“Where” in every Philippine language
Where across 9 languages, and what the differences tell you.
Last updated
Side by side
| Language | Where |
|---|---|
| English | Where |
| Tagalog | Saan |
| Ilocano | Sadino |
| Cebuano | Asa |
| Hiligaynon | Diin |
| Waray | Hain |
| Bikol | Sain |
| Kapampangan | Nokarin |
| Pangasinan | Iner |
What the pattern shows
Seven distinct words. Cebuano 'asa' is a false friend in Tagalog, where it means to hope or depend on someone.
No two languages here use the same word. That is unusual even on this list, and it is the clearest possible answer to whether these are dialects of one another.
In a phrase
From the Ilocano to Tagalog phrasebook, where every row was checked against published references:
Where are you going?
Ilocano Papanam?
Tagalog Saan ka pupunta?
Where does this bus go?
Ilocano Sadino ti papanan daytoy a bus?
Tagalog Saan papunta ang bus na ito?
Where is the bus to ___?
Ilocano Sadino ti bus a mapan ___?
Tagalog Nasaan ang bus papuntang ___?
Watch out
saan does not mean the same thing everywhere:
- No, not — an alternative to haan in Ilocano
- Where in Tagalog
An Ilocano answering 'no' and a Tagalog speaker hearing 'where' is the single most common misunderstanding between the two.
asa does not mean the same thing everywhere:
- To hope, to depend on someone in Tagalog
- Where in Cebuano
The Cebuano question word and the Tagalog verb sit in the same slot in a sentence often enough to confuse both.
More question words
The whole category as a word list: Ilocano Question Words · Tagalog Question Words
Where this comes from
This row is one of 161 concept pages drawn from a parallel set of everyday vocabulary held across nine languages. You can browse all of them, download the whole set under CC BY-SA 4.0, or paste text to find out which language it is.
Compiled from published general reference and pending review by native speakers. If something here is wrong in a language you speak, please tell us.