Sentence Formation

There are two basic ways to form a sentence in Bisaya. These are the subject-predicate word order where the subject appears at the beginning of the sentence and the inverted or transposed word order where the predicate comes before the subject. The subject may be omitted.

The inverted word order is used more often in everyday speech.

 1.       THE  SUBJECT-PREDICATE SENTENCE ORDER

A sentence is in this order when the subject is the most important element in the sentence and it comes first within the sentence. In this order, the word kay (equivalent the verb be) is used.

 S + V + O / S + V + C.

Ang balay kay dako.	The house is big	The house is big.
Si Inday kay buotan.	Inday is kind.	Inday is kind.
Silang Inday ug Dodong kay managsuon.	Inday and Dodong are siblings.	Inday and Dodong are siblings.
Ang among silingan kay naminaw ug radyo.	Our neighbour is listening to the radio.	Our neighbour is listening to the radio.
Si Juan kay basin dili moadto.	Juan is maybe not go.	Juan might not go.
Si Pedro kay gusto molakaw.	Pedro is like/want go out.	Pedro wants/likes to go out.

The emphasis in this type of sentence is on the subject – meaning that the speaker wishes to focus attention to the subject. The word kay in sentences 1, 2 and 3 links the subject to what is said about the subject. The kay in sentences 4, 5 and 6 is a helping verb that accompanies the principal verb.

 2.       THE INVERTED OR TRANSPOSED SENTENCE ORDER

A sentence is in the inverted order when the predicate comes at the beginning of the sentence. The word kay is not used here. Subject and object can be interchanged depending on the focus.

C + S / V + S + O / V + O + S

Dako ang balay.	Big the house.	The house is big.
Buotan si Inday.	Kind Inday.	Inday is kind.
Managsuon silang Inday ug Dodong.	Siblings Inday and Dodong.	Inday and Dodong are siblings.
Naminaw ug radyo ang among silingan.	Listening to the radio our neighbour.	Our neighbour is listening to the radio.
Naminaw (ang) among silingan ug radio.	Listening our neighbour the radio.	Our neighbour is listening to the radio
Basin dili moadto si Juan.	Maybe not go Juan.	Juan might not go.
Gusto molakaw si Pedro.	Like/Want go out Pedro.	Pedro wants/likes to go out.

The focus or emphasis in such sentences is on the predicate rather than on the subject.

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• (ref. Aspillera, Paraluman E. Basic Tagalog for Foreigners and Non-Tagalogs. HK: Tuttle Publishing, 2007.)