Kapampangan to English Phrasebook
201 everyday phrases, grouped by the situation you need them in. Compiled from published references rather than generated by a translation engine, and marked pending review until native speakers have confirmed it.
There is no question of mutual intelligibility here — the languages are unrelated. What matters instead is that English is the pivot: this translator, like most, routes Kapampangan through English internally. That makes Kapampangan↔English the strongest direction available for this language, and it is why translating Kapampangan into another Philippine language is measurably worse than translating it into English.
- Phrases
- 201
- Categories
- 24
- Cited sources
- 2
- Pending review
- 201
Showing all 201 phrases across 24 categories.
Greetings
The opener changes in every one of these languages — this is the fastest way to tell them apart.
| Kapampangan | English | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Mayap a abakpending review | Good morning | Every one of these is literally 'good' + 'morning', and the word for 'good' is the giveaway: maayo in the Visayan languages, maupay in Waray, marhay in Bikol, mayap in Kapampangan, maabig in Pangasinan, naimbag in Ilocano. |
| Mayap a gatpanapunpending review | Good afternoon | |
| Mayap a bengipending review | Good evening | |
| Mayap a aldopending review | Good day | |
| Komusta ka?pending review | How are you? | The one phrase that is effectively identical everywhere, because all eight borrowed it from Spanish '¿cómo está?'. Do not read that as evidence the languages are close. |
| Mayap ku namanpending review | I'm fine |
Courtesy
Thank you, sorry, yes and no.
| Kapampangan | English | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Salamatpending review | Thank you | Ilocano is the odd one out. 'Salamat' is understood in Ilocos, but 'agyamanak' — literally 'I am grateful' — is the native form and the one a speaker will use back to you. |
| Dakal a salamatpending review | Thank you very much | The intensifier is the tell: daghan (Cebuano), madamo (Hiligaynon), damo (Waray), dakula (Bikol), dakal (Kapampangan), dakel (Pangasinan) — all meaning 'many', none of them the Tagalog 'marami'. |
| Wapending review | Yes | Four different words for yes across eight languages. Kapampangan 'wa' and Pangasinan 'on' are unrecognisable to a Tagalog speaker, and machine translation frequently passes them through untouched. |
| Alipending review | No | Ilocano also uses 'saan' for no, which is a genuine trap: 'saan' is 'where' in Tagalog. Hiligaynon 'indi' and Waray 'diri' look alike but Waray 'diri' collides with Hiligaynon 'diri', meaning 'here'. |
| Pasensya napending review | Sorry | In everyday speech 'sorry' and 'pasensya' are what most speakers actually say in all eight; the native forms above are what you will see written. |
Introductions
Names and first meetings.
| Kapampangan | English | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Nanu ing lagyu mu?pending review | What is your name? | Kapampangan shares no root here at all — 'nanu' for what, 'lagyu' for name — which is a fair summary of how far Central Luzon sits from everything else on this list. |
| Ing lagyu ku…pending review | My name is… | |
| Taga-nokarin ka?pending review | Where are you from? | Same frame, eight different question words bolted onto it. This single row is the clearest illustration of why machine translation between these languages fails: the shared 'taga-' makes the sentence look translatable while the word that carries the meaning is unique to each. |
Understanding
Getting by when you do not follow.
| Kapampangan | English | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| E ku aintindianpending review | I don't understand | |
| Nanu ini?pending review | What is this? | |
| Aintindian kupending review | I understand |
Numbers
Native numerals one to ten, which diverge sharply between the Luzon and Visayan languages.
