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Cebuano to Tagalog translator

Cebuano to Tagalog translation: Bisaya into the Tagalog Manila reads

Write in Bisaya, get Tagalog back. This page is for the Cebuano speaker who understands Tagalog perfectly well from school and television but wants a message, a notice or a letter to read as if it were written in Manila: a text to a friend who moved to Luzon, a barangay announcement for residents who came from Tagalog provinces, a reply to an office that works in Tagalog.

The two languages are close enough that a Bisaya to Tagalog translation often looks like the original with its words swapped one by one, and much of it is: sa becomes ng, diri becomes dito, moadto becomes pupunta. The work is where they stop being parallel. Tagalog wants po for an older reader where Cebuano gets by with the plural, several ordinary Cebuano words mean something else in Tagalog, and written Tagalog has a formal vocabulary of its own. The two samples below, a barangay notice and a text to a friend in Manila, show how the translator handles each.

Can Bisaya be translated to Tagalog word for word?

Not safely. The sentence shape is the same, so much of the text is a one-to-one swap: sa to ng, ug to at, diri to dito. But verbs have to be rebuilt (moadto becomes pupunta), some words change meaning (pila asks how many in Cebuano but means a queue in Tagalog), and Tagalog adds po for elders where Cebuano uses the plural.

Real Cebuano to Tagalog translations from this page

Each one was run through the translator above and printed exactly as it came back, with a note on what to look for.

A barangay announcement

Cebuano44 words

Pahibalo sa tanang molupyo: adunay libreng bakuna para sa mga bata sa Sabado, alas otso sa buntag hangtod alas dose, sa barangay hall. Palihug dad-a ang baby book sa inyong anak. Ang mga ginikanan nga dili makaadto mahimong mopadala og kauban nga hamtong. Salamat.

Tagalog · Formal48 words

Paunawa sa lahat ng residente: may libreng pagbabakuna para sa mga bata sa Sabado, mula alas-otso ng umaga hanggang alas-dose ng tanghali, sa barangay hall. Mangyaring dalhin ang baby book ng inyong anak. Ang mga magulang na hindi makadadalo ay maaaring magpadala ng kasamang nasa hustong gulang. Salamat.

Translated by this tool on 30 September 2026 and printed unedited.

This reads as proper written Tagalog. Pahibalo became Paunawa, palihug became Mangyaring and dili makaadto became hindi makadadalo, the vocabulary of official notices. Makadadalo, with the doubled da, is the formal written form; in speech people say makakadalo or makakapunta.
Cebuano sa for possession became Tagalog ng throughout: ang baby book sa inyong anak is ang baby book ng inyong anak, and alas otso sa buntag is alas-otso ng umaga. Inyong needed no change at all, since both languages use it for your.
The translator spelled out two things the Cebuano left implied: mula before the start time, and ng tanghali after alas-dose, so nobody wonders whether twelve means noon. Kauban nga hamtong became kasamang nasa hustong gulang, an adult companion, which is accurate if long.
There is no po anywhere, not even in the closing Salamat. For a printed notice that is acceptable, since Mangyaring already carries the courtesy, but a barangay speaking to residents on its page or over a loudspeaker would often end with Maraming salamat po.

A text to a friend in Manila

Cebuano35 words

Uy, kumusta na ka diha sa Manila? Ingon si Mama moadto ka diri sa Cebu sa Pasko. Tinuod ba? Kung mouli ka, ayaw kalimti ang pasalubong ha! Mag-beach ta sa Moalboal unya kauban ang barkada.

Tagalog · Informal36 words

Uy, kumusta ka na diyan sa Manila? Sabi ni Mama, pupunta ka raw dito sa Cebu sa Pasko. Totoo ba? Kapag umuwi ka, huwag mong kalimutan ang pasalubong, ha! Mag-beach tayo sa Moalboal kasama ang barkada.

Translated by this tool on 30 September 2026 and printed unedited.

