Position of personal pronouns in a sentence.

@Bennie329
Pronouns are tricky in Tagalog. The "prideful pronoun" rule can be helpful, but is not always the case. Rather than try to memorize some generalized rule that covers all cases, it's sometimes best just to focus on patterns with particular sentences and word usage. In the case of "may" sentences, it's usually "May [noun] [pronoun]."Another rule a teacher taught me is the idea of "magnet" words, which are words that "attract" pronouns and enclitics. I can't think of the full list of the top of my head, but "huwag" is an example...
"Huwag mo siyang tanungin," for example...rather than "Huwag tanungin mo siya."
"Huwag" is commonly shifting the pronouns/enclitics closer to it in this case.The key idea is to keep an eye out for these patterns, and copy what you see native speakers doing.

Yip ... I also heard the term "enclitic magnet" ... "hindi" seems to be another word that has this property, e.g. alam ko vs. hindi ko alam. I hope this is correct. And I also understand that "ka" has a higher priority than other pronounsor enclitics (e.g. ka na vs. na ako).Maybe there is no handy set of rules ... so there is really no other remedy than to learn certain patterns ...I came to this phrase this morning: sana may araw na tahimik sa mall ka ... I placed "ka" at the end of the sentence, simply because no other position seemed to fit ... but I am not so sure if this is really correct .... (maybe it should have been: sana may tahimik ang araw mo sa mall - but this is another phrase, isn't it?)By the way: my kausap na pinay did not understand the phrase that uses "ka" ... she recommends a phrase that does not use pronouns at all: Sana tahimik ngayong araw dyan sa mall.

@Bennie329 The response of @jkos about the use of “may” is correct. I will just elaborate on it and also address your other concerns below. MAY AKO“May AKO isang kape lang” is an ambiguous Tagalog sentence. Its literal translation is “There is I one coffee only”. So, unless there is context to base your sentence on, it would be almost impossible to understand. Reasons: “MAY” can be used before a common noun, but NOT BEFORE a subject pronoun unless you are referring to the pronoun as just a word independent of its “I” meaning. For example, “May AKO sa pangungusap na ito” would be understood correctly as “There is an “AKO” in this sentence. - The word "ako" remains as "ako", i.e., it is not translated into "I".We can also add AKO (or another pronoun) after MAY in a sentence like this: “Hindi kami pareho, may SILA at may AKO”. It translates to “We are not the same, there’s THEM and there’s ME. In this case, though, the pronouns are no longer subject/actor, but object/non-actor pronouns.Instead of using "MAY", you may want to use “MAYROON (or, "meron")” because it can be used before a common noun or a subject pronoun. MAYROON AKOng isang kape lang. = I only have one coffee. However, notice that the linker “na” gets into the picture as the “ng” in “AKOng”. The sentence is OK, but it would sound more natural if stated as, “Mayroon lang akong isang kape” instead. MAY mga langgam sa kape ko. = There are ants in my coffee. (“Langgam (ant)” is a common noun.)MAYROONg mga langgam sa kape ko. = There are ants in my coffee.So, “may” directly indicates the existence of the word that immediately follows it – as what @jkos indicated as "May [noun] [pronoun]". And that’s why “MAY AKO isang kape lang” translates to “THERE IS I one coffee only” because the following word, “ako” will automatically be translated to what it means, i.e., “I”.“Mayroon”, on the other hand, would require the identification of what it is that it describes as existing – thus, the need for the “na” to link “mayroon” to that thing that exists. “MAYROON akoNG ISANG KAPE lang” translates to “I HAVE ONE COFFEE only” because it is the word(s) that follows the linker “na” that identifies what exists/you have. “Mayroon” may be linked directly to the word that follows it except when that word is a pronoun. In such cases, the pronoun immediately follows “mayroon”, and the linker “na” ends up between the pronoun and the word that “mayroon” refers to.Mayroong kotse SI MARY <> Mayroon SIYANG kotse.
Mayroong kausap SINA TOM AT JERRY <> Mayroon SILANG kausap. When speaking, we may also place the proper name(s) between “mayroon” and the word(s) it is linked to. For example, it is all right for us to say “Mayroon si Maryng kotse”. However, since the appended “ng” may create confusion about the true proper name in the written form, e.g., John becomes Johng or Helen becomes Heleng, we, therefore, normally place the proper name after the linked word instead. Also, technically, it would be correct to say “Mayroon si Mary na kotse”, but it would sound so awkward to us that we just don’t do it. So, in its written form, only "Mayroong kotse si Mary" is acceptable.

