Bababa Ba? Bababa.

I just received this anecdote from a friend, who had read this somewhere. And it made me realize how fun Tagalog really is as a language.

I was in the elevator with an American. We were going down to the ground floor, but before reaching it, we stopped at the 4th floor. It opened to a Filipino. She asked me, “Bababa ba?” I replied, “Bababa.” In she went. Upon closing of the door, the American asked curiously, “I’m sorry. Did you guys just have a conversation?“

A’right. To all my non-Filipino readers, I’m gonna explain this to you. “Bababa” is the tagalog word for “going down.” And to change any noun, pronoun, verb, adverb, or adjective to a question, all you have to do is add “ba.” Of course, a question mark and the proper intonation go with it.

She: “Bababa ba?” (Going down?)

Me: “Bababa.” (Going down.)

There. Though they might have sounded like they were trying to mimic goats/sheep, they actually had a conversation. Hehehe. Ahlove’t.

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Anyway, my mum refuses to talk to me at the moment. It was her birthday yesterday and yeah, it kinda slipped my mind. I forgot to greet her. But I don’t think she’s mad at me. Er… Well, yeah, I think she’s mad at me. OK. I’m sure she’s mad at me. I’m worried. Waaaah!