Lesson 3:
Grammar
Expressing “to Know”
To express “to know” in Tagalog, alam is mostly used to express knowledge of a fact or information, while marunong is used to express knowledge of how to do something (to know a person is a different verb, one which we will learn later on in this course). Neither is a verb, so they are not conjugated according to aspects. Marunong uses the subject/ANG pronouns and alam uses the object/NG pronouns. Observe the following examples:
Marunong ka ng Tagalog?
Do you know Tagalog?
Alam mo ang sagot?
Do you know the answer?
To express knowing how to do something with marunong, the neutral or infinitive form of the verb is used. In addition, it is mostly -um- and mag- verbs that are used with marunong. The linker -ng is attached to the ANG pronoun.
Marunong akong magsalitang ingles.
I know (how to speak) English.
Marunong siyang pumunta sa Intramuros.
He/She knows how to get to Intramuros. (lit., He/She knows how to go to Intramuros.)
