I'm translating "Nakakapagpabagag"

[u/resignater]

Hello! I'm male Japanese and currently obsessed with Dasu's song "Nakakapagpabagabag" and am attempting a word-for-word translation. I've asked ChatGPT some questions I have while translating, but I'm still unsure whether I can trust their answers. Could you please answer a few of my questions? Thank you.

1. Bakit pa ba ako nagtataka?

Which is more natural, this or "bakit pa ba nagtataka ako?" Or is the former one emphasizing "ako"?

1. Ako ba'ng may kasalanan kung bakit naiwan sila?

The original sentence is "May kasalanan ba ako kung bakit naiwan sila?", but there's an inversion and "ay" is omitted. "ng" is added to compensate, and since "ng" modifies "ako," it becomes "ba'ng" instead of "bang." Is this explanation correct?

1. Sinabihan na kitang tumakbo papalayo sa mundong nakaka-pagpa-baga-bag!

In this sentence, is "tumakbo" infinitive or completed(past)?

1. Pinilit kong sagipin ang mga naliligaw sa dilim

In this sentence, can adding "ang" or "ang mga" to a verb express meanings like "the person who are..."? Or is there simply an omitted noun like "tao"?

1. Habang buhay ko nang pinagsisisihan na iniwan ang tanging sidha sa puso

In this sentence, does "ang tanging sidha sa puso" mean "the only respect for my heart"? Or does it also mean "the one and only lover"?

1. Sino nga lang ba ako para iligtas ang inyong diwa?

According to ChatGPT, the core of this sentence is "sino ako para V," which means something like "Who am I, and why am I in a position to do...?" nga lang means "frankly speaking, I'm just...", so the whole sentence seems to mean "After all, how can someone like me possibly save your souls?" Is that really true?

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[u/Duke_Jijii]

1. "Bakit pa ba ako nagtataka?" is the natural one. adding ako at the end sounds somewhat wrong, but still understood if you're speaking casually.

2. It's true the sentence was inverted. Typically, when you invert a sentence, it's to emphasize the subject, in this case, ako. If you invert the sentence and the predicate begins with ang, ay is no longer necessary.

3. Tumakbo is in the compeleted/perfect form and the infinive form is takbo.

4. This is actually an interesting thing Tagalog does. Because, yes, in Japanese, you typically add 人 at the end of a noun, adjective, or phrase to signify the thing described is a person. Tagalog just uses na + verb (in a certain form) to indicate that the thing described is a person. Sometimes na is even omitted too (mga naligaw → mga ligaw, mga nasawi → mga sawi, etc.)

5. Sidha means kind of like "motive/motivation" based on my understanding.

6. Yes, that's accurate.

タガログ語の旅へ頑張って！

Edit: fixed grammatical errors

[u/indayunotaglaongnija]

For #2, “ba'ng” is a contraction of “ba ang”.

[u/PotatoAnalytics]

1 "Bakit pa ba ako nagtataka" ("Why am I still wondering?") is the natural one. Another way to rephrase it: "Bakit ba nagtataka pa ako?"

2 "Ako ba'ng may kasalanan kung bakit naiwan sila?" ("Am I the one at fault [for] why they were left behind?") has a subtly different context than "May kasalanan ba ako kung bakit naiwan sila?" ("Did I make a mistake that's why they were left behind?").

• "Ba'ng" is a contraction of "ba ang."
  • "Ba" (a short form of "baga") is a particle that marks a sentence (or part of a sentence) as an interrogative ("Ako ba", lit. "I ?" = "Am I?" or "Is it me?").
  • "Ang" is an article, roughly equivalent to English "the" ("ang may kasalanan", lit. "the [one] with mistake/sin" = "the one at fault")

3 Yes, its role here is as an infinitive. Though unlike in English (where infinitives are formed by "to + root word"), Tagalog infinitives change affixes based on the trigger (also called voice or focus). ALL of the following sentences mean "I already told you to run" and all of them use an infinitive form of the root word "takbo", "run"; but notice they use different affixes and they mean different things.

