Tagalog is an Austronesian language native to the Philippines, part of the same family as Hawaiian, Malay, Indonesian, and Maori.

The word “Tagalog” likely comes from taga ilog, meaning “river dweller.”

Tagalog has been spoken for at least one thousand years, though earlier forms are even older.

Classical Tagalog used a script called Baybayin, a pre colonial writing system. Baybayin is an abugida, meaning symbols represent syllables, not letters. Spanish missionaries altered Tagalog spelling and introduced the Latin alphabet.

Modern Tagalog was selected as the basis for the national language in 1937. The national language was called Pilipino in 1959, then renamed Filipino in 1987. Today’s Filipino is essentially modernized Tagalog with vocabulary from many languages.

Tagalog absorbed thousands of Spanish loanwords during Spanish rule. Tagalog has borrowed words from other languages, including English, Malay, Sanskrit, Arabic, and Chinese.

There is no native Tagalog equivalent for the letters C, F, J, Ñ, Q, V, X, or Z. They came from Spanish and English.

The Tagalog word for “today” has three forms: ngayon, ngayong araw, ngayong araw na ito.

Tagalog distinguishes inclusive and exclusive forms of “we”: tayo means “with you,” and kami means “without you.”

Tagalog follows a flexible word order, often Verb Subject Object. It uses linker particles like na and ng to connect words smoothly. There is no grammatical gender and no masculine or feminine words. The language uses aspect rather than tense, focusing on whether an action is completed, ongoing, or about to happen.

Plurals are often formed by repeating a word. For example, bata becomes mga bata.

The Filipino national anthem Lupang Hinirang was originally written in Spanish, then adapted to Tagalog.

Many Tagalog speakers code switch with English, a phenomenon called Taglish.

Metro Manila, Cavite, Bulacan, Laguna, and Batangas are the strongest Tagalog speaking regions.