Regarding the Pinay’s sentence, “May isang tasang kape lang AKO” (or “Mayroong isang tasang kape lang AKO”), it is the same as saying “AKO ay may/mayroong isang tasang kape lang”. It translates to “I have one cup of coffee only/I only have one cup of coffee”. The “ako” pronoun functions as the subject/actor of the sentence. So, it may either be at the end or at the beginning of the sentence. Note: If my translations above sound awkward, it's because I took into account all the Tagalog words you used in your conversation. I am not sure if those are the ideas that both of you meant to convey to each other though. Do let me know if you meant something else. PLACEMENT OF AKOShould “ako”, or any other subject pronoun, be placed at the beginning or the end of a sentence? It all depends on how you want to state your sentence. As I mentioned above, “May isang tasang kape lang AKO (1)” is just the same as saying “AKO ay may isang tasang kape lang (2)”, hence, both ways are correct. Generally speaking, Tagalog sentences may begin with the subject or the predicate or the verb.Sentence (1) above started with the predicate, while sentence (2) started with the subject/actor. “May/Mayroon” is “there is”, therefore, the actual verb in the sentence is “to be” even if we may translate it as “to have” to adapt it better into English. Since there is no “to be” verb in Tagalog, that sentence can’t be started with a verb.Your sentence “Umiinom AKO isang tasang kape na”, starts with a verb, but the sentence is not correct. Stating it correctly could either be:1) Umiinom NA AKO NG isang tasang kape = I AM ALREADY drinking a cup of coffee. (In Tagalog, the “na (already)” has to immediately follow the verb. Also, in Tagalog, the verb needs a preposition to link it to its object, that’s why we need a “ng (of)” before “isang tasang kape”, which literally translates to “drinking OF one cup of coffee”.)OR2) Umiinom AKO NG isang tasang kape. = I am drinking a cup of coffee.Using sentence (2), it may be expressed starting with the actor/subject: AKO ay umiinom ng isang tasang kape. = I am drinking/drink a cup of coffee.The sentence may also begin with the predicate, but since what follows the verb is its object, it means that the verb focus will then have to shift to the object (non-actor) and as a result, a non-actor focus verb has to be used. (“Umiinom” is an actor-focus verb and its non-actor focus verb counterpart is “Iniinom”.)Iniinom KO ang isang tasang kape. = I am drinking/drink a/the cup of coffee. – Here, “ko” is only the actor and no longer the subject of the sentence. It immediately follows the verb at the start of the sentence.The sentence may also be stated as:“Ang isang tasang cape ay iniinom ko” = I am drinking/drink a/the cup of coffee, where it shows that the subject of the sentence has become the cup of coffee. Also note that the actor pronoun is at the end of the sentence this time.(Note: When a non-actor focus verb is used, the object of the verb has to be either in its entirety or specific or both. It is for that reason that there is an option to use “a” or “the” before the “cup of coffee”. Using “a” would mean that it’s a cup of coffee and not any other type of drink, and using “the” would mean that it’s this specific cup of coffee and not any other cup of coffee.)So, the placement of the subject pronoun would depend on how you’d state a Tagalog sentence. In the case of short or simple Tagalog sentences, we would normally start it with the verb and, therefore, the actor pronoun would be close to it. In longer sentences, and in particular, those that have direct and indirect objects, the verb might not be used to start the sentence and, as such, the actor pronoun may end up elsewhere in it. Identifying the actor, the direct and indirect objects, the subject, and the predicate can help you sort things out.

@Bennie329 About the “magnet” words, yes, “hindi” can be one of them. “Gusto”, “ayaw”, and “bakit” are also likely or possible additions to them.Yes, “Sana tahimik * ngayong araw dyan sa mall” is correct. The addition of “araw” gives a prospective meaning to the sentence. It makes the hope/wish apply to the entire day, whether she's not yet or already, at the mall. Without “araw”, it would mean “currently” as she is already in the mall. You may say that also as:
Sana ngayong araw tahimik * diyan sa mall. or
Sana tahimik * diyan sa mall ngayong araw. or
Sana diyan sa mall tahimik * ngayong araw.The asterisks indicate where “ka” should be placed should you want to add it, but maybe you really shouldn’t. That's because it would suggest that you're aware that the person you’re saying it to normally misbehaves, like a Karen, in a mall.

Your other sentence - Sana may tahimik ang araw mo sa mall – is not correct. It could be:
Sana may katahimikan ang araw mo sa mall. = I hope you’d have a quiet/peaceful day at the mall. (To use “may”, you need a noun after it. "Tahimik" is the adjective "silent/quiet". “Katahimikan” is the noun "peacefulness/silence" – “peacefulness in the day” - but in the translation it will be understood as “peaceful day”. The “ngayon” should be added if you specifically mean “today”.) If you’d remove the “may”, then the sentence “Sana tahimik ang araw mo sa mall” becomes correct as is – I hope you’d have a quiet/peaceful day at the mall. Those are the grammatical corrections.HOWEVER, both sentences might also imply your awareness that the person being addressed usually gets in trouble at a mall. Colloquially, we might simply say in Taglish, "Enjoy ka sa mall (Enjoy your day/time at the mall)". That way, nothing else is implied. 🙂

Thank you for your splendid explanation, indeed! Your help is really invaluable to me! I think I now understand the mistake I made when using "may" ... it cannot be next to a SUBJECT PRONOUN ... or else AKO will be taken as "AKO" ... Possibly this is one of the major reasons why my kausap does not understand me every once in a while. I hope I can manage to use "may" correctly now. Let me try the following sentence: "I hope, you have a quiet day at the Mall"sana may araw na tahimik mo sa Mall ... (may + noun + posessive pronoun + indirect object, "may" does not require a linker) sana mayroong ka ng araw na tahimik sa Mall ... (mayroon + subject pronoun + object + indirect object, "mayroon" requires a linker)I hope, I am not too stubborn ... I am still struggling ...

