Hi Will! The word "KAMUSTA or KUMUSTA" comes from the Spanish phrase ¿Cómo está? The standard Tagalog spelling is Kumusta, but most Filipinos now use Kamusta. Kamusta ka? How are you? (for friends, same age or younger than you) Kamusta na po kayo? How are you? (polite version for older people) Hope it helps =)

Kumusta and Kamusta are basically the same words which mean "How are you". Kumusta is use in a formal conversation while Kamusta is use in casual one which is very common between the two. The word is derived from Spanish phrase Como Esta, most of our words are derived from Spanish words since Philippines was once a colony of Spain for over 300 years.

Sorry the other link was wrong. The right link about <a href="http://linguaholic.com/study-tagalog/kamusta-or-kumusta/">Kamusta or Kumusta</a> is this one here. Please delete my previous comment. thank you!

You can find a nice discussion about <a href="http://www.chinese-please.com/index.php/topic/2-the-definite-list-of-chinese-online-resources-for-language-learning/">Kamusta or Kumusta</a> here. Kind regards from Switzerland lingua

Kamusta is the proper one but most of the youngsters use Kumusta but both are acceptable. :)