English to Ilocano Phrasebook
158 everyday phrases, grouped by the situation you need them in. Every entry was checked against published references rather than generated by a translation engine.
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.
- Phrases
- 158
- Categories
- 13
- Cited sources
- 2
- Pending review
- 11
Showing all 158 phrases across 13 categories.
Greetings
Openers you will hear every day in Ilocos.
| English | Ilocano | English |
|---|---|---|
| Good morning | Naimbag a bigat | Good morningThe linker is 'a' after a consonant and 'nga' after a vowel — 'Naimbag a bigat' but 'Naimbag nga aldaw'. |
| Good afternoon | Naimbag a malem | Good afternoon |
| Good evening | Naimbag a rabii | Good eveningTagalog 'gabi' is a stress pair: gabí is evening, gábi is taro. Ilocano keeps them apart entirely — rabii versus aba. |
| Good day | Naimbag nga aldaw | Good day'nga' rather than 'a' here because aldaw begins with a vowel. |
| Greeting / hello | Kablaaw | Greeting / helloKablaaw is the noun 'a greeting' and appears on signs and cards more than in speech. Ilocano speakers usually open with 'Kumusta ka?' instead. |
| How are you? | Kumusta ka? | How are you?Identical in both languages — both borrowed it from Spanish '¿cómo está?'. One of the few sentences that needs no translation at all. |
| I'm fine | Mayat met | I'm fine |
| Welcome | Naragsak nga isasangbay | Welcome |
| Goodbye | Agpakadaakon | Goodbye |
| See you / bye for now | Kasta pay | See you / bye for now |
| See you soon | Agkita tan to | See you soon |
| Take care | Agaluadka | Take care'Agannadka' is the commoner form in the Ilocos provinces; both are understood. |
Courtesy
Please, thank you, sorry, yes and no.
| English | Ilocano | English |
|---|---|---|
| Thank you | Agyamanak | Thank youBuilt on the root 'yaman' with the ag- verb prefix and -ak 'I'. It is a full sentence, unlike Tagalog 'salamat'. |
| Thank you very muchpending review | Agyamanak iti kasta unay | Thank you very much |
| You're welcome | Awan ti anyaman na | You're welcomeIlocano 'awan' and Tagalog 'wala' are the matching negative-existential words — 'there is none'. The two phrases are structurally identical. |
| Please | Pangngaasim | PleaseSources give both 'Pangngaasi' and 'Pangngaasim'; the -m is the second-person suffix, so 'pangngaasim' is 'your kindness'. |
| Forgive me / I'm sorry | Pakawanennak | Forgive me / I'm sorry |
| Excuse me / pardon me | Dispensarennak | Excuse me / pardon meBoth languages took this from Spanish 'dispensar'. |
| Excuse me (getting someone's attention) | Pakawanennak | Excuse me (getting someone's attention)Ilocano uses the same word for apologising and for getting attention; Tagalog splits them — 'Patawarin mo ako' to apologise, 'Mawalang-galang po' to interrupt politely. In speech most Tagalog speakers just say 'Excuse me po'. |
| Yes | Wen | Yes |
| No | Haan | No'Saan' is the equally common Ilocano variant. Note the trap: Ilocano 'saan' also means 'where', and Tagalog 'saan' means only 'where'. |
Introductions
Names, origins and first meetings.
| English | Ilocano | English |
|---|---|---|
| What is your name? | Ania ti naganmo? | What is your name?Ilocano 'ti' does the work Tagalog splits between 'ang' and 'ng'. |
| I am ___ | Siak ni ___ | I am ___Both use a personal-name marker before the name: Ilocano 'ni', Tagalog 'si'. |
| Nice to meet you | Naragsakak a maam-ammoka | Nice to meet you |
| Where are you from? | Taga ano ka? | Where are you from?Both share the prefix 'taga-' meaning 'from'. Ilocano pairs it with 'ano', Tagalog with 'saan'. |
| I'm from ___ | Taga ___ ak | I'm from ___ |
Understanding
Getting by when you do not follow.
