sulat

Part of speech
- Verb (root): sulat – “to write”
- Common noun: sulat – “letter, written text, writing”
Typical predicate order
In a neutral clause the conjugated verb begins the predicate and any short actor pronoun follows it: Mo-sulat ko og email karon.
I will write an email now. In patient- or locative-focus forms (gi-, –on, –an) the verb still opens the predicate, but the grammatical subject shifts to the thing written or the addressee/place.

Mo-sulat ko sa board para sa klase. – I will write on the board for the class.
- Mo-sulat – Verb, actor focus, future aspect
- ko – Personal pronoun, first-person singular clitic (actor)
- sa – Locative-marker particle
- board – Common noun (locative object)
- para – Preposition “for”
- sa – Linker particle
- klase – Common noun (beneficiary)
Nag-sulat sila og report hangtod gabii. – They were writing a report until night.
- Nag-sulat – Verb, actor focus, progressive aspect
- sila – Personal pronoun, third-person plural (actor)
- og – Object-marker particle
- report – Common noun (patient, indefinite)
- hangtod – Preposition “until”
- gabii – Common noun “night” (time)
Gi-sulat ni Ana ang liham kagahapon. – The letter was written by Ana yesterday.
- Gi-sulat – Verb, patient focus, past aspect
- ni – Genitive marker for personal names
- Ana – Proper noun (actor)
- ang – Subject-marker particle
- liham – Common noun (patient)
- kagahapon – Adverb of time “yesterday”

Form	Focus & aspect	Usual translation	Sample sentence
mag-sulat	Actor, habitual / future	“be writing; usually write”	Mag-sulat sila og journal kada adlaw. – They write a journal every day.
mo-sulat	Actor, non-past / imperative	“will write; write!”	Mo-sulat ta sa lista una. – Let’s write the list first.
nag-sulat	Actor, progressive / recent past	“is / was writing”	Nag-sulat siya sa opisina. – She is writing in the office.
mi-sulat / ni-sulat	Actor, completed past	“wrote”	Ni-sulat ko gahapon. – I wrote yesterday.
gi-sulat	Patient, completed past	“was written (by …)”	Gi-sulat sa sekreterya ang memo. – The memo was written by the secretary.
sulaton (-on)	Patient, future / imperative	“to be written / write it”	Sulaton nato ang kontrata karon. – Let’s write the contract now.
sulatan (-an)	Locative / addressee	“to write to someone; write on”	Sulati ko og card, palihog. – Please write me a card.

Actor focus in daily use — Forms like mo-sulat and nag-sulat dominate ordinary conversation.
Object markers — Use og before an indefinite text, sa before a specific or definite one.
Addressee focus — sulatan highlights whom you write to rather than what you write.
Imperative endings — sulat-a! (patient) tells someone to write it; sulat-i! (addressee) tells someone to write to a person.
Reduplication — sulat-sulat suggests casual scribbling or jotting notes.

Mistake	Issue	Correct form
Mo-sulat ako og email.	Actor clitic misplaced.	Mo-sulat ko og email.
Gi-sulat ko ang report.	Actor must be in a genitive phrase with gi-.	Gi-sulat ni ko ang report.
Sulaton ta siya!	Imperative uses wrong suffix for addressee.	Sulati siya!

A: Unsay imong gisulat? – What are you writing?
B: Nag-sulat ko og mensahe para sa akong uyab. – I’m writing a message to my partner.
A: Mo-sulat ka sa birthday card? – Will you write on the birthday card?
B: Oo, sulatan nako siya karon. – Yes, I’ll write to her now.
A: Sulati ko palihog sa address nimo. – Please write me your address.
B: Sulaton nako sa papel ug ihatag dayon. – I’ll write it on paper and hand it to you right away.
A: Nganong wala ka ni-sulat sa report? – Why didn’t you write the report?
B: Na-busy ko sa uban nga trabaho. – I was busy with other work.
A: Mag-sulat ta og reminder sa whiteboard? – Shall we write a reminder on the whiteboard?
B: Sige, ako ang mo-sulat. – Sure, I’ll write it.