Made by a Filipino, for anyone learning

The Tagalog app
that explains why

Tarsier teaches the roots, the affixes, and the Taglish people really speak. The parts that make it finally click, whether you have heard it your whole life or none of it.

Download on iOS

Free to start. No account needed.

4.6 from 42 ratings
A Tarsier lesson card asking who to call Kuya, with the phrase broken into its parts
170+
Lessons
3,700+
Quiz cards
340+
Words to learn
2,000+
Words and phrases you can hear

Not another flashcard app

Most apps hand you a pile of words to memorise. Tarsier teaches you the machine underneath, so new words explain themselves.

Roots and affixes

Every word is colour coded into its prefix, root and suffix. Learn one pattern and a hundred words open up at once. This is the thing no other Tagalog app teaches.

A lesson card showing mag- plus luto equals magluto, and nag- plus luto equals nagluto

Culture from lesson one

It starts with and , because respect comes before grammar. Cultural notes and cards run through every topic, so you pick up the why along with the words.

Lola asks Kumusta ka, and the respectful answer mabuti po ako is marked correct
A Did you know card explaining that Filipino parents call their kids anak at any age

One root. A whole conversation.

This is the part other Tagalog apps skip, and it is the reason the language never clicked for you.

means cooked.
Change the prefix and you change the time, the focus, the whole sentence.

Everything else, dialled in

The daily loop is built to be worth opening.
Learn, review, keep the streak, watch the map fill in.

The learn map showing completed units

A map, not a list

Nine topics and 170+ lessons on a winding path, from greetings to animals, with a milestone celebration at the end of each one.

The word page for kahel, with its image, meaning, example sentence and audio

Every word has its own page

340+ words with the root breakdown, an example sentence, the Taglish version, an image and audio. Your own dictionary, built as you go.

The word page for luto with a Listen button and a speaker on every form and example

Hear every single word

2,000+ recordings, all Tagalog, all bundled in the app. Tap any word anywhere and hear it said properly.

An image match quiz asking what kape means, with a glass of milk and a cup of coffee to choose between

Quizzes that keep moving

Match the image, fill the blank, build the sentence, listen and answer, recall from memory. You are never doing the same card twice in a row.

A quiz card marked HARD, with the English translation no longer shown

Hints that fade out

English stays visible while you find your feet, then quietly disappears partway through so you are actually recalling, not reading.

The Practice hub with weak words to review

Practice what you got wrong

The words you keep missing come back on their own. Build a custom session, or take whatever the app thinks you owe it.

A 64 day streak with the activity calendar

Streaks worth protecting

A daily goal you set yourself, a streak that survives a busy day, and reminders in Tagalog with the English underneath.

The ube counter reading 30 during a lesson

instead of hearts

Your energy is , and it refills through the day. Free learners get a full plate every morning. Super Tarsier never runs out.

The weekly leaderboard with your row highlighted

Leaderboard and handles

Claim an @handle, climb the weekly and all time boards, and see your row jump when you overtake someone.

The Pace insight predicting your next milestone

Insights that predict

Pace, time, accuracy and vocabulary, plus the line that matters: keep this pace and you will be talking about animals by a real date.

The Profile tab with streak and learning stats

Backed up, free

Your progress saves to iCloud automatically and follows you to a new phone. Sign in with Apple if you want it tied to an account.

Full dark mode Works offline Placement test, skip ahead Alam Mo Ba fact cards Milestone review lessons Pick your Tarso avatar Daily spin Every line checked by a native speaker Cebuano and Ilocano next

, I'm

/ˈɡɑːθriɪn/ · tap my name to hear it

I grew up speaking Tagalog at home and watched friends and cousins understand everything and say almost nothing. Every app I pointed them at taught colours and numbers and never explained why turns into . That gap is the whole language, so I built the app I wanted them to have.

Gathrean Dela Cruz Gathrean Dela Cruz Tarsier's Founder and Developer gathrean.com
Tarso the tarsier Tarso Your guide
Coming to Android

Android is next. Want it first?

Tarsier is iPhone only today. Android is the most requested thing we get asked for, and it is in planning now. Leave your email and you will get one message the day it lands.

One email at launch. No newsletter, no sharing your address.

Start with and .
End up talking to your .

Free to start, no account needed, and the first lesson takes about three minutes.

Download on iOS