Sinhala Grammar #7: I want/ I want to do

In this lesson, we are going to learn how to express that we want things

and that we want to do things.

I Want _______:

Let’s say someone asks you what type of ice cream you want. 

If you want chocolate, you would say:

I want chocolate 

Mata chocolate one.

මට චොකලට් ඕනෙ.

The basic rules for this formation is:

Subject(Ta form) + object + one(ඕනෙ).

I Don’t Want:

I don’t want chocolate

Mata chocolate one næ.

මට චොකලට් ඕන නෑ.

I Wanted:

I did want chocolate.

Mata chocolate one vuna.

මට චොකලට් ඕන වුන.

I Didn’t Want:

I didn’t want chocolate.

Mata chocolate one vune næ.

මට චොකලට් ඕන වුනේ නැ.

I Want To Do___:

Let’s say you are really thirsty. You might say:

I want to drink water.

Mata wathura bonna one.

මට වතුර බොන්න ඕන. 

The same rules from the ‘I want’ sentence apply, except the action you want to do 

must be in the “-nna” form.

Bonawaa- awaa + na one. = Bonna one/ බොන්න ඕනෙ.

I Don’t Want To:

I don’t want to drink water.

Mata wathura bonna one næ.

මට වතුර බොන්න ඕන නෑ.

I Wanted To:

I wanted to drink water.

Mata wathura bonna one vuna.

මට වතුර බොන්න ඕනෙ වුනා.

I Didn’t Want To:

I didn’t want to drink water.

Mata wathura bonna one vune næ

මට වතුර බොන්න ඕනෙ වුනේ නැ.

Sinhala Grammar #6: Can/ Cannot Do

Can Do

Let’s say you want to tell someone that you can read Sinhala. You can say:

I  can read Sinhala.

Mata Sinhala kiyawanna puluwan.

මට සිංහල කියවන්න පුළුවන්.

To create this sentence, we must use the “Nna” form of the verb plus puluwan.

Present Positive

Kiyawanawaa -nawaa + nna = Kiyawanna/ කියවන්න

Past Positive

I was able to read.

Mata kiyawanna puluwan vunaa.

මට කියවන්න පුළුවන් වුණා.

You might have noticed that we used “mata” instead of “mama”. The way you could 

remember to use “mata” is that the ability to do something is given to you.

In the case of this sentence, we could say that the ability to read Sinhala is given 

to you.

Practice:

He can eat: Eyata kanna puluwan.

එයට කන්න පුළුවන්.

You (all) can play: Ogollangta sellam karanna puluwan.

ඔගොල්ලංග් සෙල්ලම් කරන්න.

Can we drink wine?: Apita wayin bonna puluwanda?

  අපිට බොන්න පුළුවන්ද?

Can’t Do

On the flip side, let’s say you need to tell someone you can’t speak Sinhala.

Present Negative 

I cannot read Sinhala. 

Mata Sinhala kiyawanna bæ/bæhæ.

මට සිංහල කියවන්න බැ/බැහැ.

The same rules we used when saying ‘can do’ phrases apply to ‘can not do’ phrases. 

The only difference is that we say “bæ” instead of “puluwan”.

Past Negative

For the negative in the past tense, we only need to replace ‘bæ’ with ‘bæri vuṇaa’

I wasn’t able to read Sinhala.

Mata Sinhala kiyawanna bæri vuṇa.

මට සිංහල කියවන්න බැරි වුණා.

Practice:

He can’t eat: Eyata kanna bæ.

එයට කන්න බැ.

You (all) can’t play: Ogollangta sellung karanna bæ.

ඔගොල්ලංග් සෙල්ලම් බැ.

Are we not able to drink wine?: Apita wayin bonna *bærida?

            අපිට බොන්න බැරිද?

*This form of “bæ” seems to only apply to questions. 

That’s it for this lesson! As always let me know if you have questions 

or comments. Thanks for reading!

