3/10. Why? Domain age is one area that's considered when evaluating a site. The older your site is, the higher its importance in the World Wide Web -- or so I "heard" from other bloggers. The moment you register your own domain name, your site's age returns to 0 (zero) and you lose everything like Facebook Likes, Google PR, Alexa Traffic Rank, and backlinks; hence, it's good to do it early and to do it right.

Before you make that very important decision, look around and compare the prices available on the web. Do a Google or a Yahoo search and you will see that prices of domain names range from $1.99/year to $10/year. I'm not promoting any particular webhost here, but I just want to tell you that there are sites that sell domain names at $1.99. I didn't know this at the time I registered mine. Good luck!

Misay nga Mambanon -- A Waray Parody of Mocking Bird Hill

Here's a Waray song I learned from my father. In the early 1970's he was assigned in San Antonio, Northern Samar as a PACD (Presidential Assistant on Community Development) officer and it was there that he learned the song.

Image source

I became familiar with the Mocking Bird Hill (by Patti Page) tune because of Misay nga Mambanon (Spotted Cat). I'm posting here the lyrics of the song. You may play the youtube video -- audio actually, because except for that static photo there's nothing else to see -- while singing Misay nga Mambanon.


MISAY NGA MAMBANON

Hala la, hala la
Kupkop la, kupkop la
Basi ka takasan san akon mantika
Hala la, hala la
Kupkop la, kupkop la
Basi ka takasan san akon mantika

Misay, misay, misay, misay nga mambanon
Sinaka kagab-i an suga ginparong
Dayon ko la buhat ngan panginanuon
Salbahis nga misay kinupkop la dayon

Hala la, hala la
Kupkop la, kupkop la
Basi ka takasan san akon mantika
Hala la, hala la
Kupkop la, kupkop la
Basi ka takasan san akon mantika

To the "Warays" out there, I hope you'll include this in your list of favorite Waray songs. 

You might also like:
Misay: A Waray Folk Song (with voice clip and English translation)

How to Change the Title of your Blog -- A Beginner's Guide

Changing the title of a blog is easy. Once you learn how to do it, you can change it anytime because it can be done swiftly without using any complicated codes. You can do it in just three steps. Here they are:

1. On your Dashboard, click SETTINGS.



2. On the TITLE, write the new name or title of your blog.


3. Click SAVE SETTINGS.