| English | Ilocano | English |
|---|---|---|
| I don't understand | Diak maawatan | I don't understand'Haan ko nga maawatan' is the fuller form. 'Diak' contracts 'di' + '-ak'. |
| I don't know | Diak ammo | I don't know |
| Do you speak English? | Agsasao ka iti Inggles? | Do you speak English? |
| I can't speak Ilocano | Diak makapagsao iti Ilocano | I can't speak Ilocano |
| Just a little | Bassit lang | Just a littleBoth languages use the same borrowed particle 'lang' for 'only'. |
| Is there someone here who speaks English? | Adda kadi tao ditoy nga agsasao iti Inggles? | Is there someone here who speaks English?Ilocano 'adda' and Tagalog 'may' are the matching positive-existential words. |
Numbers
Native Ilocano numerals and their Tagalog equivalents.
| English | Ilocano | English |
|---|---|---|
| One | Maysa | One |
| Two | Dua | Two |
| Three | Tallo | ThreeCognates — Ilocano doubles the l where Tagalog has tl. |
| Four | Uppat | Four |
| Five | Lima | FiveIdentical. 'Lima' for five goes back to Proto-Austronesian and survives unchanged in both. |
| Six | Innem | Six |
| Seven | Pito | SevenIdentical in both. |
| Eight | Walo | EightIdentical in both. |
| Nine | Siam | Nine |
| Ten | Sangapulo | TenIlocano builds tens transparently: sanga- 'one' + pulo 'ten'. |
| Eleven | Sangapulo ket maysa | ElevenThe systems diverge here: Ilocano says 'ten and one', Tagalog uses the labing- prefix. |
| Twenty | Duapulo | Twenty |
| One hundred | Sangagasut | One hundred |
| One thousand | Sangaribu | One thousand |
| Half | Gudua | Half |
| More | Ad-adu | More |
| Less / a little | Bassit | Less / a little |
Time & days
Telling the time, naming the day.
| English | Ilocano | English |
|---|---|---|
| Now | Tatta | Now |
| Later | Madamdama | Later |
| Before | Sakbay | Before |
| Morning | Bigat | Morning |
| Afternoon | Malem | Afternoon |
| Evening / night | Rabii | Evening / night |
| Noon | Tengnga ti aldaw | Noon |
| Today | Ita nga aldaw | Today |
| Yesterday | Idi kalman | Yesterday |
| Tomorrow | Inton bigat | TomorrowIlocano builds 'tomorrow' from the word for morning. Tagalog 'bukas' is unrelated — and is itself a stress pair, since bukás also means 'open'. |
| Day | Aldaw | DayCognates. Ilocano keeps the d where Tagalog has r between vowels — the same correspondence shows up across the two languages. |
| Week | Lawas | WeekTagalog uses 'Linggo' for both Sunday and week; Ilocano keeps them separate (Domingo / lawas). |
| Month | Bulan | MonthBoth words mean moon and month, as in most Philippine languages. |
| Year | Tawen | Year |
| Hour | Oras | HourIdentical — Spanish 'hora' in both. |
| Sunday | Domingo | SundayThe clearest day-name split: Ilocano keeps Spanish Domingo, Tagalog nativised it to Linggo. |
| Monday | Lunes | Monday |
| Tuesday | Martes | Tuesday |
| Wednesday | Mierkoles | Wednesday |
| Thursday | Huebes | ThursdaySpelling varies in Ilocano sources between Huebes and Juebes. |
| Friday | Biernes | Friday |
| Saturday | Sabado | Saturday |
Food & eating
The largest category, because meals are where the language lives.