Sinhala Grammar #5: What, When, Where, Who?- Question Words in Sinhala

Have a burning question that you need to ask in Sinhala? I’ve got you covered! 

Today, we will learn about the structure of a question and the different types of 

questions you can ask.

The Structure of a Question

In Sinhala, a sentence can be turned into a question 

when you add one sound to the end of a sentence.

They eat bananas and apples.

Egolo kesel saha apple kanawaa.

එගොලො කෙසෙල් සහ ඇපල් කනවා.

Do they eat bananas and apples?

Egolo kesel saha apple kanawada?

එගොලො කෙසෙල් සහ ඇපල් කනවද?

Kanawaa -a + da = Kanawada/ කනවද?

In this case, all we had to do was attach the “da” sound to the end of our verb and

change the waa sound to a wa sound to form our question.

What, Who, Where, When, and Why?

Let’s look at the different types of questions we can ask:

What is this?

*Me mokaada/(mokakda/monaada)?

මේ මොකාද?

*I’ve included several options for the words in this sentence because different people

have their own ways of saying certain things in Sinhala. I’m sticking

 with what I hear my family use, which is “Me mokada”, the most abbreviated 

version of this sentence.

You could also ask:
What is that?

E mokaada?

ඒමොකාද?

If you wanted to ask what someone is doing:

What are you doing?

Mokaada/monaada *karanne?

මොකාද කරන්නේ?

Who is that?

E kauda?

ඒ කව් ද?

Where are you?

Oya koheda?

ඔයා කොහෙද?

Where are you going?

Koheda yanne?

ඔයා කොහෙද යන්නේ?

When did you come?

Oya ave kavadaada?

ඔයා ආවේ කවදාද?

Why did you leave?

Aeyi oya giye?

ඇයි ඔයා ගියේ?

Things to note:

-Since “Aeyi” is the question word, you don’t need a “da” at the end of the sentence.

-*Also remember that with these question words, you need to change the 

verb into what I call the “Nne” form. (The same one we use when changing verbs

into the negative.)

Sinhala Grammar #4: Verbs in the Negative

In the previous post, we talked about positive verbs in both the present and past tense.

Today, we are going to learn how to talk about things we did not do.

Present Tense

For the negative forms of these verbs, we have to remember the present positive

 forms of these verbs. Let’s take ‘kanavaa’ for example:

If we want to say that we don’t eat something:

Kanavaa - avaa + ne naha/na = Kanne naǣhaǣ/ *Kanne nǣ- මම කන්නේ නැහැ/

මම කන්නේ නැ

I don’t eat meat.

Mama mus kanne nǣ/ මම  මස් කන්නේ නැ

*The second version is a shortened, less formal version. 

This is what I hear my family use.

Let’s practice!

I don’t drink wine.                         Mama wayin bonne nǣ./ මම වයින් බොන්නේ නැ.

I don’t play tennis.       Mama tennis sellum karanne nǣ./ මම ටෙනිස් සෙල්ලම් 

කරන්නේ නැ.

I don’t go home everyday.            Mama hamadama gedara yanne nǣ. /මම හැමදාම 

ගෙදර යන්නේ නැ.

Past Tense

The past tense for negative verbs has a different formation than the present tense:

Kava - a + ee na = Kǣvee nǣ/ කෑවේ නැ

I didn’t eat meat.

Mama mus kǣvee na./ මම මස් කෑවේ නැ.

More Practice!

I didn’t drink wine.                Mama wayin biuvee nǣ./ මම වයින් බිව්වේ නැ.

I didn’t play tennis.       Mama tennis sellum  karee nǣ./ මම ටෙනිස් සෙල්ලම් කරේ නැ.

I didn’t go home.                 Mama gedara giyee nǣ. /මම ගෙදර  ගියේ නැ.     

That’s it for this lesson! As always let me know if you have questions or comments. 

Thanks for reading!