When to use it
Use it when you are new to an area and want a good place to eat nearby.
“Where can I find a good restaurant nearby?” — The sentence in English
In “Where can I find a good restaurant nearby?” ‘can’ moves before ‘I’ and ‘nearby’ comes last.
- Where
- adverbquestion word asking about place
- can
- auxiliary verbcan · tense: present · modal verb of ability or permission
- I
- pronounpersonal pronoun, always written with a capital letter
- find
- verbfind · form: base form (infinitive without "to") · main verb after a modal or after "help me"
- a
- determinerindefinite article
- good
- adjectiveadjective
- restaurant
- nounnoun
- nearby
- adjectiveadjective placed after the noun
“Saan ako makakahanap ng magandang restawran malapit dito?” — The sentence in Filipino
In “Saan ako makakahanap ng magandang restawran malapit dito?” the verb ‘makakahanap’ (will be able to find) packs the idea of ‘can’ into the prefix ‘maka-’. ‘maganda’ (good) becomes ‘magandang’ before the noun.
- Saan
- adverbquestion word 'where'
- ako
- pronounpronoun 'I'
- makakahanap
- verbhanap · form: maka- (ability) · aspect: contemplated · 'will be able to find'
- ng
- prepositionmarker ng before the object
- magandang
- adjectivemaganda 'good' + linker -ng
- restawran
- nounnoun 'restaurant'
- malapit
- adjective'near'
- dito
- adverb'here'; malapit dito = 'nearby'
English × Filipino: What changes from one language to the other
English uses ‘can’ + ‘find’; Filipino one verb with the ability built in. Both put ‘nearby’ / ‘malapit dito’ at the end.
Example conversation
— Saan ako makakahanap ng magandang restawran malapit dito?
— Where can I find a good restaurant nearby?
— Subukan mo ang nasa tabi ng ilog, masarap doon.
— Try the one by the river, the food is great.