This sounds like a real text from Cebu to Manila. Kumusta na ka became kumusta ka na, with ka moved in front of na as Tagalog word order needs, and ayaw kalimti became huwag mong kalimutan, the everyday Tagalog for don't forget.
Ingon si Mama became Sabi ni Mama with raw added: pupunta ka raw. Raw marks something heard from someone else, and it is the natural way to report what Mama said in Tagalog. It makes the line more idiomatic, not less faithful.
Pasalubong, barkada, Pasko, uy and ha passed through unchanged because they are the same in both languages, and Mag-beach tayo keeps the English beach with a Tagalog verb prefix, as a friend would type it. Ta, the Cebuano we that includes the listener, correctly became tayo rather than kami.
The one loss is unya at the end of the Cebuano, meaning then or later; the Tagalog drops it. It adds little here, but if the order of plans matters, start the last sentence with Tapos: Tapos, mag-beach tayo sa Moalboal kasama ang barkada.

Bisaya to Tagalog: the small words change first

Cebuano and Tagalog build sentences the same way. Both usually put the predicate first, both mark the topic with ang, and both join a describing word to its noun with a linker. What differs is the set of little words doing those jobs, and because they turn up in every sentence, getting them right is most of what makes the Tagalog look native.

Cebuano	Tagalog	What it does
sa (of)	ng	possession: baby book ng inyong anak
og	ng	an unspecified thing: magpadala ng kasama
nga	na / -ng	links a word to its noun: mga magulang na hindi makadadalo
ug	at	and
kay	dahil / kasi	because
diri / diha / didto	dito / diyan / doon	here / there by you / over there
ayaw	huwag	don't

Sa is the one to watch. In Cebuano it covers both of and at or on, while Tagalog splits the job between ng for of and sa for places and times. So sa Sabado and sa barangay hall stay as they are in the notice above, but sa buntag became ng umaga.

From mo- and mi- to Tagalog's doubled syllables

Cebuano shows whether an action is still to come with a prefix: mo- for not yet, mi- for done. Tagalog does the same job by repeating the first syllable of the root, or with the infix -um-. The roots themselves often differ too, adto and punta, uli and uwi, kaon and kain, so a Bisaya to Tagalog translation has to rebuild each verb rather than swap a prefix.

English	Cebuano, not yet	Tagalog, not yet	Cebuano, done	Tagalog, done
go	moadto	pupunta	miadto	pumunta
go home	mouli	uuwi	miuli	umuwi
eat	mokaon	kakain	mikaon	kumain
buy	mopalit	bibili	mipalit	bumili

Watch the negatives. Cebuano wala takes the not-yet form, wala ko moadto, while Tagalog hindi takes the done form for the past: hindi ako pumunta. A translation that copied the Cebuano verb form across would give hindi ako pupunta, which means I will not go.

Bisaya words that mean something else in Tagalog

Most vocabulary is either shared or plainly different, so the risky words are the ones that exist in both languages with different meanings. A Tagalog reader meets them in a translation and takes the Tagalog sense without noticing anything is wrong. The translator has to replace every one of them; these are the ones to check first.

Word	In Cebuano	In Tagalog	Tagalog for the Cebuano sense
pila	how many, how much	a queue, a line	ilan, magkano
mura	like, seems (murag uwan)	cheap	parang, mukhang
suko	angry (nasuko)	to give up, surrender	galit, nagalit
dako	big	place, direction	malaki
tulo	three	a drip, a leak	tatlo
bulak	flower	cotton	bulaklak
kita	we, including you	I and you, as in mahal kita	tayo

Kita is the one most likely to raise a laugh. Moadto kita in Cebuano means we are all going; the same kita in Tagalog is the one in mahal kita. The friend text used the short form ta, and the translator correctly wrote tayo.

Adding po: what Cebuano leaves unsaid

A Cebuano message to an older person shows respect through the plural kamo or mo, through palihug, and through titles such as Nang, Nong or Lola. Tagalog expects all of that plus po or opo, usually in every sentence. Translate Bisaya to Tagalog for a grandmother, a teacher or an official without po, and the result reads as if the writer forgot their manners, even when every word is right.

