Day 18: Riddles With a Batangas Answer
On the porch of their house in Ibaan, Batangas, Mang Rading (A) and his sister Aling Rosa (C) trade the bugtong they grew up with while Myrna (B), a folklore researcher from Manila, records them for an anthology.
How to study this lesson 3 steps
- Read the situation under the title. It says who is talking and how they know each other, which decides how politely they speak.
- Read the dialogue line by line with its translation, until every line makes sense.
- Spend at least 30 minutes listening to native Tagalog. It doesn't matter if you don't understand it yet.
Dialogue
Audio for this lesson is coming soon. For now, read the dialogue and its translation.
Keys: E hide English · ← → previous / next day
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A
Ano ga ire? Hulaan mo, Myrna: isang bayabas, pito ang butas.
What's this? Guess, Myrna: one guava, seven holes.
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B
Mukha po: dalawang mata, dalawang tainga, dalawang butas ng ilong, at bibig.
A face: two eyes, two ears, two nostrils and a mouth.
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C
Tama, pero kulang ang kay Kuya. Ang kay Inay: "Isang bayabas, pito ang butas, araw-araw hinuhugasan."
Right, but Kuya's is missing a bit. Mother's went: "One guava, seven holes, washed every day."
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A
Dinugtungan mo lamang iyan, Rosa. Ako ang panganay, kaya akin ang orihinal.
You just tacked that on, Rosa. I'm the eldest, so mine's the original.
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C
Pero ako ang katabi ni Inay sa kusina. Hulaan mo ire, Myrna: "Kasinlaki ng ulo, makapal ang baro, matamis ang puso."
But I'm the one who was at Mother's side in the kitchen. Guess this one, Myrna: "As big as a head, with a thick coat and a sweet heart."
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B
Kasinlaki ng ulo at makapal ang balat, suha po ba?
As big as a head, with a thick skin, is it a pomelo?
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A
Tama ang prutas, mali ang salita. Dine sa amin, lukban ang tawag diyan.
Right fruit, wrong word. Around here, we call that lukban.
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B
Lukban po, gaya ng bayan sa Quezon? Sige po, "lukban" ang isusulat ko, "suha" sa talababa.
Lukban, like the town in Quezon? All right, I'll write down "lukban," with "suha" in a footnote.
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C
Sa wakas, Kuya, nagkasundo rin tayo. Pero akin pa rin ang bugtong na iyan.
Finally, Kuya, we agree on something. But that riddle's still mine.
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