“Can I pay in cash or only by card?” in Filipino

When to use it

Use it in a shop or restaurant before paying, to check whether cash is accepted.

The sentence in English (“Can I pay in cash or only by card?”)

In “Can I pay in cash or only by card?” ‘Can’ moves before ‘I’ to ask, and ‘in cash’ and ‘by card’ take different prepositions.

Can

auxiliary verbcan · tense: present · modal verb of ability or permission; it opens the question

I

pronounpersonal pronoun, always written with a capital letter

pay

verbpay · form: base form (infinitive without "to") · main verb after "can"

in

prepositionpreposition

cash

noununcountable noun; money in notes and coins

or

coordinating conjunctioncoordinating conjunction

only

adverbadverb

by

prepositionpreposition

card

nounnoun; a bank card

The sentence in Filipino (“Puwede ba akong magbayad ng cash, o card lang?”)

In “Puwede ba akong magbayad ng cash, o card lang?” the particle ‘ba’ makes the question and ‘-ng’ joins ‘ako’ (I) to ‘magbayad’ (to pay). ‘cash’ and ‘card’ are English loans, and ‘lang’ (only) comes last.

Puwede

adjective'can'

ba

particlequestion particle

akong

pronounako 'I' + linker -ng

magbayad

verbbayad · focus: actor (mag-) · form: infinitive · mag- + bayad 'to pay'

ng

prepositionmarker ng before the means

cash

nounEnglish loan, common in the Philippines

o

coordinating conjunction'or'

card

nounEnglish loan

lang

particle'only'

What changes from one language to the other (English × Filipino)

English needs two prepositions, ‘in’ and ‘by’; Filipino one marker, ‘ng’. English asks by inversion, Filipino with ‘ba’.

Example conversation