Ilocano→Tagalog
Free Ilocano and Tagalog translation

English to Ilocano Translation

Translate English to Ilocano instantly, then check the result against a phrasebook written by people rather than a machine.

0 / 5,000
The translation appears here.

Ctrl + Enter to translate · Ctrl + Shift + S to swap. Output is machine-generated — check anything that matters.

English phrases with Ilocano translations

158 checked entries across 13 categories, sourced from published references rather than generated by the tool above.

EnglishIlocanoEnglish
Good morningNaimbag a bigatGood morning
Good afternoonNaimbag a malemGood afternoon
Good eveningNaimbag a rabiiGood evening
Good dayNaimbag nga aldawGood day
Greeting / helloKablaawGreeting / hello
How are you?Kumusta ka?How are you?
I'm fineMayat metI'm fine
WelcomeNaragsak nga isasangbayWelcome
GoodbyeAgpakadaakonGoodbye
See you / bye for nowKasta paySee you / bye for now
All 158 phrases

How English and Ilocano differ

Ilocano and Tagalog are both Austronesian languages of the Philippines, but they sit on different branches. Ilocano belongs to the Northern Luzon group; Tagalog to Central Philippine. They are roughly as close as English and German — clearly related, sharing structure and vocabulary, but not mutually intelligible.

The two languages are not mutually intelligible. A Tagalog speaker with no exposure to Ilocano will pick out isolated words — numbers, Spanish loans, a handful of shared roots — but not connected speech. Ilocano speakers in Luzon usually do understand Tagalog, though that is because it is the national language of school and media rather than because the two are alike. The comprehension runs one way.

Words that exist in both languages and mean different things

These are where confident readers get caught, and where the translator above is least reliable — a word it does not recognise is passed through unchanged, which can land in the other language as a real word with an unrelated meaning.

  • apo

    Ilocano: A respectful title for an elder or person of authority — roughly 'sir' or 'ma'am'.

    Tagalog: Grandchild.

  • baga

    Ilocano: Red.

    Tagalog: An ember, or a lung. Never the colour.

  • daya

    Ilocano: East.

    Tagalog: Cheating, deceit, trickery.

  • saan

    Ilocano: No / not. Also 'where', depending on construction.

    Tagalog: Where — only.

The grammar differs too: the two languages use entirely different linking particles, mark their nouns with different sets of articles, and build comparison in different ways. Full detail in the differences guide and the pronoun system.

How accurate is it?

We ran all 153 translatable entries in our Ilocano↔Tagalog phrasebook through the same engine this site uses, and compared each result against the human-checked Tagalog. Categories are our own; the comparison ignores punctuation and casing.

We ran all 153 translatable entries in this phrasebook through the translator above and compared each against the human-checked Ilocano. It matched or came close 48.4% of the time.

Translating out of Ilocano works considerably better than translating into it. Across the same 153 phrases, Ilocano as the source scored 56.9% and 60.1%; Ilocano as the target scored 46.4% and 48.4% — a gap of roughly eleven points.

Full results, category by category

Common questions

Is Ilocano the same as Tagalog?
No. They are separate languages on different branches of the Austronesian family — Ilocano in the Northern Luzon group, Tagalog in Central Philippine. They share structure and a good deal of Spanish-era vocabulary, but they are not mutually intelligible. The relationship is roughly comparable to English and German.
Can a Tagalog speaker understand Ilocano?
Generally not. A Tagalog speaker will pick out numbers, days of the week and Spanish loanwords, but not connected speech. The reverse is usually true — most Ilocano speakers understand Tagalog — but that is because Tagalog is the national language taught in schools and used in media, not because the languages are close. The comprehension runs one way.
How accurate is Ilocano to Tagalog translation?
We measured it rather than guessing. Running all 153 phrases in our curated phrasebook through this tool, the machine output matched or closely matched the human translation 56.9% of the time. It was strongest on colours (86%) and time expressions (77%), and weakest on family terms, introductions and everyday courtesy (33–44%). Treat it as a helpful draft, not a finished translation.
Why did the translation come back exactly the same as what I typed?
Because the engine did not recognise the word and echoed your input instead of failing visibly. This happened to ten phrases in our audit — 'Haan' (no), 'Danom' (water), 'Ikan' (fish), 'Manu?' (how much?) and others all came back unchanged despite having ordinary Tagalog equivalents. Be aware that some words genuinely are identical in both languages: 'lima', 'pito', 'itlog' and 'kape' are the same in Ilocano and Tagalog, so unchanged output is not automatically wrong.
Why does the translation sometimes add words that were not in my text?
Short greetings are the usual trigger. Translating 'Naimbag nga bigat. Kumusta ka?' returns 'Magandang umaga, guys. Kumusta ka na?' — the word 'guys' corresponds to nothing in the Ilocano. If the output is noticeably longer than your input, check it before using it.
How many people speak Ilocano?
The 2020 Philippine census recorded Ilocano as the language generally spoken at home in about 1.86 million households, or 7.1% of the national total, and 8.0% of the household population identified as ethnically Ilocano — roughly 8.7 million people. It is the main language of northern Luzon and the third-largest ethnic group in the country. Figures claiming tens of millions of Ilocano speakers, which circulate on other translation sites, are not supported by census data.
Is Tagalog the same as Filipino?
Close enough that this tool treats them as one language. Filipino is the standardised national language and is based on Tagalog; both share the ISO code 'tl', which is why you will not find them as separate options here. Selecting Tagalog gives you what most people mean by Filipino.
Does this handle different Ilocano dialects?
Only partly. The engine targets a generalised standard closest to the Ilocos Norte and Ilocos Sur varieties. Vocabulary specific to Cagayan Valley, Abra, Kalinga or Apayao is often passed through untranslated rather than flagged as unrecognised. If a result looks wrong, check whether the input used a regional form.
Can I translate Tagalog to Ilocano as well?
Yes — use the Tagalog to Ilocano page, or press the swap button above the text box. Quality in that direction has not yet been separately audited; the 56.9% figure above measures Ilocano into Tagalog only.
Is it free, and are there limits?
It is free with no account required. A single translation is capped at 5,000 characters, and there is a rate limit to keep the service available for everyone. There is no limit on how many translations you can do overall.

Related translators

Who maintains this

Compiled and maintained by John Smith. Last checked .

I compile Philippine-language phrase data from published references, check it against multiple sources, and measure the machine translation on this site rather than making claims about it. I am not a linguist. Entries I have not been able to confirm are marked as pending review rather than presented as verified.

No native Ilocano speaker has reviewed this data yet. 11 phrasebook entries are marked pending review. See the phrasebook and its sources.

Translations are produced by a general-purpose machine translation engine and are not a substitute for a professional translator.