Word Order: Three Sentence Types

The two building blocks

Most Ilokano sentences have a subject and a predicate, same as English. But unlike English, where the word order stays fixed, Ilokano sentences come in three types, and which one you use changes the meaning even when the words are almost the same.

Situational: predicate first

This is the everyday, "just stating a fact" order: predicate, then subject. It reads roughly as "The (subject) does/is (predicate)."

• Agsángit diáy ubíng.

  The child will cry.

Definite: subject first, pointing at 'the one'

Move the subject to the front and add the marker ti before the predicate, and the sentence now identifies or singles out that specific subject: "It is the (subject) that does/is (predicate)."

• Diáy ubíng ti agsángit.

  It is the child who will cry.

Indefinite: subject first, but general

Same shape as the definite sentence, but the subject isn't marked as one specific, known thing — it names a kind or category instead: "It is a (subject) that does/is (predicate)."

• Ubíng ti agsángit.

  It is a child who will cry.

Flipping the order back

You can also invert a situational sentence — subject first, then a pause or the word ket, then the predicate — without changing it into a definite sentence. It just reorders the same statement.

• Diáy ubíng, agsángit.

  The child will cry.

• Diáy ubíng ket agsángit.

  The child will cry.