| Kapampangan | English | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Metungpending review | One | Cebuano and Waray 'usa' is a false friend of the highest order: in Tagalog 'usa' is a deer. |
| Adwapending review | Two | |
| Atlupending review | Three | |
| Apatpending review | Four | |
| Limapending review | Five | The one numeral that survives intact across all eight — and in Pangasinan 'lima' is also the word for 'hand', which is where the numeral came from in the first place. |
| Anampending review | Six | |
| Pitupending review | Seven | |
| Walupending review | Eight | |
| Siyampending review | Nine | |
| Apulupending review | Ten | Pangasinan numerals carry a counting suffix -ra that none of the others use, so 'limara' and 'samplora' look longer than their neighbours for a structural reason rather than a phonetic one. |
| Labing metungpending review | Eleven | Three different strategies for building teens: Tagalog and Kapampangan prefix labing-, the Visayan languages say 'ten and one', and Bikol has a dedicated form (kagsaro). |
| Labingadwapending review | Twelve | |
| Adwangpulupending review | Twenty | Cebuano and Hiligaynon 'kaluhaan' bears no visible relation to their own word for two, duha. Waray's 'karuhaan' shows the same form after its regular l→r shift. |
| Atlungpulupending review | Thirty | |
| Limangpulupending review | Fifty | |
| Dinalanpending review | One hundred | Kapampangan 'dinalan' and Pangasinan 'sanlasus' share nothing with the gatos/daan the rest use — another reminder that the Luzon languages are not a group. |
| Libupending review | One thousand |
Question words
Who, what, where and when — the words that differ most and trip up readers most.
| Kapampangan | English | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Nanupending review | What | |
| Ninupending review | Who | Hiligaynon 'sin-o' and Waray 'hin-o' differ by a single consonant, and that s→h shift runs through the whole of Waray. It is the single most reliable way to tell the two apart. |
| Nokarinpending review | Where | Seven distinct words. Cebuano 'asa' is a false friend in Tagalog, where it means to hope or depend on someone. |
| Kapilanpending review | When | |
| Baketpending review | Why | Kapampangan 'baket' looks like Tagalog 'bakit' and means the same thing — but it is also the Ilocano word for an old woman or a wife, so the same string means two unrelated things depending on which language you are reading. |
| Magkanu?pending review | How much? | |
| Pilan?pending review | How many? | Cebuano and Hiligaynon 'pila' means 'how many'. In Tagalog 'pila' is a queue — which makes 'Pila?' one of the most commonly misread words between Manila and Cebu. |
Time & days
Today, tomorrow, day and night.
| Kapampangan | English | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Ngenipending review | Today | |
| Bukaspending review | Tomorrow | Ilocano builds tomorrow out of 'bigat', the word for morning — the same root as in 'Naimbag a bigat'. |
| Napunpending review | Yesterday | |
| Aldopending review | Day | In the Visayan languages 'adlaw' is both the day and the sun. Tagalog keeps the same double meaning in 'araw'; Ilocano does not — 'aldaw' is the day and 'init' is the sun. |
| Bengipending review | Night | |
| Dominggopending review | Week | |
| Banwapending review | Year | |
| Lunespending review | Monday | All eight took the Spanish weekday names wholesale. Only Sunday diverges — see below. |
| Martespending review | Tuesday | |
| Miyerkulespending review | Wednesday | |
| Huwebespending review | Thursday | |
| Biyernespending review | Friday | |
| Sabadopending review | Saturday | |
| Dominggopending review | Sunday | Tagalog is the outlier: 'Linggo' where the rest kept 'Domingo'. Pangasinan went further and uses 'Simba', from the word for churchgoing — the same root Tagalog uses for the verb 'to attend mass'. |
| Abakpending review | Morning | |
| Oraspending review | Hour |
Family & people
Relationships and forms of address.
| Kapampangan | English | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Imapending review | Mother | Kapampangan 'ima' is a mother; Ilocano 'ima' is a hand. Two Luzon languages a hundred kilometres apart, same three letters, nothing in common. |
| Ibpapending review | Father | |
| Imapending review | Mum | |
| Tatangpending review | Dad | |
| Anakpending review | Child | 'Anak' is the offspring relationship in all eight; Bikol 'aki' is the exception and is a child in general. |
| Kapatadpending review | Sibling | Six unrelated roots. Only Tagalog 'kapatid' and Kapampangan 'kapatad' match, and that is a loan rather than shared inheritance. |
| Apupending review | Grandmother | |
| Apupending review | Grandfather | Pangasinan 'laki' is a grandfather. In Tagalog, Cebuano and most of the rest, 'lalaki' is simply a man — close enough to mislead. |
| Kaluguranpending review | Friend | Eight languages, eight unrelated words. Kapampangan 'kaluguran' doubles as a term of affection, which is why 'Kaluguran daka' means 'I love you'. |
| Lalakipending review | Man | |
| Babaipending review | Woman | |
| Asawapending review | Spouse | 'Asawa' covers husband and wife alike in seven of the eight — the sex of the spouse is not marked. Bikol 'agom' is the odd one out. |
| Lagyupending review | Name |
Food & eating
Meals, ingredients and asking for them.
