Austronesian voice system (focus)
· from English
What is the Tagalog focus system?
The Austronesian voice or focus system marks on the verb which participant (actor, object, place or beneficiary) is the grammatical focus of the sentence.
Tagalog and Cebuano verbs take affixes such as -um- (actor) or -in- (patient) that change which noun is marked with ang. Malay and Indonesian have a simplified version with active meN- and passive di-. It is one of the most distinctive and debated features of the family.
Examples
Tagalog kumain ang bata ng mangga (the child ate a mango, actor focus); kinain ng bata ang mangga (the mango was eaten by the child, patient focus); Indonesian membaca (read) vs dibaca (be read)
Kungfucius says: Tagalog verbs come with a spotlight, and the affix decides who stands in it.