Alibata: How do I write my name in baybayin?
As I read in the internet “How do I write my name in baybayin?” by Paul Morrow that was really my first question to ask. Greatly fascinated with those authors who studied this ancient script of the Philippines. As modern civilization evolved, yet still we Filipinos will be able to preserve this writings and share.
As I read through the lines,I’m eager to try it myself and write my name in Alibata.Good thing to know that you can test your baybayin skills with Victor Quimson’s online baybayin translator at Ating Baybayin.
According to an early Spanish writer said that the baybayin “is as easy to write as it is difficult to read”.
One Letter Equals One Syllable
The Baybayin/ Alibata Characters
The Consonants
Each consonant letter is one syllable that is pronounced with the a vowel. This means, for example, that the letter is not just a m, it is actually the syllable ma. If we write the word mama (mother), we only need two letters:
ex. mama { ma ma not m a m a }
not 
The KudlÃt
What do we do if we want to write something that doesn’t rhyme with a? Like ” daliri“? As I’ve known that “abugida” is a cross between a syllabary and an alphabet that use the same consonant letters and simply combine them with a special mark, called a kudlÃt.
The kudlit is placed above a letter to signify the sound of I or E.
ex.kiliti ( tickle) { ki li ti }
To change the sound of a letter to U or O, the kudlit is placed below.
ex: magulo ( trouble) { ma gu lo }
The Vowel Characters
Baybayin / Alibata also has three special vowel letters:
If a syllable doesn’t have a consonant, there is no place to put the kudlit. Like
ex: isama ( to bring with) { i sa ma }
Final Consonants
What about the consonants that have no vowel sound? That is why it is much more difficult to read the baybayin or alibata than it is to write it. We’ll continue: I have learned that there is no way to write syllable final consonants because they are not followed by a vowel and the baybayin consonants always contain a vowel sound.
Ex. magtanong ( ask ) {ma ta no }
Special Consonants
The letters d and ng were not special to the ancient Filipinos but they deserve special attention here to avoid confusion.
The Letter for Da and Ra
When a d is between two vowels, it becomes an r.For example, the word dangal (honour) becomes marangal (honourable) but the baybayin letter, does not change.
ex. dangal ( honuor ) { da nga }
The Letter for Nga
The ng is considered a single letter in the modern Filipino alphabet but it requires two characters to write it, n and g. In the baybayin/ alibata the ng really is a single character, , and it must be written that way.
ex: hanga ( admiration ) { ha nga not ha na ga }
not 
I think that’s all for my study…I will post more of this on my next post.I’m thinking to write my name but writing non-Filipino words in the baybayin script can be difficult.I will just study more to that.
You too can try it yourself. You can use this translator by “Ating Baybayin“
