trabaho

Part of speech
- Verb (root): trabaho — “to work, labor, do a job”
- Common noun: trabaho — “work, job, employment”
Sentence-position rule
A conjugated trabaho form typically heads the predicate, and any clitic actor-pronoun comes right after it: Mo-trabaho ko sa opisina Lunes hangtod Biyernes.
I work at the office Monday to Friday.
Example sentences
- Mo-trabaho ko ug overtime karong gabii. — I will work overtime tonight.
  - Mo-trabaho – Verb, actor focus, future aspect
  - ko – Personal pronoun, first-person singular clitic (actor)
  - ug overtime – Noun phrase (object, indefinite duration)
  - karong gabii – Adverbial phrase “tonight”
- Nag-trabaho sila sa planta sukad 2020. — They have been working at the plant since 2020.
  - Nag-trabaho – Verb, actor focus, progressive/continuous aspect
  - sila – Personal pronoun, third-person plural (actor)
  - sa planta – Locative phrase “at the plant”
  - sukad 2020 – Prepositional phrase “since 2020”
- Gi-trabaho ni Ana ang report hangtod nahuman. — The report was worked on by Ana until it was finished.
  - Gi-trabaho – Verb, patient focus, past aspect
  - ni Ana – Genitive phrase (actor)
  - ang report – Common noun (patient)
  - hangtod nahuman – Adverbial clause “until finished”

Form	Voice & aspect	Typical translation	Sample sentence
mag-trabaho	Actor focus, habitual / future	“will be working; usually work”	Mag-trabaho sila sa field ugma sa buntag. — They will work in the field tomorrow morning.
mo-trabaho	Actor focus, non-past / imperative	“will work; work!”	Mo-trabaho ta karon aron mahuman dayon. — Let’s work now so we can finish early.
nag-trabaho	Actor focus, progressive	“is / was working”	Nag-trabaho siya sa project pag-bisita nimo. — She was working on the project when you visited.
mi-trabaho / ni-trabaho	Actor focus, completed past	“worked”	Ni-trabaho ko sa abroad niadtong 2018. — I worked abroad in 2018.
gi-trabaho	Patient focus, completed past	“was worked on (by …)”	Gi-trabaho sa kontraktor ang balay sulod duha ka bulan. — The house was worked on by the contractor for two months.
trabahoon (-on)	Patient focus, future / imperative	“to be worked on / do it”	Trabahoon nato ang mga papeles unya. — We’ll work on the documents later.
trabahohan (-an)	Locative / beneficiary focus	“to work at / work for”	Trabahohi ang kustomer nga nag-hulat. — Attend to the waiting customer.

Actor-focus priority – Daily speech favors mo-/nag-/ni-trabaho when emphasizing the worker.
Patient focus – gi-trabaho / trabahoon highlights the task or object being worked on.
Locative / beneficiary focus – trabahohan / trabahohi stresses where or for whom the work is done: trabahohan sa proyekto “work on the project site.”
Noun vs. verb – As a noun, trabaho can be modified: dakong trabaho “a big job.”
Reduplication – trabaho-trabaho can imply odd jobs or side hustles.

Mistake	Issue	Correct form
Mo-trabaho ako ugma.	Actor clitic must directly follow the verb.	Mo-trabaho ko ugma.
Gi-trabaho ko ang report.	With gi-, actor must be genitive (ni / sa).	Gi-trabaho ni ko ang report.
Trabahoon ta siya!	Beneficiary/locative command needs trabahohi.	Trabahohi siya!

A: Asa ka mo-trabaho karon? — Where do you work now?
B: Mo-trabaho ko sa IT company sa Cebu. — I work at an IT company in Cebu.
A: Nag-trabaho pa ba ka karong gabii? — Are you still working tonight?
B: Oo, kinahanglan ko mahuman sa deadline. — Yes, I need to meet the deadline.
A: Trabahohi ko palihog ani nga task. — Please work on this task for me.
B: Sige, akong trabahoon dayon. — Sure, I’ll work on it right away.
A: Nganong ni-trabaho ka sa weekend? — Why did you work on the weekend?
B: Nag-overtime ko para sa extra nga kita. — I did overtime for extra income.
A: Mag-trabaho ta og team project ugma? — Shall we work on the team project tomorrow?
B: Oo, mas dali kung magkuyog ta. — Yes, it’s easier if we do it together.