There are four overall patterns of Filipino basic (simple) sentences:
We start with examples.
| This | is my friend. | 1: Identify or define somebody or something |
| Kiko | is funny. | 2: Describe somebody or something |
| Charina | went to the market. | 3: Somebody or something does something |
| He | was taken to the hospital. | 4: To somebody or something happens something |
Now we abstract the patterns from the examples.
| 1: Identify or define somebody or something | ANG-phrase | AY ANG-phrase | optional NG-phrase | optional SA-phrase |
| 2: Describe somebody or something | ANG-phrase | AY adjective-phrase | optional NG-phrase | optional SA-phrase |
| 3: Somebody or something does something | ANG-phrase | AY actor-focus-verb | optional NG-phrase | optional SA-phrase |
| 4: To somebody or something happens something | ANG-phrase | AY object-focus-verb | optional NG-phrase | optional SA-phrase |
Sentence types: simple
Type S0: Empty or Null Subject
Type S1: The predicate is a noun or prounoun (ANG-phrase)
Type S2: The predicate is an adjective
Type S3: The predicate is an actor-focus verb (-um, mag-, ma-, maki-, maka-)
Type S4: The predicate is an object-focus verb (i-, -in, -an)
