Surigao del Sur is famous for Laswitan, Britannia Islands, Enchanted River, Tinuy-an falls. So today we will explore useful phrases from that region.

The following are from Surigao del Sur’s native language called Surigaonon (southern version, there is also a northern version), also called Binisaya by the natives. Sometimes they also call these by their respective towns, like Tandaganon, Tagon-on, etc.

I am from Surigao del Sur and I am sharing the the southern version in this blog.

Surigaonon Phrases

Basic greeting according to the time of the day.

Madayaw is equivalent to Cebuano’s maayo or good in English. 

Buntag for morning, udto for noon, hapon for afternoon and dum for evening. There are some similarities with other Visayan languages as you might notice. 

  • Madayaw na buntag!
  • Madayaw na udto
  • Madayaw na hapon
  • Madayaw na dum

The following common greetings are used by locals that you can also use. Different ways of responding are also shown.

To ask someone how they are doing. 

Kumusta kaw?

  • Madayaw da isab. – I’m good as well.
  • Okay da. – I’m okay.

To ask someone how they are doing more aggressively.

Yaunu sa kaw? – What happened to you?

  • Wara da. – Nothing.
  • Tagpasuan kay langakahi! – I feel hot because it’s humid!
  • Tagtignaw ako. – I feel cold
  • Taggutom ako. – I am hungry
  • Tag-uhaw ako. – I am thirsty

What’s your name?

Unuy imo pangan? – What’s your name?

  • Ako si Roneth. – I am Roneth
  • Sin-o kaw? – Who are you?

Where are you from?

Taga hain kaw?

  • Taga Cebu ako. – I am from Cebu
  • Taga hain sab kaw? – How about you, where are you from?

Where are you going?

Hain kaw pasingod?

  • Pasingod ako sa lungsod. – I am going to the town.
  • Pauli na sa bahay. – I am going home.

Have you eaten yet?

Minkaon na kaw?

  • Oo, mikaon na. – Yes, I have eaten already.
  • Wara pa. – Not yet.

Varieties and different levels of showing your gratitude.

There are different ways in saying thank you in Surigaonon. The most boring version is the regular Salamat.

In Surigao del sur we also use suffixes. The first level is using the suffix -ay (salamatay) which would mean thanks a little bit more. After that is using -e (salamate), it means thanks a lot. The ‘superlative’ version is the using -ers (salamaters), which is thank you very very much.

Salamat, Salamatay, Salamate, Salamaters

I hope you find this article useful. Let me know if you visited any Surigao del Sur spots!

Written by Hernan Palang