| English | Ilocano | English |
|---|---|---|
| Let's eat! | Mangan tayon! | Let's eat!Both use the inclusive 'we' — Ilocano 'tayo', Tagalog 'tayo' — meaning the listener is included in the invitation. Using the exclusive form would mean 'we're eating, you're not'. |
| I'm hungry | Mabisinakon | I'm hungry |
| I'm full | Nabusugakon | I'm fullIlocano 'nabsog' and Tagalog 'busog' are cognates. |
| Delicious! | Naimas! | Delicious!No shared root at all — one of the highest-frequency words where the two languages have nothing in common. |
| Have you eaten? | Nangan kan? | Have you eaten?In both cultures this functions as a greeting as much as a question. |
| Not yet | Haan pay | Not yet |
| Eat more! | Mangan ka pay! | Eat more!Both use 'pa/pay' as the 'still, more' particle. |
| Cooked rice | Innapoy | Cooked riceCompletely different roots, and both distinguish cooked rice from the uncooked grain. |
| Fish | Ikan | FishIlocano 'ikan' matches Malay and Indonesian 'ikan'. Tagalog 'isda' does not. |
| Chicken | Karne ti manok | Chicken |
| Pork | Karne ti baboy | Pork |
| Beef | Karne ti baka | BeefWatch the Tagalog: 'baka' is beef, but 'baka' with different stress also means 'maybe'. |
| Vegetables | Nateng | Vegetables |
| Fruit | Prutas | FruitSpanish 'frutas' in both. |
| Water | Danom | WaterNo shared root — a basic word where the two languages are entirely unalike. |
| Bread | Tinapay | BreadIdentical. |
| Egg | Itlog | EggIdentical. |
| Cheese | Keso | Cheese |
| Coffee | Kape | Coffee |
| Milk | Gatas | MilkIdentical. |
| Noodles | Pancit | Noodles |
| It's salty | Nagapgad | It's salty |
| It's sweet | Nagsam-it | It's sweet |
| It's spicy | Naggasang | It's spicy |
| It's sour | Nagalsem | It's sourIlocano marks these with nag-, Tagalog with ma-. The pattern holds across the whole set. |
| Breakfast | Pamigat | BreakfastIlocano builds it from 'bigat' (morning); Tagalog borrowed Spanish 'almuerzo'. |
| Lunch | Pangaldaw | Lunch |
| Dinner | Pangrabii | Dinner |
| Snack | Mirienda | Snack |
| A glass of water, please | Maysa man a baso ti danom | A glass of water, please |
| Can I see the menu? | Mabalin a makitak ti menu? | Can I see the menu? |
| I'm vegetarian | Vegetarianak | I'm vegetarian |
| I'm finished | Nalpasakon | I'm finished |
Market & money
Prices, haggling, paying.
| English | Ilocano | English |
|---|---|---|
| How much? | Manu? | How much?'Sagmamano?' is the fuller Ilocano form. |
| Expensive | Nangina | ExpensiveTagalog 'mahal' means both expensive and beloved. Ilocano keeps them apart — 'nangina' for price, 'ay-ayaten' for love. |
| Cheap | Nalaka | Cheap |
| Any discount? | Awan tawar na? | Any discount?Ilocano 'tawar' and Tagalog 'tawad' are the same word — the d/r correspondence again. |
| I'll take it | Alaekon | I'll take it |
| I don't want it | Diak kayat | I don't want it |
| I'll pay | Agbayad ak | I'll pay'Bayad' is shared by both languages. |
| I need ___ | Masapulko ti ___ | I need ___ |
| Bigger | Dakdakkel | BiggerIlocano compares by reduplicating the root; Tagalog uses the separate word 'mas'. |
| Smaller | Basbassit | Smaller |
Directions
Getting where you are going.
| English | Ilocano | English |
|---|---|---|
| Left | Kannigid | Left |
| Right | Kannawan | RightClose enough to be confusing: Ilocano 'kannawan' and Tagalog 'kanan' are cognates, but 'kannigid' and 'kaliwa' are not. |
| Straight ahead | Dumiretso | Straight ahead |
| Where is the toilet? | Ayan ti banio? | Where is the toilet? |
| How do I get to ___? | Kasano ti mapan idiay ___? | How do I get to ___? |
| Where are you going? | Papanam? | Where are you going? |
| I'm going home | Agawid akon | I'm going home |
| Stop! (to a driver) | Para! | Stop! (to a driver)Identical, and used the same way — shouted to get off a jeepney or tricycle. |
| How much is the fare to ___? | Manu ti plete inggana idiay ___? | How much is the fare to ___? |
| North | Amianan | North |
| South | Abagatan | South |
| East | Daya | EastCareful — Tagalog 'daya' means cheating or deceit. Nothing to do with direction. |
| West | Laud | West |
| Street / road | Dalan | Street / roadCognates — the l drops out in Tagalog. |
Health & emergency
The phrases worth memorising before you need them.
