Sinhala Grammar #2: Personal Pronouns in Sinhala

*Tip: Since I can't upload audio files for the sentences yet, I highly recommend that you
copy and paste the sentences as they are written in Sinhala into Google Translate.
Although hearing a real person's pronunciations are the best way to improve,
at least with Google Translate's audio feature, you will know if you are on the right track
on not.

Today, we are going to learn about personal pronouns.

Pronouns are words that replace nouns in a sentence. For example, if you said “Mary walks her dog.”, you could also say “ She walks her dog.” They mean the same thing.

	Singular	Plural
1st Person	I- Mama /මම	We- Api /අපි
2nd Person	You- Oyaa /-ඔයා	You- Ogolo /ඔගොල්ලො
3rd Person	He/She- Eyaa /එයා	They- Egolo /එගොල්ලො

Let’s see how these pronouns are used:

I eat apples.                                   We drink water everyday.

Mama apple kanawaa.                   Api hamadama watura bonawaa.

මම ඇපල් කනවා                        අපි හැමදාම වතුර බොනවා

You eat apples.                              You (guys) drink water everyday.

Oyaa apple kanawaa.        Ogollo hamadama watura bonawaa.

ඔයා ඇපල් කනවා            ඔගොල්ලො හැමදාම වතුර බොනවා

She eats apples.        They drink water everyday.

Eyaa apple kanawaa.                      Egollo hamadama watura bonawaa.

එයා ඇපල් කනවා          එගොල්ලො හැමදාම වතුර බොනවා

There are also possessive pronouns like mine and yours.

	Singular	Plural
1st Person	Mine/my- Mage /මගේ	Our- Ape /අපේ
2nd Person	Yours/Your- Oyage/ඔයගෙ	Your-Ogolange/ඔගොලංගෙ
3rd Person	His/her- Eyage/එයගෙ	Their-Egolange/එගොලංගෙ

My little sister eats apples.                      Our love (My grandparents’ favorite teledrama!)

Mage nungi apple kanawaa.                   Ape adare

මගේ  නංගි ඇපල් කනවා.      අපේ ආදරේ

The Ta-form

This form has many purposes, but let’s focus on being the receiver of an action for now.

	Singular	Plural
1st Person	To/For me -Mata/මට	To/For us -Apita/අපිට
2nd Person	To/For you -Oyata/ඔයට	To/for you -Ogollangta/ඔගොල්ලංග්
3rd Peson	To/for her- Eyata/එයට	To/For them- Eygollangta/එගොල්ලංග්

You give apples to me.                             They give you (guys) water.

Oyaa mata apple denawa.                       Egolo ogollangta waturaa denawaa.

ඔයා  මට ඇපල්  දෙන්වා.                එගොල්ලො ඔගොල්ලංග්ට වතුර  දෙන්වා.                

This “Ta-form” is used in many different ways, but we will hopefully cover them later.

I will link a blog post from another Sinhala blog that may help you out with mama/mata.

That’s it for now everyone. Again, let me know if you have any questions or comments.

Thanks for reading!