| Kapampangan | English | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Abiaspending review | Rice (uncooked) | All eight distinguish uncooked grain from cooked rice with separate words — a distinction English has to spell out. |
| Nasipending review | Rice (cooked) | Kapampangan 'nasi' is a Malay-shaped word that none of its neighbours share. |
| Asanpending review | Fish | Bikol and Pangasinan 'sira' is a fish. In Tagalog and Cebuano 'sira' means broken or spoiled — so a Bikolano menu can read alarmingly to a Manila reader. |
| Karnepending review | Meat | |
| Manukpending review | Chicken | |
| Babipending review | Pig | |
| Ebunpending review | Egg | One of the sharpest splits in this file. 'Itlog' covers Tagalog through Hiligaynon, then Waray, Bikol, Kapampangan and Pangasinan each go their own way entirely. |
| Asinpending review | Salt | The province of Pangasinan is named for this word — 'pang-asin-an', the place where salt is made. |
| Gulepending review | Vegetable | |
| Manganpending review | To eat | Ilocano, Kapampangan and Pangasinan all use 'mangan' — a genuine Luzon isogloss, and one of the very few things the three share against the Visayan 'kaon'. |
| Danupan ku napending review | I'm hungry | |
| Manyamanpending review | Delicious | Eight languages, eight unrelated words for the same compliment. If you learn one word from this list, learn the local one for this. |
| Tinapepending review | Bread | |
| Asukalpending review | Sugar | |
| Sagingpending review | Banana | |
| Ungutpending review | Coconut | |
| Manggapending review | Mango | |
| Maispending review | Corn | |
| Bawangpending review | Garlic | The Visayan languages took the Spanish 'ajos'; the Luzon languages kept the native 'bawang'. |
| Mayumupending review | Sweet | |
| Maaslampending review | Sour | |
| Maglutupending review | To cook | |
| Kutsarapending review | Spoon |
Drinks
Water, coffee and what to order.
| Kapampangan | English | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Danumpending review | Water | The Luzon/Visayan split in one word: danum in the north, tubig everywhere else. Tagalog sides with the Visayan languages here despite sitting on Luzon. |
| Kapepending review | Coffee | |
| Gataspending review | Milk | |
| Minumpending review | To drink |
Market & money
Prices, haggling, paying.
| Kapampangan | English | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Salapipending review | Money | Tagalog took 'pera' from Spanish 'perra'; everything north and south of it took 'cuarta' instead. The two are not interchangeable outside Manila. |
| Maalpending review | Expensive | In Tagalog 'mahal' means both expensive and beloved. Ilocano keeps them apart — 'nangina' for costly, 'ay-ayat' for love — so the pun does not survive translation. |
| Salihanpending review | To buy | Cebuano 'palit' is to buy; in Tagalog 'palit' is to exchange or swap. Same root, opposite ends of a transaction. |
| Pamalengkepending review | Market | |
| Magkanu ini?pending review | How much is this? |
Directions
Left, right, here, there and how far.
| Kapampangan | English | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Kailipending review | Left | The most dangerous word on this page. 'Wala' means left in four of these languages and 'none' in Tagalog — so a Tagalog speaker hearing directions in Cebu can understand the sentence and take the wrong turn. |
| Wananpending review | Right | |
| Kenipending review | Here | Hiligaynon 'diri' is 'here'. Waray 'diri' is 'not'. The two languages are neighbours and this pair catches people constantly. |
| Karinpending review | There | |
| Marayupending review | Far | |
| Malapitpending review | Near | |
| Umepending review | To go | |
| Diretsupending review | Straight ahead | |
| Babopending review | Up | |
| Lubpending review | Inside |
Health & emergency
The phrases worth knowing before you need them.
