Tagalog 101 – How to say “How much?” in Tagalog?
image source: www.easypacelearning.com
Welcome to Tagalog 101
When you wanted to buy something, you need to know the price of the item first, before you buy.
The first thing you need to know when you go shopping in the Philippines is the Tagalog translation of “how much.”
“MAGKANO PO ITO?” Is how you say, “How much?” in Tagalog
“Magkano” means “how much.”We added po for a more respectful tone. And we added ito to point out the item that you want to buy. (so if you don’t know the name of the item you want to buy, you can easily say, magkano po ito.)
You can add the name of the item, after the phrase “Magkano po ito?” But first we need to add the “ng” sound to the word ito so that it will become “itong”
For example:
Magkano po itong tinapay? (how much is this bread)
Magkano po itong bag? (how much is this bag)
Magkano po itong tsokolate? (how much is this flower)
Usually in the malls, the items you see are tagged already, so there’s no need for you to ask, just go straight to the counter or cashier and pay for the item.
But if you’re not in the mall, and there’s no price tag of the item your buying, you have to ask the shopkeeper the price of the item.
Here’s a scenario: Let’s go to a bakeshop or panaderia. Let’s use the phrase “Magkano po ito?”
In this situation, Paula wants to buy pandesal (a kind of bread in Philippines, bread when translated in tagalog is tinapay. So tinapay is the generic name for pandesal, mamon, ensaymada, monay – these are the different types of bread in the Philippines, but generally, bread is tinapay) So Paula wants to buy a pandesal, a kind of bread, but the bakeshop runs out of it. Let’s hear the conversation…
Pandesal image source: www.pinoytsibog.com
P: Pagbilhan nga po ng pandesal. (May I buy some pandesal?)
K: Ay ubos na. (No more already)
P: Meron po kayong mamon? (Do you have mamon?)
K: Wala na din eh. (No more too)
P: Meron po kayong Ensaymada? (Do you have ensaymada?)
K: Kakausbos lang (Just finished)
P: Eh, magkano po itong tinapay? (How much is this bread?)
K: Piso isa. (one peso each)
Thank you for listening and until the next post!