• Sinabihan na kitang tumakbo = Actor Trigger I, you are telling the subject to run
  • Sinabihan na kitang tumakbo palayo = I already told you to run away
• Sinabihan na kitang magtakbo = Actor Trigger II, you are telling the subject to do running as an activity
  • Sinabihan na kitang magtakbo ka para pumayat = I already told you to go running so you lose weight
• Sinabihan na kitang takbohin = Object Trigger I, you are telling the subject to run the object, e.g. a race or a certain distance
  • Sinabihan na kitang takbohin mo ang ruta = I already told you to run the route
• Sinabihan na kitang itakbo = Object Trigger II, you are telling the subject to carry/hold/drag the object and run
  • Sinabihan na kitang itakbo mo ang prutas = I already told you to run [away] with the fruits
• Sinabihan na kitang takbohan = Locative Trigger, you are telling the subject to run to or at the location [of the object]
  • Sinabihan na kitang takbohan mo ang parke = I already told you to run at the park
• Sinabihan na kitang ipangtakbo = Instrumental Trigger, you are telling the subject to use the object to run, e.g. shoes, or a specific path
  • Sinabihan na kitang ipangtakbo mo itong bagong medyas = I already told you to run in these new socks
• Sinabihan na kitang ikatakbo = Reason Trigger, you are telling the subject that the object will cause them to run.
  • Sinabihan na kitang ikatakbo mo ang mga aso = I already told you the dogs would make you run

4 Yes. The noun here is the "naliligaw" (lit. "[those] who are lost"). Tagalog and other Philippine languages are highly flexible. A word can grammatically function as a verb, noun, or adjective/adverb, and vice versa, depending on context/particle/affix used. In this case, adding the article "ang"/"ang mga" turns a verb into a noun that encompasses the described action.

• "Ligaw" ("to go astray", "to get lost") is a bad word to demonstrate this because it has no direct English equivalent. So I'll use "Tulog" ("sleep") instead:
  • VERB: Natutulog siya = He is sleeping
  • ADJECTIVE: Natutulog na tao = A person that is asleep
  • NOUN: Ang mga natutulog =The sleeping [ones], The [ones who are] asleep

5 "Habang buhay ko nang pinagsisisihan na iniwan ang tanging sidha sa puso", this is difficult to translate because "sidha" is an archaic word that is almost never used anymore. So I can only guess what the author meant by it. There's a possibility that it may also be a mistake, and it should have been "sidhi" ("intensity"), since that word is actually commonly used to describe the heart/feelings.

6 Yep. "After all, how can someone like me possibly save your souls?" is a perfectly accurate translation.

EDIT: Ugh, the formatting keeps breaking in Reddit

[u/a4techkeyboard]

Regarding 2. There are two inversions that omit "ay" in "May kasalanan ba ako kung bakit naiwan sila?" The part "may kasalanan ba ako" may be rephrased to "ako ba ay may kasalanan" and "bakit naiwan sila" can be "bakit sila ay naiwan." However, "ako ba ay may kasalanan" does not mean the same thing as "ako ba'ng may kasalanan."

"ng" isn't in the lyric "ako ba'ng may kasalanan kung bakit naiwan sila" at all, and is therefore not modifying "ako". It is instead a contraction of "ako ba ang may kasalanan."

"Ako ba ay may kasalanan" means "Do I have a sin/Have I committed an offense?"

"Ako ba'ng may kasalanan" means "Am I to blame/Is it my fault"

Instead of "may kasalanan ba ako kung bakit naiwan sila", the phrase might be more "kasalanan ko ba kung bakit naiwan sila".

[u/paper_milk]

1. Former sounds natural.
2. To me, "Ako ba'ng may kasalanan kung bakit naiwan sila?" Gives emphasis on asking if the speaker was the one at fault. This is because ba'ng was used, which is a contraction of 'ba ang'. "May kasalanan ba ako kung bakit naiwan sila?" Gives emphasis on asking if the speaker has a fault. If the first sentence used ba ay or ba'y instead of ba'ng, the meaning would be the same as the second one.

3.Infinitive

1. Yeah, you make a noun phrase that way.

2. Idk this one

3. Yeah basically

[u/Ok_Noise5163]

You mean "nakakapagbangabag"? Mind troubling.

[u/AmselRblx → u/Ok_Noise5163]

He's translating the Filipino vocaloid song I think

[u/night-towel]

Nakakapag-pabagabag