| Kapampangan | English | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Saup!pending review | Help! | Worth memorising the local form before you need it. Cebuano 'tabang' is help; Hiligaynon 'tab-ang' is bland or tasteless, which is a poor thing to shout. |
| Doktorpending review | Doctor | |
| Ospitalpending review | Hospital | |
| Masakit kupending review | I am sick | |
| Pulispending review | Police |
The body
Head to foot, where several of these languages share nothing at all.
| Kapampangan | English | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Buntukpending review | Head | Bikol 'payo' is a head. In Tagalog 'payo' is advice — which makes it one of the neatest false friends in the country. |
| Matapending review | Eye | |
| Gamatpending review | Hand | Three separate traps in one row: Ilocano 'ima' is Kapampangan for mother, Visayan 'kamot' is Tagalog for scratching, and Pangasinan 'lima' is the numeral five in every other language here. |
| Bitispending review | Foot | |
| Asbukpending review | Mouth | Visayan 'baba' is a mouth; Tagalog 'baba' is a chin, and with different stress it is also 'down'. Neighbouring body parts, different words. |
| Atyanpending review | Stomach | |
| Buakpending review | Hair | |
| Balugbugpending review | Ear | |
| Arungpending review | Nose | |
| Ipanpending review | Tooth | |
| Dayapending review | Blood | Ilocano and Kapampangan both say 'daya' for blood — and in Tagalog and Cebuano the same word means cheating. Worth care in any medical setting. |
| Pusupending review | Heart |
Nature & weather
Sun, rain, sea and mountain.
| Kapampangan | English | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Aldopending review | Sun | Ilocano 'init' is the sun; Tagalog 'init' is heat. Related idea, different part of speech, and machine translation routinely mixes the two. |
| Bulanpending review | Moon | Seven of the eight kept 'bulan'; Tagalog alone shifted the l to w. The same word means 'month' in all of them. |
| Batwinpending review | Star | |
| Uranpending review | Rain | Ilocano is alone here. 'Tudo' shares nothing with the ulan/uran the other seven use. |
| Dayatmalatpending review | Sea | |
| Bundukpending review | Mountain | Two traps at once. Ilocano 'bantay' is a mountain; in Tagalog it is a guard. Visayan 'bukid' is a mountain; in Tagalog 'bukid' is a field or farm. |
| Balepending review | House | |
| Apipending review | Fire | Visayan 'kalayo' is fire; Tagalog 'kalayo' would be parsed as 'distance'. The Luzon languages all keep apoy/apuy. |
| Ilugpending review | River | Waray and Bikol 'salog' looks close to Tagalog 'ilog' but is a separate root — and in Cebuano 'salog' is a floor. |
| Gabunpending review | Land, soil | Six unrelated roots for the ground under your feet, and Ilocano 'daga' collides head-on with Tagalog, where it means a rat. |
| Dutungpending review | Tree | |
| Sampagapending review | Flower | Ilocano 'sabong' is a flower. In Tagalog 'sabong' is cockfighting — an unusually large gap for two languages spoken on the same island. |
| Batupending review | Stone | |
| Anginpending review | Wind | |
| Bagyupending review | Typhoon |
Describing things
Big, small, good, beautiful.
| Kapampangan | English | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Maragulpending review | Big | |
| Malatipending review | Small | |
| Mayappending review | Good | |
| Marokpending review | Bad | |
| Malagupending review | Beautiful | Bikol 'magayon' is the root behind Mayon, the volcano. Waray 'mahusay' means beautiful; in Tagalog the same word means skilled or well-arranged. |
| Mapalipending review | Hot | |
| Malamigpending review | Cold | |
| Bayupending review | New | |
| Lumapending review | Old (of a thing) | Ilocano and the Visayan languages use 'daan' for old — the same string Tagalog uses for a road. |
| Matuapending review | Old (of a person) | Ilocano 'lakay' is an old man specifically; 'baket' is the word for an old woman, and that one collides with Kapampangan 'baket', meaning why. |
| Dakalpending review | Many |
Feelings
Saying how you are, and how you feel about someone.
| Kapampangan | English | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Kaluguran dakapending review | I love you | Eight languages and eight completely different verbs. This row alone answers the question of whether Philippine languages are 'dialects of each other'. |
| Masayapending review | Happy |
Colours
Basic colour terms.
