Baybayin or Alibata (known in Unicode as the Tagalog script) is a pre-Hispanic Philippine writing system that originated from the Javanese script Old Kawi. The writing system is a member of the Brahmic family (and an offshoot of the Vatteluttu alphabet) and is believed to be in use as early as the 14th century. It continued to be in use during the Spanish colonization of the Philippines up until the late 19th Century. The term baybayin literally means spelling. Closely related scripts are Hanunóo, Buhid, and Tagbanwa.

If you are about to visit Paradise Philippines soon, it pays if you know some tagalog words. Though we are good in english, it is still better if you know how to speak some tagalog words which are mainly used. This will help you dealing more comfortably with the locals.

Here’s some of the basics:

A. Greetings (Pagbati):

The word “maganda” means “good” or “beautiful”. And “po” is a syllable that radiates “respect”·

Good morning – Magandang umaga po (pronounced: Ma-gan-dang u-ma-ga po)·

Good noon – Magandang tanghali po (Ma-gan-dang tang-ha-li po)·