Filipino Worksheets | Diptonggo at Klaster

Montessori Filipino Lesson & Worksheet: Diptonggo at Klaster

A quick Filipino lesson and interactive worksheet on diptonggo at klaster

Before we go into diptonggo at klaster, let’s talk about pantig first, because both diptonggo and klaster are letter pairs that belong to a single pantig.

Pantig is the Filipino (Tagalog) word for syllable. A syllable is any one of the parts into which a word is naturally divided when it is pronounced. It is made up of either:

* a vowel sound alone, or

* a vowel sound combined with a consonant sound.

The Tagalog definition of pantig is “galaw ng bibig, saltik ng dila, na may kasabay na tunog ng lalamunan o walang antalang bugso ng tinig sa pagbigkas ng salita.”

For example, the word syllable itself is made up of three syllables: syl-la-ble. The word pantig is made up of two syllables: pan-tig. Diptonggo has three syllables: dip-tong-go. Klaster has two syllables: klas-ter.

Diptonggo

Diptonggo is the single combined sound of a patinig (vowel) followed by a malapatinig in a single syllable.

* Patinig: a / e / i / o / u

* Malapatinig: w / y

In the Filipino language, the following are diptonggo:

aw – ex. lugaw (porridge)

ay – ex. kulay (color)

ey – ex. reyna (queen)

iw – ex. sisiw (chick)

iy – ex. kami’y (contraction of kami ay, which means we are; I’ve only ever seen contractions as examples of the /iy/ diptonggo)

oy – ex. baboy (pig)

uy – ex. kasuy (cashew)

What about ew, ow, uw? They are also technically diptonggo but there are no Filipino words (as yet!) that have them in the same syllable.

And that’s a really important distinction: the patinig and malapatinig of a diptonggo have to be in the same syllable, otherwise they aren’t considered diptonggo. For example, uwak (crow) has a /uw/ but the rules of syllabication in Filipino say that when the w (or y) is followed by another vowel, the w (or y) goes with the vowel after it. So the syllables of uwak would be u-wak — the patinig u and the malapatinig w are in different syllables and are therefore not considered a diptonggo.

Another important thing to know is that — unlike in English, where two vowels could form a diphthong — in Filipino, two vowels that appear next to each other are pronounced separately, are considered separate syllables, and therefore can’t be diptonggo. Examples:

Uupo (will sit) – u-u-po – not a diptonggo

Paano (how) – pa-a-no – not a diptonggo

Noo (forehead) – no-o – not a diptonggo

Again: diptonggo = [patinig] + [malapatinig] in the same syllable

Other examples of diptonggo

apoy
araw
bahay
beysbol
bulalakaw
dilaw
gulay
ilaw
kahoy
kalabaw
kamay
kasuy
keyk
lugaw
nanay
pamaypay
reyna
sisiw
sitaw
suklay
tatay
tulay
unggoy

Klaster

Klaster, also called kambal katinig, refers to two different consonants that are next to each other within a single syllable. They may be found at the beginning, middle, or end of a word, and just like the diptonggo, the two consonants have to belong to the same syllable for them to be considered a klaster. For example, the word pantig has two different consonants in the middle but they belong to different syllables, so they are not considered a klaster.

Examples:

Unahan / posisyong inisyal (found at the beginning of the word)

* trabaho (work)

* plano (plan)

Gitna / posisyong midyal (found in the middle of the word)

* kumpleto (complete)

* eroplano (airplane)

Hulihan / posisyong pinal (found at the end of the word)

* nars (nurse)

* relaks (relax)

(You’ll notice that a lot of these words with klaster are words that have been adapted from foreign languages and have the same meanings as their words of origin.)

Again: klaster = [katinig] + [a different katinig] in the same syllable

Other examples of klaster

blusa
braso
dram
drama
eroplano
eskrima
eskwelahan
globo
grasa
gripo
grupo
kard
kart
klase
klerk
kontrata
krus
kwarto
nars
plantsa
plaslayt
plato
prinsesa
prutas
pyesta
rekord
sobre
tigre
traysikel
tren
trumpo
tsart
tsinelas
tsokolate

Filipino Worksheet: Diptonggo at Klaster

A free printable PDF copy of this worksheet (with white background) can be downloaded here: HuntersWoodsPH Filipino Worksheet PDF: Diptonggo at Klaster.

Tip: When answering the worksheet below in a desktop or laptop, you can zoom out your screen (for Windows, scroll down the mouse wheel while pressing Ctrl) so the entire worksheet will fit into your screen.