| English | Ilocano | English |
|---|---|---|
| Help! | Tulong! | Help!Identical. Worth knowing that this one word works across most of the Philippines. |
| Look out! | Agannadka! | Look out! |
| I am sick | Agsakitak | I am sick'Sakit' is shared by both languages. |
| I need a doctor | Masapulko ti doktor | I need a doctor |
| I am lost | Naiyaw-awanak! | I am lost'Napukawak' also occurs, though that leans toward 'I went missing'. |
| Stop! Thief! | Agsardengka! Agtatakaw! | Stop! Thief!Ilocano 'takaw' and Tagalog 'nakaw' are cognates for stealing. |
| I'll call the police! | Agayabak iti pulis! | I'll call the police! |
| Leave me alone! | Panawandak man! | Leave me alone! |
| I need your help | Kasapulak ti tulongmo | I need your help |
| My wallet is missing | Napukaw diay pitakak | My wallet is missing'Pitaka' is the same word in both. |
Family & people
Relationships and forms of address.
| English | Ilocano | English |
|---|---|---|
| Motherpending review | Nanang | Mother |
| Fatherpending review | Tatang | FatherNear-identical, differing only in the final consonant. |
| Siblingpending review | Kabsat | Sibling |
| Childpending review | Anak | ChildIdentical across nearly every Philippine language. |
| Spousepending review | Asawa | SpouseIdentical, and gender-neutral in both. |
| Friendpending review | Gayyem | Friend |
| Ilocano: sir/madam (respectful address) · Tagalog: grandchildpending review | Apo | Ilocano: sir/madam (respectful address) · Tagalog: grandchildThe most consequential false friend between the two languages. In Ilocano 'Apo' is a respectful title for an elder or authority; in Tagalog 'apo' means grandchild. Machine translation gets this wrong routinely. |
| Men / male | Lallaki | Men / male |
| Women / female | Babbai | Women / femaleIlocano marks the plural by doubling the consonant: babai → babbai. |
Feelings
Saying how you are, and how you feel about someone.
| English | Ilocano | English |
|---|---|---|
| I'm happypending review | Naragsakak | I'm happy |
| I'm tiredpending review | Nabannogak | I'm tired |
| I love youpending review | Ay-ayatenka | I love youIlocano builds it on the root 'ayat' (love) with the -ka 'you' suffix. Tagalog 'mahal' doubles as 'expensive', so the Ilocano is less ambiguous. |
| I miss you | Mailiwak kenka | I miss youTagalog has no native verb here and borrows English 'miss'. Ilocano 'iliw' is a native root — one of the few places Ilocano is the less borrowed of the two. |
Colours
Basic colour terms in both languages.
| English | Ilocano | English |
|---|---|---|
| Black | Nangisit | Black |
| White | Puraw | White |
| Red | Baga | RedA false friend: Tagalog 'baga' is an ember or a lung, never the colour red. |
| Blue | Asul | BlueSpanish 'azul' in both. |
| Yellow | Duyaw | YellowCognates, with the same d-word diverging in the middle. |
| Green | Berde | Green |
| Brown | Kayumanggi | Brown |
Words that trap you
These exist in both languages but mean different things. They are where confident readers get caught, and where machine translation is least reliable.
- apohigh risk
- In Ilocano
- A respectful title for an elder or person of authority — roughly 'sir' or 'ma'am'.
- In Tagalog
- Grandchild.
Both languages inherited the root, but specialised it differently. Asked to translate the bare word, our engine returned the English 'Sir' rather than any Tagalog word at all.
- bagahigh risk
- In Ilocano
- Red.
- In Tagalog
- An ember, or a lung. Never the colour.
The engine returns 'Baga' unchanged, so a Tagalog reader sees a word that exists in their language with a completely unrelated meaning.
