Free Bisaya Translator — Correct Grammar, Not Guesses

This translator works both ways: type an English word or phrase to find its Bisaya (Cebuano) equivalent, or search a Bisaya word to get its English meaning. Every entry is manually verified — not machine-generated — so the translations reflect how native Cebuano speakers actually speak, not how a statistical model guesses they should.

Bisaya — also called Cebuano — is the second most widely spoken language in the Philippines, with approximately 22 million native speakers across Cebu, Bohol, Negros Oriental, parts of Leyte, and most of Mindanao including Davao City and Cagayan de Oro. If you have Filipino family from the southern Philippines, Bisaya is almost certainly the language they use at home.

What each translation entry includes

Every entry in this English to Bisaya translator includes: the English source word, the correct Bisaya translation, a pronunciation guide with stressed syllables in uppercase (e.g., SAH-la-mat), the part of speech (noun, verb, adjective), and at least one example sentence showing the word in natural context. Many entries include cultural notes explaining when and how to use the word, synonyms, and regional variation notes.

Why word-for-word translation from English fails

Translating English directly into Bisaya word-for-word produces unnatural or incorrect results because the two languages work differently at a grammatical level. Bisaya uses aspect markers on verbs (mo-, nag-, mi-) instead of tense; it has a verb-focus system where the verb changes form depending on whether the actor, object, or location is the sentence focus; and pronouns have short clitic forms (ko, ka, niya) that must be used after the first word of a sentence. For a full explanation of these rules with examples, see the English to Bisaya grammar guide.

How this translator compares to Google Translate for Bisaya

Google Translate supports Cebuano (Bisaya) but produces frequent errors — especially with the verb-focus system, aspect markers, and idiomatic phrases. This translator uses manually verified native-speaker entries, which means the translations are more reliable for conversation and learning. Use Google Translate for rough comprehension in an emergency; use TalkBisaya when accuracy matters. For the full Bisaya-to-English direction, the Bisaya dictionary has 840+ Cebuano entries with detailed entries.

Looking specifically for Tagalog-to-Bisaya word pairs and the key grammar differences between the two languages? The dedicated Tagalog to Bisaya guide covers 100+ word pairs side by side, plus a comparison table of where Tagalog and Bisaya diverge.