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!