Skip to content

oto

óto with stress marks

car; auto

noun O-to Spanish origin Rare

Usage Note

Oto is a colloquial shortening of otomobil, borrowed via Spanish, meaning car or automobile. Kotse is the more common colloquial term in Metro Manila Tagalog, while oto is particularly common in older speech and some provincial varieties.

Examples

Beginner

" Bago ang oto nila. "

Natural Translation

Their car is new.

Literal Translation

New the car their.

Intermediate

" Bumili siya ng bagong oto para sa kanyang pamilya. "

Natural Translation

He/she bought a new car for his/her family.

Literal Translation

Bought he/she of new car for his/her family.

Advanced

" Matagal nang sira ang lumang oto, kaya naglalakad na lang sila papuntang palengke tuwing umaga. "

Natural Translation

The old car has been broken for a long time, so they just walk to the market every morning.

Literal Translation

Long-already broken the old car, so walking just they going-to market every morning.

Free · iOS & Android

Take Tagalog with you

The full course, a 12,500-word dictionary, and flashcards that make every word stick — free to start on iOS and Android.

Tagalog builds thousands of words from a few hundred roots.

How Tagalog words work

Explore Tagalog by topic

Free guides on grammar, vocabulary, and culture to take you past single-word lookups.