Sinhala Grammar #3: Present and Past Verb Tenses

As we have already mentioned before, a verb is an action word.
Today we are going to talk about these action verbs and how they work in Sinhala.

Verbs in the Present tense:
Most verbs in the present tense usually have the same kind of ending,
although there are some exceptions. Here are a few common verbs:

Kanawaa/කනවා: Eating                              I drink water.

Bonawaa/බොනවා:Drinking                         Mama watura bonawaa. / මම වතුර බොනවා.

Karanawaa/කරනවා:Doing                                  

Yanawaa/යනවා: Going     I eat apples.

Enawaa/එනවා: Coming                               Mama apple kanawaa./මම ඇපල් කනවා

Kiayanawaa/කියනවා:Saying

Verbs in the Past tense:

The verbs don’t really look like their present tense versions, so I would recommend
remembering the past tense verbs by thinking of them as their own word, rather than
connecting them to the present tense form of the verb.

Kǣwaa/ කෑවා: Ate                                       I drank water.

Biuwaa/බිව්වා: Drank                                   Mama watura biuwaa./ මම වතුර බිව්වා.

Kalaa or Karaa/කළාor කරා: Did                   

Giyaa/ගියා: Went                                          I ate apples.

Avaa/ආවා: Came Mama apple kǣwaa./ මම ඇපල් කෑවා.
Kiuwaa/කිව්වා: Said

What about the future tense?

Like English, Sinhala indicates what will happen in the future will be shown using time words,
which we will hopefully get to learn in the future.

That’s it for today! Hopefully, you’ve learned a few basic verbs that you can learn in
your everyday conversation. If you guys need translations for words you would like to use,
let me know, and I'll try to get back to you as soon as possible. Thanks for reading!