Question: Can you differentiate the sentence pairs in Tagalog, w

@kasong No, because Tagalog does not have an equivalent verb to the English linking verb “to be” that could indicate the tense. “Ay” is a linker between the subject and its complement when the sentence is stated in the subject-predicate form, but it is just a linker and not a verb. So, by default, "Siya ay masaya/maganda (or Masaya/Maganda siya)" will be understood only as "She IS happy/beautiful". We would need either (1) an additional temporal adverb or (2) context to understand that the statement is about the past.

Aha, Thank you
You are an excellent Tagalog teacher for me.
Thank you!

Hello! I don't think this necessarily applies to the Filipino language. Because like what like Juantutri said, there is no equivalent or direct translation "to be". "was" can be translated to "naging" or better yet "used to be" but it depends on the context itself as to referring to something in the past. Like "Naging honor student ako" - which translates to "I was an honor student" or "I used to be an honor student." I really hope this was helpful and didn't confuse you.

@LuzTolentino Thank you!!Your comment is helpful for me and didn't confuse me at all. Thank you.