BAYBAYIN 101 PAGE 1

BAYBAYIN 101:
LEARN HOW TO
WRITE BAYBAYIN
MODIFIED VERSION

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A Little History
Baybayin, also popularly known as Alibata
is one of the Philippines many writing
systems that exist before the coming of
the Spaniards. The current script used by
the majority of Filipino is based on Tagalog
Baybayin script. However, scripts from
other regions are also known to exist such
as Badlit for Visayans, Kulitan for
Kapampangans, etc. There are also other
sister scripts from indigenous tribes such
as Tagbanwa, Hanuno’o and Buhid which
are still being used up to this day.

Baybayin is thought to have many

variations across different places not just
due to linguistic differences but also due
to personal handwriting of the people
using it. So if you want to write in Baybayin
it is okay to not perfectly follow the
‘standard’ if there is such thing, because
originally people just wrote the script in
whatever way they learned it, as long as
symbols were recognizable.

How to Write
There are two ways to write Baybayin,
the traditional pre-Hispanic way and
the modernized variety which has been
modified a little bit by the Spanish friars.
To learn the writing system we will go over
the traditional version first and then move
to the modified version.

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QUICK GUIDE:

STEP 1: MEMORIZE

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STEP 2: KNOW THE RULES

Add kudlit (small mark) above to make an E/I sound

Add kudlit below to make an O/U sound
Add cross below to negate the vowel sound

IMPORTANT NOTE:
Words are written based on how they are pronounced
(in the actual language), not based on how they are
spelled (in the Latin alphabet).

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Pre-Hispanic Version

Baybayin is classified as an Abugida which means only syllables that are composed of a

consonant and a vowel can be written.

Add kudlit (small mark) above to make an E/I sound, and add kudlit below to make an
O/U sound.

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This was the traditional system of writing words for ancient Filipinos, they did not write
stand alone consonants.

So for example, ADLAW (sun/day) would be written as A-LA, BULAN (moon/month)

would be BU-LA, and DAGAT (sea) would be DA-GA.

There were no spaces between words, so words would run together similar to
Japanese.

To separate sentences, two lines were used like how we use periods today.

It's very hot

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In the traditional version, there were only three vowels compared to today’s mostly 5

vowel sounds in the Philippine Languages.

The symbols for D and R were the same and NG sound had a different symbol for itself,
unlike today which we use the letters N and G together.

So, the script acted as a mnemonic device for reading and was not that efficient to
capture the different sounds in the Philippine languages.

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Modified Version
For the modified version the Spanish Friars added stand alone consonants and
spaces between words can be written.

A cross was used below the symbol to negate the vowel sound, giving us, ADLAW
into A-D-LA-W, BULAN into BU-LA-N, DAGAT becomes DA-GA-T.

IMPORTANT NOTE: Words are written based on how they are pronounced (in the
actual language), not based on how they are spelled (in the Latin alphabet).

Example:

It's very okay

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Important Notes for Modified Version:

One symbol is one syllable.
Add kudlit (small mark) above to make an E/I sound
Add kudlit below to make an O/U sound
Add cross below to negate the vowel sound
spaces between words can be written
Use a double line as a period.
DA and RA are the same character.
NG has a specific character.

It is quite difficult to write sentences in the traditional or pre-

hispanic version, so personally I mostly write Baybayin using
the modified version. Hence, I created this this Baybayin 101
guide.

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CHAR A C T ERS

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Characters in Baybayin Sisil Font

Try to familiarize yourself with different baybayin fonts:

NOTE: We will use Baybayin Sisil font for the exercises in this worksheet.

a E O
bkdghlm
nNPstwy
Characters from Wikipedia:

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BAYBAYIN STYLES & SOURCES

Source:
http://paulmorrow.ca/baychart.htm

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EXAMPLES

Tagalog Phrases:

Maligayang pagdating (Welcome)

MligYN+ yG+dtiN+

Kumusta (How are you)

kumus+t

Magandang umaga (Good Morning)

Mgn+dN+ Ong

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EXERCISES

Tagalog Phrases:

Magandang hapon (Good afternoon)

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

Ingat ka (Take care)

_ _ _ _

Salamat (Thank you)

_ _ _ _
slmT+
Salamat
INT+ K
Ingat ka
mgn+dN+ hpon+
Magandang hapon

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EXAMPLES

Bisaya Phrases:

Maayong pag-abot (Welcome)

mayong+ pg+aboT+

Ambot (I don't know)

aM+boT+

Maayong Bundag (Good Morning)

MayoN+ bun+tg+

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EXERCISES

Bisaya Phrases:

Maayong hapon (Good afternoon)

_ _ _ _ _ _ _

Amping (Take care)

_ _ _ _

Salamat Kaayo (Thank you very much)

_ _ _ _ _ _ _
slmt+ kayo
Salamat Kaayo
am+piN+
Amping
maYoN+ hpon+
Maayong hapon

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TRY TO READ

mhl+ kit

bs+t my+ buhy+

mY+ pG+as

hoy+ pinoy+ ako

buO akiN+ loOB+
my+ agimt+ aN+ dugo ko

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THANK YOU!

I hope you enjoy this guide.

Share it to your friends who are interested to learn Baybayin.

Let's connect!

@theficklefeet

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