@Bennie329 Also related to word order...enclitics have a natural ranking to them. You'll probably pick up most of this just by seeing the combinations while reading/listening, but attached is a word order chart.And then, you can actually drill enclitic word orders on Tagalog.com, here:
www.tagalog.com/flas hcards/study.php?fla sh_card_set_id=352&b ack=FlashCards

@Bennie329
“Sana may araw na tahimik mo sa Mall” is not grammatically correct. That’s because “… araw na tahimik MO…” means “a quiet day of yours”.It should be “Sana may araw na tahimik KA sa Mall” where that phrase now becomes “a day that you’re quiet”. Therefore, “Sana may araw na tahimik ka sa Mall” translates to “I hope there’d be a day that you would be quiet at the Mall”. But that’s not what you meant to say.“Sana mayroong ka ng araw na tahimik sa Mall” is also not correct.The error is in this part “… sana mayroong ka ng…”. It should be “… sana MÁYROÓN kaNG …” instead. You may want to refer to my earlier post on the correct use of “mayroon” when a pronoun follows it.With the correction, “Sana mayroon kang araw na tahimik sa Mall”, its close-to-literal translation is “I hope you’d have a quiet day at the Mall”. That would be correct in English, but the meaning of the Tagalog sentence to us is a bit different. We’d understand it more as “I hope you will have a day that is quiet at the Mall (but let's be realistic, all days there are noisy)” or “I hope there’d be a day that you’d be quiet at the Mall (because you’re normally rowdy)”. The second translation is the same as that of your first sentence.The verb “have” in English can mean a number of things. However, in Tagalog, “may” or “mayroon” only means (1) “to have” in terms of possession/ownership or (2) “there + to be + something” or something exists.I have a dog. = May aso ako./Máyroón akong aso,
She has a cold. = May sipón siyá/Mayroón siyáng sipón,
He will tell you something. = May sásabihin siyá sa iyó/Mayroón siyáng sasabihin sa iyo.
There is someone/a person in the room. = May tao sa kwarto/Mayroóng tao sa kuwarto.In English, “have” can also be used to refer to an experience, as when it is used as a wish, e.g., "have a nice day", "have fun". In such cases, “may/mayroon” no longer applies. What we can use instead is “maging (to become)”.

If we need to, we may express, for example, “have a nice day” as “magíng magandá sana ang araw mo/ninyó" (lit. “to become nice is my wish for your day”. In reality, though, we don’t translate such wishes. We normally express them in English, too. “Have fun”, is something we’d most likely say only to those who are fluent in English or are aware of English culture. Otherwise, we are more likely to use Taglish and say it as “mag-enjoy ka/kayó”.If you really want to say "I hope you have a quiet day at the Mall" in Tagalog, you can say it in any of these ways:
Sana ngayóng araw magíng matahimik para sa iyó ang Mall; or
Sana maging matahimik para sa iyo ngayong araw ang Mall; or
Sana maging matahimik para sa iyo ang Mall ngayong araw.
(I just shifted the phrases in the sentences above to show that such rearrangements are possible and will not alter the meaning of the sentence.)“Magíng” is “to be/become” while “máyroón” is “there + to be” or “to have”. “Tahimik” is a root word that means “silent/quiet”. However, that adjective is more often used to describe things that naturally make “noise” by themselves, e.g., people, motors, or machines.Tahimik na tao = A quiet person
Tahimik ang takbó ng mákiná = The machine runs quietly.“Matahimik” is the adjective “silent” formed using the “ma” prefix. We often use it in place of “tahimik” to describe an environment to mean “generally or relatively silent”. When we’re inside a mall, for example, there is that permeating din that we normally hear. Since the place can’t be 100% silent, we would be inclined to use “matahimik” instead of “tahimik”. However, there is really no hard and fast rule about the proper application of “tahimik” and “matahimik”. Some of us use them interchangeably. So, “Sana ngayong araw maging matahimik para sa iyo ang Mall” will be understood as “I hope the day would be relatively quiet for you at the Mall”, but conceptually mean to us as something like, "I hope, you have a quiet day at the Mall".

I was out for a couple of days ... so again thank you so much although somewhat belated! You are great!