Bababa Ba? Bababa.

Status: Horneee
Music: Overload
– Sugababes

I just received this anecdote from a friend, who had read this somewhere. And it made me realise how fun Tagalog really is as a language.

I was in the elevator with an American. We were going down to the ground floor, but before reaching it, we stopped at the 4th floor. It opened to a Filipino.

She asked me, “Bababa ba?

I replied, “Bababa.

In she went. Upon closing of the door, the American asked curiously, “I’m sorry. Did you guys just have a conversation?

A’right. To all my non-Filipino readers, I’m gonna explain this to you. “Bababa” is the tagalog word for “going down.” And to change any noun, pronoun, verb, adverb, or adjective to a question, all you have to do is add “ba.” Of course, a question mark and the proper intonation go with it.

She: “Bababa ba?” (Going down?)
Me: “Bababa.” (Going down.)

There. Though they might have sounded like they were trying to mimic goats/sheep, they actually had a conversation. Hehehe. Ahlove’t. 

# # # 

How much of the Philippines have I visited? I’ve always considered myself as a well-travelled person but I guess this test result kinda contradicts that. Hmmm. There’s so much of Visayas and Mindanao to explore.

 

 

 

My Lakbayan grade is C+! 

How much of the Philippines have you visited? Find out at Lakbayan! Created by Eugene Villar.

# # #  

Anyway, my mum refuses to talk to me at the moment. It was her birthday yesterday and yeah, it kinda slipped my mind. I forgot to greet her. But I don’t think she’s mad at me. Er… Well, yeah, I think she’s mad at me. OK. I’m sure she’s mad at me. I’m worried. Waaaah!

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Posted on by Yoshke in Family, Humor, Travel

13 Responses to Bababa Ba? Bababa.

  1. Chriscole

    things will be ok bet. you and your mom.. :) kahit ano namang mangyari you’re still her son. just try to make it up to her. i know she’ll forgive you. good luck!

  2. naimah

    aww the Tagalog language was really cute. I wish I understood it. I barely know that many languages. :( As far as your mom, she forgives you. I always forget my family members’ birthday haha They forget mine too so we don’t care much cause it’s not like we did it on purpose lol

  3. Nina

    haha, yeah, i know right? tagalog is so much fun. pero minsan kapag direchong tagalog ako, ang hirap na, although 6 years palang ako dito sa states, minsan nahihirapan na ako. kahit nga minsan pinoy kausap ko nae-english ko na.

    eto pa.. yesterday, it took me, my bestfriend and my sis about 5 hours to remember what CATFISH is in tagalog!! haha. we refused to call or use the dictionary (online) to look it up. ayun, finally, naisip ko kung ano!

    everything’ll be ok witchu and yer mom. she’s just a lil upset, but she’ll get over it.. make lambing to her, that should do it.

  4. Yoshke

    ^^ NINA, i know ‘right. hahaha. I’ve never been out of the country but there are times that I really find it hard to speak a complete sentence in Tagalog. People here laugh at me for saying “nagkameron” instead of “nagkaroon.” Whatever.

    CATFISH??? Why the hell would you want to know the Tagalog word for that? But I’ll try. Is it DALAG? or HITO?

  5. Yoshke

    OK, I just consulted a dictionary. It’s HITO. Hehehehe. DALAG is mudfish. Oh me, what a cheater.

  6. 宝茹

    Hi there!

    “Did you just have a conversation?” – Haha…really tickled me!

  7. Nitoy

    Wow thats so cool how that is a language I would have never thought that. Love the site BTW. :-)

  8. josh

    i love the filipino language .. i can totally understand! but itd be better if i can speak it hahah

  9. Yoshke

    thanks NITOY, and JOSH (eventhough you deleted my comments from your blog. hehehe.) And Josh, try to learn speaking the language. hehehe. It’s really fun.

  10. Leo

    lol @ the anecdote. bababa!

  11. marianne

    i heard this na. but really amusing though

  12. The Lady in Green Ruffles

    me too, c+..but i travelled mostly in the north..just by our car driving…the farthest i went in the south was bora.

  13. Anonymous

    hum

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