The translator does not always add it. Neither sample above has a po, and for the friend text that is correct. For an elder, set the register to Formal and then read the result: if po is missing, click the sentence for alternatives or add it by hand, as in Kumusta po kayo? and Salamat po. Titles change too. Nang and Nong become Ate and Kuya for someone a little older, or Aling and Mang before the name of an older neighbour.

Notice Tagalog or everyday Tagalog

Written Tagalog has a formal layer that people rarely speak. Mangyaring for please, dumalo for attend and nasa hustong gulang for adult all appear in the barangay notice and are right there. Put the same words in a message to a friend and it sounds like a government form.

The register selector decides which layer you get. Formal gives the notice vocabulary; Informal gives the Tagalog of chats, which mixes in English freely, as Mag-beach tayo shows. Match source tone follows your Bisaya, which works when the original is clearly one or the other.

Meaning	Formal written Tagalog	Everyday Tagalog
please bring	Mangyaring dalhin	Pakidala
cannot come	hindi makadadalo	hindi makakapunta
questions	mga katanungan	mga tanong
thank you	Maraming salamat po	Salamat

Mistakes to check before you send

A false friend read the Tagalog way

Pila, mura, suko and dako look like Tagalog words and are not. If the Tagalog mentions a queue, something cheap or giving up where your Bisaya meant how many, seems or angry, the word was read in the wrong language.

No po for an elder

A message to Lola, a teacher or a barangay captain without po, and with ka instead of kayo, sounds curt in Tagalog. Add po and change ka to kayo.

Cebuano particles left in

Gyud and kaayo have no place in Tagalog. Gyud usually becomes talaga, and kaayo after an adjective becomes sobrang or napaka- in front of it: lami kaayo, napakasarap.

The wrong we

Cebuano ta and kita include the listener and become tayo; kami leaves the listener out and stays kami. A plan with your friend that comes back as kami has shut them out of it.

A verb with the wrong time

Check each Tagalog verb against the mo- or mi- in your Bisaya, and especially after hindi, where the Tagalog past uses the done form: hindi ako pumunta, not hindi ako pupunta.

Notice words in a chat

Mangyaring, katanungan and dumalo in a text to a friend make it read like an official letter. Switch the register to Informal and press Retranslate, or change them to paki-, tanong and punta.

For a text to a friend in Manila the translator is enough; for a notice that tells people where to go and what to bring, ask someone who grew up speaking Tagalog to read it once, and for affidavits or papers going to a court or a government office, use a professional translator.

Before you send the Tagalog version, run it through the Tagalog grammar checker for spelling, grammar and punctuation.

Cebuano to Tagalog translation questions

What is ambot in Tagalog?

Ewan, or in full hindi ko alam, I don't know. Ambot lang is closer to ewan ko lang, and an exasperated Ambot nimo! to a friend is Ewan ko sa 'yo! in Tagalog.

How do I say lami in Tagalog?

Masarap. Lami kaayo is napakasarap, or ang sarap in everyday speech. Bisaya speakers also use lami for things other than food; Tagalog often uses masarap there too, as in masarap matulog, but masaya or maganda can fit better depending on the thing.

Will the Tagalog include po?

Only sometimes. The formal barangay sample above came back with none. If the reader is older or someone you address with respect, set the register to Formal and check that po and kayo appear; if they do not, add them by hand.

How do you say ta or kita in Tagalog?

Tayo, the we that includes the person you are talking to: Mag-beach ta becomes Mag-beach tayo. Do not reuse the Tagalog kita for it. In Tagalog kita is the I-and-you of mahal kita, and it also means earnings.

My text is Hiligaynon or Waray. Will this work?

Not reliably. Both are also called Bisaya, but they are separate languages from Cebuano, and this page reads your text as Cebuano. The words they share with Cebuano will come through; the rest will be guessed.

How can I check the Tagalog if I am not sure of it?

Press Use as source and make sure the languages read Tagalog to Cebuano, using the swap button if needed, then translate. If the Bisaya that returns says what you meant, the Tagalog is probably sound. Check times, numbers and every hindi against your original.

Going the other way? Translate Tagalog to Cebuano.

Written and checked by the AI Writing Assistant team. Last reviewed 30 September 2026.