Listen to Alphabet: ABAKADA

Between the 1930s and mid-1970s, the abakada was taught as the alphabet of the Philippine national language. It was developed by the renowned scholar Lope K. Santos. This alphabet includes twenty letters (five vowels and ten consonants) representing the "native" sounds used by Filipinos before the arrival of the Spaniards in the 16th century.

a (a) b (ba) k (ka) d (da) e (e) g (ga) h (ha) i (i) l (la) m (ma)

n (na) ng (nga) o (o) p (pa)  r (ra) s (sa) t (ta) u (u) w (wa) y (ya)



In 1976, the Department of Education, Culture and Sports (DECS) of the Philippines issued a revised alphabet which added the letters c, ch, f, j, ll, ñ, q, rr, v, x, and z. The Filipino alphabet of 28 letters that is currently being taught in Philippine schools was instituted in 1987 during the Aquino presidency.