I need specifics on ang and ng. I see what everyone says their f

@Crown
Oh man...that's a big can of worms there. It's really something you will be grappling with for a while in your journey to learn the language well.Rather than go through all the possible variations...it is probably best to get a book and start learning some of the different sentence patterns and their translations and where the "ang's" and "ng's" go in those sentence patterns.Ex: Simple descriptive sentence pattern: "Adjective ang Noun." = "The noun is adjective."
Ex: Maganda ang babae. = The woman is beautiful.
This pattern requires an "ang" before the thing being described.Another pattern, using an -um- verb:
Uminom ang aso ng tubig. = The dog drank some water.
The actor in this pattern is preceded by "ang" and the object preceded by "ng".
However, the ang and ng switch if you are using several other verb types (like -in- verbs or i- verbs).That is to say, keeping the ang's and ng's straight can be a tricky business, and the best way to learn is by learning some practical sentence patterns and paying close attention to where the ang's and ng's go.

If I might expand on @TLDCAdmin's example:
"Uminom ang aso ng tubig. = The dog drank some water." This might be an answer to the question, "Who drank some water?" The answer is that the dog did. The focus of the question and answer is on the dog; so the dog gets the "ang."
But you might also ask the question: "What did the dog drink?" The answer then is still that the dog drank some water: "Ininum ng aso ang tubig." Now the focus, or emphasis, is on the water, so it gets the "ang." But notice the verb has also changed. That's another story.
Again, as always, not being a native speaker, I invite corrections if there are errors in my Tagalog.

@Diegocorry
For someone who is not a native speaker, your grasp of the nuances and idiosyncracies of the Filipino language is quite good and perhaps very good.
So, pray tell, what is the secret to learning it ? Are there any magic formulas?
Only "practice, practice, practice"? Or something else?

@stevesmi Well, I spent almost three years in the Philippines (1967-1970) with the U.S. Peace Corps. I was on the island of Panay where Ilonggo and Kinaray-a are spoken, and I became quite proficient in both languages. In vocabulary there are few similarities with Tagalog; however, grammar and syntax are similar, so I definitely have a leg up on anyone who is trying to learn it from scratch. If there is any secret, I would say it's immersion: hook up with native speakers, speak it as best you can without being afraid of making mistakes. Of course you'll make them; we all do. It's how we learn. You'll likely even elicit a laugh or two for your efforts; but, believe me, nothing makes more of an impression than someone who tries to speak the language, regardless of how haltingly. Good luck!

@Diegocorry
My first embarrassment was when I was (still am) learning a few childrens songs to get a different handle on remembering words. A lady I was talking to said to me "How is your injured knee?" and pointed to my foot. So I replied "That's my foot. Remember the song "Paa, Tuhod, Palenke, Ulo". My shoulders are broad enough to take the ribbing but not to carry a market.

@TLDCAdmin Wow. I want to quit............ ok so I will take your advice and learn examples and practice those examples until it’s concrete and develop from there. I appreciate the answer so I will stick to it!

@Diegocorry I actually get the larger piece of what your saying. I need time to think of the sentence and it’s focus then consider the pattern and then make the attempt. Small steps towards the goal, thank you sir!

@Crown
Don't give up! Just put one step in front of the other, and you'll get there in time. Probably the three most difficult things with the language (in my opinion) is: 1.) learning about ang, ng and sa phrases and when to use each; 2.) learning how the verbs and verb conjugations and verb focuses work, and 3.) learning the word order for the different sentence patterns. Once you understand these things well, the rest is not so hard, it's just a matter of time and practice!

@Diegocorry Hi, I have two questions. 1. Is it not "ininom" rather than ininum ?
2. How do we move from uminom to ininom ? By simple reference to our own internal vocabulary as I would move from drink to drank in English ?

1. Sorry about the "o" / "u" mix-up. I don't know about Tagalog, but with Ilonggo (a language with which I am familiar) it wouldn't make a difference; it could be spelled either way.
2. Moving from uminom to ininom (or uminum to ininum ): when the focus changes the structure of the verb changes also. I don't know where you're at with the different verb structures, so I don't want to risk muddying the waters by attempting to delve deeper than that.
Hope this helps.

Thanks for the encouragement. I’m working on getting like 10 easy examples of sentences with ang and 10 with ng and 10 with Sa so maybe I can get the visceral feel for it. Still plugging away @TLDCAdmin

@stevesmi @Diegocorry “Inom” (drink) is the root word and the conjugations of its most common verb forms are: UMinOm (to drink; subject-focus): uminOm, umiinOm, iinOminUmIN (to drink something; object-focus): ininOm, iniinOm, iinUminNotice that in its object-focus form (inumin), the “o” becomes “u” in the infinitive and the future tense. That might be the reason why sometimes even Filipinos make the mistake us using the “u” instead of the “o” in the other tenses.

@Crown The answers given by TLDCAdmin and Diegocorry are correct.How “ang” and “ng” are used and what they mean depend on whether the sentence has "no verb", or we are using a subject/actor-focus or an object-focus verb. When you can already identify the focus of the verb understanding “ang” and “ng” becomes easy.Basically, it’s like this.1. A) When the sentence has no Filipino verb in it, i.e., when the only verb used in the sentence is the English “to be” verb. (Filipino does not use the verb “to be”). B) When an actor/subject-focus verb is used:ANG – precedes the common noun SUBJECT/ACTOR and translates to "the".
NG – a) translates to “of” to indicate “ownership” or b) indicates the object of the sentence.Examples:
(1A) Maganda ANG babae. = ANG babae ay maganda. = THE woman is beautiful.(1A and 1Aa) Maganda ANG damit NG babae. = ANG damit NG babae ay maganda. = THE dress OF the woman is beautiful.(1B) Naglalakad ANG magandang babae. = ANG magandang babae ay naglalakad. = THE beautiful woman is walking.(1Ba) Umiinom ANG aso NG magandang babae. = ANG aso NG magandang babae ay umiinom. = THE dog OF the beautiful woman is drinking.(1Bb) Uminom ANG aso NG TUBIG. = ANG aso ay uminom NG TUBIG. = THE dog drank some WATER.(1Ba Bb) Uminom ANG aso NG magandang babae NG TUBIG. = ANG aso NG magandang babae ay uminom NG TUBIG. = THE dog OF the beautiful woman drank some WATER.The verbs used above, “maglakad” and “uminom”, are subject-focus verbs.
2. When an object-focus verb is used:ANG – precedes the sentence’s OBJECT, which is now the SUBJECT of the sentence. It may also be translated to "the".
NG – indicates the ACTOR of the verb.“Lakarin (nilakad, nilalakad, lalakarin)” and “inumin” are the equivalent object-focus verb forms of “maglakad” and “uminom”.Note that a sentence that uses an object-focus verb must have an object.Nilakad NG magandang babae ANG isang milya. = ANG isang MILYA ay nilakad NG magandang babae. = A/THE MILE was walked BY the beautiful woman. (This is the literal translation, but to us Filipinos, we simply understand this as “The beautiful woman walked a mile”.)Ininom NG aso ANG TUBIG. = ANG TUBIG ay ininom NG aso. = THE/SOME WATER was drunk BY the dog. (We also just understand this to mean, “The dog drank some water”.)

@Tagamanila This is huge for me thank you for the examples. It gives me a pattern to learn from.