baligtad

Usage Notes:

This word is also spelled as "BALIKTAD" and they are pronounced the way they are spelled. I have always used "baliktad". There was even a time when I heard one family saying it as "balistad". Limit your choice to "baligtad" or "baliktad" and just choose the one you may find easier to pronounce.

In English, words like inside out, upside down, etc., are clear as to what they mean. In Tagalog, for all those words, we just use "baligtad/baliktad". Quite often the intended meanings are obvious, but in case they are not, then we have to follow them up with other words to make clear what we mean.

To express the following in Tagalog and the intended meaning is not obvious:

Your shirt is inside out. = Ang shirt mo ay baligtad, ang (nasa) labas/loob ang dapat nasa loob/labas. (what's (on the) outside/inside should be inside/outside)

Your shirt is backwards = Baliktad ang shirt mo, ang (nasa) likod/harap ang dapat nasa harap/likod. (what's at the back/in front should be in front/at the back)

The abstract painting is upside down = Ang "abstract painting" ay baliktad, ang (nasa) taas/baba ang dapat nasa baba/taas (what's up/down should be down/up) or "ang (nasa) ibabaw/ilalim ang dapat nasa ilalim/ibabaw" (the (one on) top/bottom should be at the bottom/top).

Your shoes are on the wrong feet = Baligtad ang sapatos mo, (this would be obvious, but in case it's a child you're saying it to), ang nasa kaliwa/kanan ang dapat nasa kanan/kaliwa (the one on the left/right should be on the right/left).

Note: The "nasa" in parentheses are optional in the same way that "on the" and "one on" are.