- dayahigh risk
- In Ilocano
- East.
- In Tagalog
- Cheating, deceit, trickery.
A direction becomes an accusation.
- saanhigh risk
- In Ilocano
- No / not. Also 'where', depending on construction.
- In Tagalog
- Where — only.
The negation sense does not exist in Tagalog, so a negated Ilocano sentence can be read as a question.
- mahal
- In Ilocano
- Not the everyday word for either sense; Ilocano uses 'nangina' for expensive and the root 'ayat' for love.
- In Tagalog
- Expensive, and also beloved.
Translating into Tagalog collapses two Ilocano distinctions into one ambiguous word.
- gabi
- In Ilocano
- Not used for night; Ilocano uses 'rabii'.
- In Tagalog
- gabí is night; gábi is taro. The difference is stress alone.
Machine output drops stress marks, so the reader has to infer which is meant.
- bukas
- In Ilocano
- Not used; Ilocano says 'inton bigat' for tomorrow.
- In Tagalog
- bukás is tomorrow; bukás with different stress is 'open'.
Another Tagalog stress pair with no Ilocano equivalent to disambiguate it.
How often the machine gets these right
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.
Machine output matched or came close to the human Ilocano for 48.4% of 153 phrases. The rest were partly or entirely wrong.
Least reliable
- Family & people33%
- Understanding33%
- Introductions33%
- Courtesy44%
- Food & eating48%
Most reliable
- Colours86%
- Time & days77%
- Feelings75%
It returns the Ilocano unchanged and calls it a translation
The most damaging failure, because nothing signals it went wrong. When the engine does not recognise an Ilocano word it echoes the input. Ten of our test phrases came back identical to what went in despite having a perfectly ordinary Tagalog equivalent.
| Input | What it returned | Correct |
|---|---|---|
| Haan | Haan | Hindino |
| Danom | Danom | Tubigwater |
| Ikan | Ikan | Isdafish |
| Manu? | Manu? | Magkano?how much? |
| Baga | Baga | Pulared |
| Babbai | Babbai | Babaewomen |
If the output looks like the input, it almost certainly failed. A further 17 words in our set were identical in both languages legitimately — 'lima', 'pito', 'itlog', 'kape' — so identical output is not proof of failure on its own.
It routes through English and picks the wrong sense
The engine has little direct Ilocano↔Tagalog training data, so it pivots through English. Where the English word is ambiguous, the wrong sense gets carried into Tagalog.
| Input | What it returned | Correct |
|---|---|---|
| Kannawan | Gamit ang karapatan | Kananright (direction) → English 'right' → Tagalog 'karapatan', a legal right |
| Dalan | Subaybayan | Daanroad → 'track' → 'to monitor' |
| Asawa | Kasal | Asawaspouse → 'married' → 'wedding' |
Single words are where this bites hardest. Give the engine a full sentence and the surrounding context often rescues the right sense.
It adds words that were never in the source
Short greetings sometimes come back with filler the original did not contain.
| Input | What it returned | Correct |
|---|---|---|
| Naimbag nga bigat. Kumusta ka? | Magandang umaga, guys. kamusta ka na? | Magandang umaga. Kumusta ka?'guys' has no counterpart anywhere in the Ilocano |
Read the output for length. If it is noticeably longer than the source, something was invented.
It shifts formality without warning
Kinship and courtesy terms come back in a different register than the source, which matters in a language where address terms carry respect.
| Input | What it returned | Correct |
|---|---|---|
| Tatang | Ama | Tataywarm/familiar 'dad' becomes formal 'father' |
| Diak kayat | ayoko | Ayaw kocontracted to a casual spoken form |
Have output checked by a speaker before using it in anything formal or public.
Sources
- Ilocano phrasebook — Wikivoyage, CC BY-SA 4.0. Accessed 2026-07-26.
- 52 Useful Ilocano Words & Phrases to Learn for Travelers — Chill and Travel. Accessed 2026-07-26.
Last updated 2026-07-26. 11 entries are marked “pending review” — carried on general reference and awaiting confirmation from a native speaker.