lala
lalâ with stress marks
weave (variant of habi)
Also means
With stress on the first syllable (lála), lala means serious or acute, typically describing the severity of an illness or situation.
Usage Note
Lalâ in the weaving sense is somewhat archaic in urban speech but remains active in regional communities where basket-weaving and textile weaving are practised. It is often encountered in folk literature and descriptions of traditional crafts.
Examples
" Marunong siyang maglala. "
Natural Translation
She knows how to weave.
Literal Translation
Knows-how she to-weave.
" Naglala siya ng banig. "
Natural Translation
She wove a mat.
Literal Translation
Wove she of mat.
" Mula pagkabata ay tinuruan na siya ng kaniyang lola na maglala ng banig at basket gamit ang mga tuyong dahon ng pandan. "
Natural Translation
Since childhood her grandmother already taught her to weave mats and baskets using dried pandan leaves.
Literal Translation
Since childhood already taught her the her grandmother to-weave of mat and basket using the dry leaves of pandan.
Tagalog builds thousands of words from a few hundred roots.
How Tagalog words workActor Focus Verbs
Object Focus Verbs
Related Words
Explore Tagalog by topic
Free guides on grammar, vocabulary, and culture to take you past single-word lookups.

Seasons in the Philippines: A Tagalog Guide
The Philippines has two seasons, not four. Learn tag-araw, tag-ulan, and taglamig, the generative tag- prefix, and the weather vocabulary to match.

How Long Does It Take to Learn Tagalog?
Survival Tagalog takes ~3-4 weeks and comfortable conversation 6-12 months. FSI's 1,100 hours is the professional bar, not the talking-to-family bar.

Tagalog Time Expressions: Past, Present & Future Guide
Tagalog has no tenses — it uses aspect. Learn time words, days of the week, clock time, and the aspect system, with vocabulary tables and cultural notes.

Magkano: How to Ask "How Much" in Tagalog
Magkano means how much in Tagalog. Learn to ask a price, tell it apart from ilan and gaano, sound polite with po, and haggle at the palengke.