What is a Noun?

What is a Noun?

A noun is a person, a place,  a thing, or an idea.
Let's talk about the way words are formed in Tagalog. This will help you to understand Tagalog nouns.
There are a lot of root words in Tagalog. A root word is simply a basic, core word that can be used to make other words, like an atom, or a building block that is used to make a tower. In Tagalog, most root words function as nouns. It is like the default position: if there are not any extra parts (suffixes, or prefixes etc.)  added to the word,  then the word is a root and it probably functions as a noun.
Let's look at an example from English to help make this clear. Root words in English are words like beauty, bomb, kick etc.
Take the root word bomb.   On its own,  the word bomb can function as a noun as can be seen in the following sentence:
Give me the bomb.
(The bomb is a thing I want someone to give to me. Remember the definition of a noun is a person, place or thing.)
Now with this basic root word that functions as a noun, I can further add things to this noun to make it a verb:
We bombed them yesterday.
This is basically the same way how Tagalog builds up different words. Root words in Tagalog are words like ganda (beauty), ilong (nose), and awit (song). If I take a root word likeganda, and put on a certain addition to this word (in this case ma-) I can make ganda into an adjective.
ganda (beauty)
ganda + ma=  maganda (beautiful)
All of the long, complicated looking words that we will encounter in Tagalog will have a core, root word embedded in there somewhere. In reading or listening to Tagalog, it is helpful to be able to recognize which part is the root word so you can tell what the basic meaning of the word is. Then by looking at the special markers that have been added to this root word, you can find out just exactly how this root word is being used. That is the basic theme to understanding Tagalog vocabulary and how Tagalog builds words. We will return to this theme again and again.
This is the really important beginning point to understand. The following sections below contain more detailed information about nouns and roots.

More Information on Nouns and Roots
Nouns in Tagalog are either roots or stems(root + nominalizing affix).  There are also nouns that are borrowed from other languages such as Spanish, English, other Philippine languages, etc.
Noun Roots: Inherent, Adjective, Verb

Most roots in Tagalog can function as nouns, but they may be classified into three types,  based on meaning and form. 

Inherent noun roots function primarily as nouns, take nominalizing affixes, and occur with pluralizers. 

Adjective roots may, likewise, function as nouns and take nominalizing affixes. However, they are not used with pluralizers.

Verb roots may also function as nouns and take nominalizing affixes. They may also be used with pluralizers. 

Inherent		Adjective		Verb
matá	eye	gandá	beauty	takbó	to  run
ilóng	nose	talino	intelligence	lakad	to walk
kamáy	hand	sipag	industry	sulat	letter
paá	foot	tiyagâ	patience	tawag	call
araw	sun	husay	skill	bantáy	guard
gubat	forest	galíng	talent	sumbóng	complaint
ilog	river	lambót	softness	awit	song
bató	rock	bigát	weight	away	quarrel
bahay	house	kapál	thickness	hatol	judgment
bigás	rice	tigás	hardness	hawak	to hold

Stems and Complex Nouns

There are nouns that are formed by adding nominalizing affix(es) to a root word.  There are also complex nouns which are formed by combining root words. Some of the more commonnominalizers and root combinations are shown in the following examples:

Noun	Root(s)	Meaning
kagubatan	gubat	thick forest
kalangitan	langit	skies
kabukiran	bukid	farm/fields
kabaitan	(ma)bait	kindness
kalungkutan	(ma)lungkot	loneliness
kasiyahan	(ma)saya	happiness
pag-awit	(um)awit	act of singing
pagmamahal	(mag)mahal	love
pagkagulat	(ma)gulat	shock
bahay-bata	bahay + bata	house + child = uterus
bukang-liwayway	buka + liwayway	open + sun = dawn

Loan Words

Tagalog has borrowed many important words from English and Spanish. Here are some examples:

Spanish		English
mesa	mesa  (table)	kompyuter	computer
silya	silla  (chair)	tren	train
sibuyas	cebollas (onion)	titser	teacher
kabayo	caballo (horse)	syampu	shampoo
edukasyon	educacion (education)	tsok	chalk