Liking, wanting, needing, being able, and being allowed
These words are the difference between describing the world and participating in it. With them you can order, refuse, ask permission, explain yourself, and say what you are after.
Buri covers both "like" and "want" — the same overlap Tagalog's gusto has.
Buri ku. — I want it. / I like it.
Nanu ya ing buri mu? — What do you want?
Buri ne ita. — She likes that.
Buri daka! — I like you!
Notice that buri takes the doer pronouns — buri ku, buri mu. And in Buri ne ita you get the fused pronoun from lesson 5 again: na + ya.
From lesson 5, Buri daka is the softer sibling of Kaluguran daka. It is what you say when "I love you" is too much.
Bisa introduces a verb. Where buri wants a thing, bisa wants an action.
bisa + pronoun + linker + verb
Bisa kung mangan. — I want to eat.
Ali la bisang mangan. — They don't want to eat.
That -ng on ku and la is lesson 15's linker, joining the modal to the verb. Bisa ku + -ng + mangan → Bisa kung mangan.
| buri | wanting a thing, or liking | Buri ku ing nasi. — I want the rice. |
| bisa | wanting to do something | Bisa kung mangan. — I want to eat. |
In practice the two overlap and you will hear buri with verbs too. Start with this split; you will hear the flexibility soon enough.
| Kapampangan | English | Force |
|---|---|---|
| kailangan | need; necessary | strong |
| dapat | should, ought to | moral / expected |
| sukat | ought to, fitting | gentler |
Kailangan kung kwalta. — I need money.
Dapat kang mangan. — You should eat.
This is lesson 1's minimal pair returning in earnest. DÁ-pat (stress on the first syllable) is "should". da-PÁT (stress on the second) is "a deed, a concern".
You are now using a word whose meaning depends entirely on the thing you were warned about in lesson 1. This is why that lesson came first.
Malyari covers ability, possibility and permission all at once.
Malyari ku waring lumwal? — May I go out?
Malyari ya. — It's possible. / It can be done.
Note wari in the first example — lesson 14's question particle, turning a statement of possibility into a request for permission. That combination, malyari … wari, is the standard polite way to ask permission.
In everyday speech you will also hear Spanish-derived pwedi, used exactly like Tagalog pwede.
Balu ku. — I know.
E ku balu. — I don't know.
You met E ku balu in lesson 13. It bears repeating here because it is, realistically, the sentence you will use most often in your first months — and saying it in Kapampangan rather than switching to English keeps the conversation in the language.
| Kapampangan | English |
|---|---|
| lugud | love |
| tula | joy |
| takut | fear; afraid |
| matula | happy |
Tatakut kami. — We are afraid.
Ala na mo kanung lugud. — They say there is no more love.
Lugud is the root behind kaluguran — "friend, beloved" from lesson 2. A friend, in Kapampangan, is literally someone in the region of love.
Why does buri take doer pronouns? Because these words behave grammatically more like nouns than verbs — roughly "my wanting is X". The same is true of Tagalog gusto, if that helps.
Is pwedi acceptable? Yes, entirely normal in speech. Malyari is the native word and sounds more deliberately Kapampangan.
How do I refuse politely? Ali ku bisa ("I don't want to") is blunt. Softer: Salamat pu, pero ali ku bisa — thanks, but no. Lesson 17 adds more softening tools.
Wants, needs and permission are the vocabulary of getting things done — ordering food, asking directions, declining an offer, explaining what you are trying to do. With this lesson plus lesson 14's questions, you can hold a genuinely useful conversation.
Next: Requests & Commands — how to ask someone to do something without sounding like you are issuing orders.