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Question: What does the "ng" in "lahat ng tao" mean?

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Mar 08 2021, 12:32pm CST ~ 3 years, 2 mos ago.

Question: What does the "ng" in "lahat ng tao" mean?

I am a native Filipino that's had a growing curiosity over Tagalog and Philippine languages in general. This phrase particularly struck me as odd because the way "ng" or "nang" is used here doesn't really fit in with how they're usually used...unless I'm missing something. Usually it would be a "na," but "lahat na tao" doesn't sound correct--to my ears at least. Is this just an exception or is there a grammatical explanation behind it?

Mar 08 2021, 4:17pm CST ~ 3 years, 2 mos ago.

@AklayPakau
Isn't it just "of"...as in "all of the people"? That's how I always envisioned it.

Mar 08 2021, 4:23pm CST ~ 3 years, 2 mos ago.

I was about to post the same thing as jkos. I think maybe NG (of) here is a case marker here and not the na/ng linker? I will ask the experts and see what I can find.

Mar 08 2021, 4:36pm CST ~ 3 years, 2 mos ago.

@AklayPakau Magandang araw po sa inyo! Sana ligtas po kayo sa gitna ng tanan. Isa rin po akong katutubong mananalita tulad ninyo!

It's because "lahat" here is the pronoun "lahat" instead of the "adjective" lahat if I'm not mistaken, and as such, the "ng" would act as a genitive/possessive marker in this case.

Mar 09 2021, 12:25am CST ~ 3 years, 2 mos ago.

Thank you all for your replies..

I think @AngTaongsiClyde is right about "lahat" being a pronoun instead of an adjective and "ng" marking possession. May katuturan nga siya.

I also thought of "all of" in English, but I couldn't really trust that it was the same thing-like many things, grammar usually doesn't just translate directly-and I thought of it as just an English thing. However, it does seem to be grammatically similar, so that's interesting.

Mar 10 2021, 7:38pm CST ~ 3 years, 2 mos ago.

@AklayPakau
I also questioned that with
my pinoy friend
below is his answer

ALL examples cited are correct. Of course, patak (drop) is not an adjective. It is a noun. But "patak na ulan" seems to be an exception to the rule because it's never used. It's always "patak ng ulan," a direct translation of the English phrase "drop of rain." Guess some rules are meant to be broken. Hehehe.

As in English
I before E except after C......
but not always
effiCIEncy, suffiCIEnt, sCIEnce, profiCIEnt

Mar 11 2021, 11:46am CST ~ 3 years, 2 mos ago.

@AklayPakau I think "lahat ng " is one of those fixed expressions that are always together when followed by a noun, hence, lahat ng tao, lahat ng bagay , lahat ng libro; but, when lahat is followed by a pronoun, the ANG plural pronoun is used like : lahat tayo, lahat kami lahat sila ... because lahat ng followed by sa noun/ pronoun means something else... lahat ng sa mga tao, lahat ng sa kanya .... what do you think?

Mar 11 2021, 1:19pm CST ~ 3 years, 2 mos ago.

@SiAko Lahat tayo... that's a strange one too. I'm not sure-might really just be an "exceptional" word.

Apr 02 2021, 9:27pm CST ~ 3 years, 1 mo ago.

Practicing with the Tagalog Reference Grammar, if I am reading it correctly it looks like "lahat ng tao" is of the lahat-plus-ng-phrase construction (book page 147/148) and translated there as "all of" with several examples. There is also an example using "lahat ng tao" on book page 487. "Narito na ang lahat ng tao." "All [of] the people are here now." ([of] inserted by me because I think that that is grammatically correct written English

) Iyon lang.

Apr 03 2021, 10:44pm CST ~ 3 years, 1 mo ago.

Lahat is not a pronoun.

Apr 03 2021, 10:45pm CST ~ 3 years, 1 mo ago.

The real reason is because DAPAT: Ang lahat ng tao.

Lahat is being used as a "noun" not a pronoun. nouns should be followed by "ng" o ng pronouns (mo, ko etc.)

Apr 05 2021, 2:47am CST ~ 3 years, 1 mo ago.

how does Tagalog differentiate between "all people" (not specific people) and "all (of) the people" (a specific group of people)? "lahat ng mga tao"?

Apr 10 2021, 1:02pm CST ~ 3 years, 1 mo ago.

But in some instances patak can be verb ang you can conjugate more than 10
Example
Patak v. drop
v. pumatak. pumapatak, papatak
Papatakin v. to let it drop
Pinapatak. Pinapapatak. Papapatakin
Patak v. to drop
Pumatak. Pumapatak. Papatak
Magpatak v. to drop simultaneously
Nagpatakan, nagpapatakan, magpapatakan
Magpatak v. To drop by purpose
Nagoatakan, nagpapatakan, magpapatakan

.. and many more

Apr 17 2021, 11:44am CST ~ 3 years, 0 mos ago.

@AklayPakau ng = of the
Lahat ng tao = all of the people

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