Being Malayo-Polynesian, it is related to other Austronesian languages, such as Malagasy, Javanese, Indonesian, Malay, Tetum (of Timor), and Yami (of Taiwan).

Linguists such as David Zorc and Robert Blust speculate that the Tagalogs and other Central Philippine ethno-linguistic groups originated in Northeastern Mindanao or the Eastern Visayas.

[6][7] Possible words of Old Tagalog origin are attested in the Laguna Copperplate Inscription from the tenth century, which is largely written in Old Malay.

The first substantial dictionary of the Tagalog language was written by the Czech Jesuit missionary Pablo Clain in the beginning of the 18th century.

The indigenous poet Francisco Balagtas (1788–1862) is known as the foremost Tagalog writer, his most notable work being the 19th-century epic Florante at Laura.

[16][19][better source needed] Twenty years later, in 1959, it was renamed by then Secretary of Education, José E. Romero, as Pilipino to give it a national rather than ethnic label and connotation.

[22] Article XIV, Section 6 of the 1987 Constitution of the Philippines specifies, in part: Subject to provisions of law and as the Congress may deem appropriate, the Government shall take steps to initiate and sustain the use of Filipino as a medium of official communication and as language of instruction in the educational system.

[23]In 2009, the Department of Education promulgated an order institutionalizing a system of mother-tongue based multilingual education ("MLE"), wherein instruction is conducted primarily in a student's mother tongue (one of the various regional Philippine languages) until at least grade three, with additional languages such as Filipino and English being introduced as separate subjects no earlier than grade two.

The Tagalog homeland, Katagalugan, covers roughly much of the central to southern parts of the island of Luzon — particularly in Aurora, Bataan, Batangas, Bulacan, Cavite, Laguna, Metro Manila, Nueva Ecija, Quezon, and Rizal.

Tagalog or Filipino is also the predominant language of Cotabato City in Mindanao, making it the only place outside of Luzon with a native Tagalog-speaking or also a Filipino-speaking majority.

[30] The following regions and provinces of the Philippines are majority Tagalog-speaking, or also overlapping with being more accurately and specifically Filipino-speaking (from north to south): Tagalog speakers are also found in other parts of the Philippines and especially, more accurately and specifically, officially, sociolinguistically and linguistic politically as and through its standardized, codified, national or nationalized, intellectualized, more linguistically inclusive, more linguistically dynamic, and expanded or broaden form of, as and through Filipino, and the language serves as the national lingua franca of the country, but especially or more accurately and specifically as and through Filipino.

The largest concentration of Tagalog speakers outside the Philippines is found in the United States, wherein 2020, the United States Census Bureau reported (based on data collected in 2018) that it was the fourth most-spoken non-English language at home with over 1.7 million speakers, behind Spanish, French, and Chinese (with figures for Cantonese and Mandarin combined).

[34] Meanwhile, Tagalog and Ilocano (which is primarily spoken in northern Philippines) are among the non-official languages of Hawaii that its state offices and state-funded entities are required to provide oral and written translations to its residents.

[37] Other countries with significant concentrations of overseas Filipinos and Tagalog speakers include Saudi Arabia with 938,490, Canada with 676,775, Japan with 313,588, United Arab Emirates with 541,593, Kuwait with 187,067, and Malaysia with 620,043.

Long vowels are not written apart from pedagogical texts, where an acute accent is used: á é í ó ú.

In 1884, Filipino doctor and student of languages Trinidad Pardo de Tavera published his study on the ancient Tagalog script Contribucion para el Estudio de los Antiguos Alfabetos Filipinos and in 1887, published his essay El Sanscrito en la lengua Tagalog which made use of a new writing system developed by him.

Soon after the first issue of La España, Pascual H. Poblete's Revista Católica de Filipina began a series of articles attacking the new orthography and its proponents.

In 1940, the Balarilâ ng Wikang Pambansâ (English: Grammar of the National Language) of grammarian Lope K. Santos introduced the Abakada alphabet.

Tagalog was written in an abugida (alphasyllabary) called Baybayin prior to the Spanish colonial period in the Philippines, in the 16th century.

Although it enjoyed a relatively high level of literacy, Baybayin gradually fell into disuse in favor of the Latin alphabet taught by the Spaniards during their rule.

A special kudlit was later added by Spanish missionaries in which a cross placed below the symbol to get rid of the vowel sound all together, leaving a consonant.

Previously, the consonant without a following vowel was simply left out (for example, bundók being rendered as budo), forcing the reader to use context when reading such words.

"Pô" and "opò" are specifically used to denote a high level of respect when addressing older persons of close affinity like parents, relatives, teachers and family friends.

"Hô" and "ohò" are generally used to politely address older neighbours, strangers, public officials, bosses and nannies, and may suggest a distance in societal relationship and respect determined by the addressee's social rank and not their age.

English has borrowed some words from Tagalog, such as abaca, barong, balisong, boondocks, jeepney, Manila hemp, pancit, ylang-ylang, and yaya.

[73] The revised bible edition, the New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures, was released in Tagalog on 2019[74] and it is distributed without charge both printed and online versions.

Opò [ˈʔopoʔ] or ohò [ˈʔohoʔ] (formal/polite form) Hindî pô [hɪnˈdiː poʔ] (formal/polite form) Very informal: Ewan [ˈʔɛwɐn], archaic aywan [ʔaɪ̯ˈwan] (closest English equivalent: colloquial dismissive 'Whatever' or 'Dunno') Hindî ko naúunawáan [hɪnˈdiː ko nɐˌʔuʔʊnɐˈwaʔan] Marunong pô ba kayóng magsalitâ ng Inglés?

[mɐˈɾunoŋ poː ba kɐˈjoŋ mɐɡsɐlɪˈtaː nɐŋ ʔɪŋˈɡlɛs] (polite version for elders and strangers) Marunong ka bang mag-Inglés?

Pagkáhabà-habà man ng prusisyón, sa simbahan pa rin ang tulóy.The procession may stretch on and on, but it still ends up at the church.

It refers to the two styles of courting by Filipino boys: one is the traditional, protracted, restrained manner favored by older generations, which often featured serenades and manual labor for the girl's family; the other is upfront seduction, which may lead to a slap on the face or a pregnancy out of wedlock.