Everyday Tagalog
Start speaking practical Tagalog from your very first conversation. Learn how to greet with genuine cultural warmth, navigate daily transactions, and grasp the core rhythm of Philippine sentence structure.
Like Duolingo, but for Everyday Tagalog. Tomo turns the whole topic into a game you play five minutes a day, until it actually sticks.
A short one: 11 levels across 2 sections, about 22 minutes end to end, roughly 4 days at five minutes a day. It moves through Making Contact and Getting Around and The Rhythm of Real Speech. It starts from scratch.
Free forever · No credit card · iPhone & Android
Key ideas in Everyday Tagalog
- 'Kumusta' doubles as both 'hello' and 'how are you'
- It acts as the universal casual icebreaker in everyday Filipino social interactions
- 'Salamat' means 'thank you' and 'paalam' means 'goodbye', making them unsuitable as greetings
- Adding 'po' softens an utterance and marks respect toward elders, strangers, and service staff
- 'Opo' serves as the respectful equivalent of 'yes' ('oo')
- Speaking without 'po' to unfamiliar adults or service providers can sound curt or overly blunt
- 'Kuya' means older brother but is widely used as a warm, respectful title for peers or older men in public
- 'Ate' means older sister and serves as the equivalent warm title for peers or older women
- Kinship terms create immediate rapport and are preferred over impersonal titles like 'Mister' or 'Miss'
- 'Kumain ka na ba?' translates to 'Have you eaten yet?'
- In Filipino culture, sharing food is the bedrock of hospitality, making this question a standard greeting of care
- 'Pabili po' literally means 'may I buy, please' and is the standard greeting used to get a storekeeper's attention before stating what you want
- The respect particle 'po' keeps the opening polite when addressing a vendor or elder
- 'Salamat po' is used for thanking, not opening a purchase
- 'Ito' refers to objects directly near or held by the speaker
- 'Iyan' refers to items near the listener or vendor
You've tried the other tabs
Thirty open tabs. Four facts you actually kept.
You watched. You nodded. By Sunday it was gone.
One answer, then back to scrolling.
Eight weeks. You meant to finish. You didn't.
Tomo gives Everyday Tagalog the Duolingo treatment: levels, streaks, and quick quizzes that test what you just learned. That game loop is what the tabs above never had, so it's the one you actually finish.
Here's what playing it feels like
A real question from this course. Take your best guess.
You see a friend across the room in Manila. What word works as both 'hello' and 'how are you'?
Get it right to open this lesson and 10 more in the app.
Where Everyday Tagalog takes you
- 1
Making Contact and Getting Around
- Respectful Greetings and Everyday Rapport
- Pointing, Ordering, and Simple Transactions
- 2
The Rhythm of Real Speech
- Flipping the Sentence: Predicate First
- Conversational Particles and Taglish
2 sections · 4 units · 11 levels. Built to play, not to enroll.
Tomo is in ChatGPT
Tomo is also a ChatGPT plugin: the same playable courses, built and played inside your chat.
Add Tomo to ChatGPT- What to ask
- “Make me a Tomo course on black holes.” “Turn this chat into a Tomo course.”
- What you get
- Quick questions with instant feedback, hearts and stars, ready to play in about a minute.
- Where it goes
- No sign-up to start. Connect your Tomo account and your streak carries on in the app.
You pick the voice
Everyday Tagalog is taught in the Bestie style: your friend who just gets it. Want a different feel? In the app you can spin up the same topic in any of Tomo's teaching styles. Same facts, totally different vibe.
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Start Everyday Tagalog today.
Download Tomo, search Everyday Tagalog, and play your first lesson in under a minute.