| Kapampangan | English | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Malutupending review | Red | |
| Maputipending review | White | |
| Matulingpending review | Black | Kapampangan 'matuling' is black. Tagalog 'matulin' — one letter apart — means fast. |
| Asulpending review | Blue | |
| Dilopending review | Yellow | |
| Aluntianpending review | Green | Only Kapampangan kept a native word. The other seven took the Spanish 'verde' and never replaced it. |
Everyday verbs
The actions that carry most sentences.
| Kapampangan | English | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Matudtudpending review | To sleep | |
| Akitpending review | To see | |
| Balupending review | To know | |
| Buripending review | To want | Kapampangan 'buri' is to want or like. In Tagalog 'buri' is a species of palm. |
| Mibiepending review | To give | |
| Magobrapending review | To work | |
| Magsalitapending review | To speak | The Visayan languages disagree with each other completely here — sulti, hambal, yakan — which is a useful corrective to the idea that they are one language. |
| Sumulatpending review | To write | |
| Magbasapending review | To read | |
| Luklukpending review | To sit | |
| Ume kenipending review | To come here |
Months
The Spanish-derived month names, and where the spellings part company.
| Kapampangan | English | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Eneropending review | January | The month names are Spanish in all eight languages. What varies is spelling: Tagalog respells the Spanish f as p (Pebrero), while several of the others keep Febrero. |
| Pebrerupending review | February | |
| Marsupending review | March | |
| Abrilpending review | April | |
| Mayupending review | May | |
| Agostupending review | August |
Getting around
Roads, boats, jeepneys and how to get off one.
| Kapampangan | English | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Dalanpending review | Road | Seven of the eight use 'dalan'. Tagalog's 'daan' is the same root worn down, and Bikol went its own way with 'tinampo'. |
| Bangkapending review | Boat | |
| Kotsipending review | Car | |
| Nokarin ka munta?pending review | Where are you going? |
Somewhere to stay
Rooms, doors, keys — a category where almost nothing carries between languages.
| Kapampangan | English | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Pasbulpending review | Door | |
| Awangpending review | Window | Ilocano 'tawa' is a window. In Tagalog it is laughter. |
| Kuartupending review | Room |
Things to buy
Everyday items you might need to ask for.
| Kapampangan | English | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Imalanpending review | Clothes | |
| Sapatuspending review | Shoes | |
| Ambunpending review | Medicine | Worth knowing before a pharmacy visit, and the source of a nasty trap: Tagalog 'gamot' is medicine, but in the Visayan languages the same word means a root. |
| Sabunpending review | Soap | |
| Librupending review | Book | |
| Papilpending review | Paper |
Animals
Everyday creatures, and several of the sharpest false friends on the site.
| Kapampangan | English | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Asupending review | Dog | Four unrelated words for the commonest domestic animal. Worth pairing with the Cebuano trap: 'aso' means smoke there, so the Tagalog word for dog is a real Cebuano word meaning something else entirely. |
| Pusapending review | Cat | |
| Damulagpending review | Carabao | The national animal, and three of the eight have their own word for it — Ilocano nuang, Kapampangan damulag, Pangasinan dueg. |
| Kambingpending review | Goat | |
| Bakapending review | Cow | |
| Kabayupending review | Horse | |
| Ayuppending review | Bird | Cebuano 'langgam' is a bird; Tagalog 'langgam' is an ant. One of the most-cited false friends between the two largest languages in the country. |
| Amukpending review | Mosquito |
How often the machine gets these right
We ran 201 Kapampangan entries from the phrasebook below through the same engine this site uses, and compared each result against the human-written English. Categories are our own; the comparison ignores punctuation and casing. English is the language the engine pivots through, so this is close to a best case for these languages.
Machine output matched or came close to the human English for 58.2% of 201 phrases. The rest were partly or entirely wrong.
Least reliable
- Everyday verbs0%
- Directions20%
- Family & people23%
- Nature & weather33%
- Market & money40%
Most reliable
- Months100%
- Question words86%
- Things to buy83%
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 2026-08-06. 201 entries are marked “pending review” — carried on general reference and awaiting confirmation from a native speaker.