Learn Tagalog free
Most things advertised as free Tagalog lessons are a trial with a subscription behind them. Here is what is actually free, and the order to use it in.
What is genuinely free
- This site. Every phrase, both charts and all the audio, no account, no trial, works offline once loaded.
- Tatoeba. Tens of thousands of Tagalog sentences with English translations, CC licensed. No audio for Tagalog, but excellent for seeing real sentences.
- Wiktionary. The best free source for stress and glottal stops, which ordinary dictionaries and spelling both leave out.
- Lingua Libre. Around 900 words recorded by native speakers, openly licensed. Words only, no phrases.
- YouTube and Filipino television. Free listening practice with the register you actually need, which is not the register textbooks use.
What is not free, whatever the ad says
The named language apps that offer Tagalog run on subscriptions. A free tier usually means a small number of lessons, or a trial measured in days. That is not a criticism, it is just worth knowing before you build a habit on top of one.
The order that works
- The markers first. Nine cells, an afternoon, and every sentence you meet afterwards is easier. Most courses save these for chapter six.
- Then the pronouns. Twenty-one cells, same idea, and it includes the two different words for we.
- Then high-frequency phrases, in frequency order rather than by topic, so the effort lands where the language actually is.
- Then verbs, which are the hard part and much less frightening once the markers are automatic.
| In front of… | angwhat it is about | ngwhose it is | sato / at / in |
|---|---|---|---|
| an ordinary thingbahay (house) | angPlay | ngPlay | saPlay |
| somebody's nameMaria | siPlay | niPlay | kayPlay |
| more than onebata (child) | ang mgaPlay | ng mgaPlay | sa mgaPlay |
The thing free resources cannot give you
A native speaker's ear. Stress placement and register are where self-taught learners quietly go wrong for years, and both are obvious to any Filipino within a sentence or two. Even occasional contact fixes things no amount of drilling will.
This site is honest about the same limit: what has been checked, by whom, and what is still owed is written down on the sources page.
Start with the markersThe six words that run the language — Tagalog puts a little word in front of every noun to show what it is doing. There are only six of them. No account, nothing to install.The frequency ordering on this site is an informed estimate, not a corpus count. There is no published frequency count for conversational Tagalog, so it prints a rank and never a percentage. When a real count exists, the order changes and this line changes with it.
It teaches Tagalog as spoken around Manila, which is not the same thing as Filipino and is not the whole country. Cebuano and Ilocano are different languages, not accents.
Nothing is drilled until a native speaker has checked it. What has been checked, by whom, and what is still owed is written down on the sources page.
- Phrase lookupSearch a word, see what lives next to it.
- Why Duolingo has no TagalogThe real reason, and what to do instead.
- Basic Tagalog phrasesThe ones you will actually hear, in frequency order, with audio.
- All the phrasesThe whole list this app drills, on one page.
- ang, ng, saNine cells that decide the shape of every Tagalog sentence.
- The pronoun gridTwenty-one cells, three cases, and the two words for we.
- Pronunciation and stressWhy buhay and buhay are different words, and how to hear it.
- Where this comes fromEvery source, every licence, and who checked the Tagalog.
- Tagalog vs FilipinoDifferent names, mostly the same language. What actually differs.
- Is Tagalog hard?Honest answer: the grammar is strange, the spelling is free.
- Tagalog greetingsHello, good morning, and what you say back.
- Hello in TagalogKumusta, and the formal version, with audio.
- Thank you in TagalogSalamat, salamat po, and the reply.
- Po and opoThe respect particle, and the mistake foreigners make with it.
- Mahal kitaI love you, and the word that also means expensive.
- Tagalog and SpanishThousands of shared words, and not one shared grammar rule.
- Is Tagalog tonal?No. But stress changes meaning, which trips people the same way.
- Tagalog for travelThe jeepney word, the haggling word, and where the bathroom is.
- Tagalog numbersTwo whole systems, and when each one is used.