Cebuano Language Guide

Official language in
Philippines
Script
Latin

Where it's spoken

Wolff's dictionary locates Cebuano on the islands of Cebu and Bohol, on the eastern half of Negros, the western half of Leyte, along the northern coasts of Mindanao, and on smaller islands nearby. A recent study describes it as primarily used in Central Visayas, eastern Negros, parts of Eastern Visayas, and much of Mindanao. Wolff describes Cebuano as the trade language in most places in Mindanao where Cebuano-speaking populations and speakers of other languages are in contact, and notes that other types of Visayan are spoken in the areas surrounding the Cebuano-speaking area.

The Philippine Constitution makes Filipino and, until otherwise provided by law, English the official languages, and the regional languages the auxiliary official languages in the regions. A study of the country's mother-tongue education lists Sinugbuanong Binisaya (Cebuano Visayan) among the eight major regional languages, the ones with the greatest number of speakers.

A column by a Cebu Normal University scholar says that the Commission on the Filipino Language uses Sinugbuanong Binisaya as the official name, that the name Cebuano is commonly used in academic settings, and that native speakers prefer Bisaya or Binisaya as their everyday name for the language. One of this app's cards uses Binisaya as the name of the language: Dili ko makasulti ug Binisaya ("I can't speak Cebuano").

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Script & pronunciation

Cebuano is written in the Latin script. Wolff notes that in Cebuano publications the vowel /i/ is sometimes written i and sometimes e, and /u/ sometimes u and sometimes o, with no consistency. This app's cards also spell the root for "understand" both sabut in Dili ko makasabut ("I don't understand") and sabot in Nakasabot ko ("I understand"). Wolff also notes that most Cebuano publications write a glottal stop after a consonant as a hyphen, as in tan-awon in the card Mahimo ba nakong tan-awon ang kwarto una? ("Can I see the room first?"). Many of this app's cards also give a romanization that divides the words into syllables with hyphens, as in Ma-a-yong bun-tag for Maayong buntag ("Hello / Good morning"); some cards have no romanization.

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Grammar essentials

A study by Michael Tanangkingsing describes Cebuano clauses without an object as strictly predicate-initial, and notes that predicate-initial clauses predominate in Philippine languages. In the app's card Nakasabot ko ("I understand"), the word for "understand" comes before ko ("I"). The subject (nominative) pronouns have a long and a short form: "I" is ako or ko, and singular "you" is ikaw or ka. The app's card for Ikaw ("You") gives ka as the short form, which appears in Kumusta ka? ("How are you?").

Dili translates as "no" or "not"; in the app's card Dili ko mokaon og karne ("I don't eat meat"), dili comes first. A study of Cebuano questions glosses naa as an existential word; the app's cards use Naa koy reserbasyon ("I have a reservation").

Yes–no questions may have similar structures to statements but differ in intonation, and they may be marked with the particle ba. Wolff's dictionary defines ba as a question marker used in questions with no interrogative word, as in Nalakip ba ang pamahaw? ("Is breakfast included?").

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Politeness & etiquette

The app's greetings name the time of day: Maayong buntag ("Hello / Good morning"), Maayong hapon ("Good afternoon"), and Maayong gabii ("Good evening"). Wolff's dictionary glosses maayo with the linker -ng and the words for morning and afternoon as "good morning" and "good afternoon", and records maayo on its own as a greeting upon arriving at someone's premises.

Wolff's dictionary defines palihug as "please" and salamat as "thanks, thank you". The app's card for Palihug ("Please") notes that putting palihug before a verb turns it into a polite request, as in Palihug hulat ("Please wait"). The app's reply to thanks is Walay sapayan ("You're welcome").

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