Sinhala Grammar #10: Giving a Command

Today, we will learn how to ask others (or command them) to do something.

The Imperative Form

In Sinhala, you must alter the verb itself in order to convey the command.

Let’s look at a few basic verbs to see how they change:

Kanawaa             -awaa + da       Kanda     කන්ඩ

Bonawaa             -awaa + da       Bonda     බොන්ඩ

Yanawa               -awaa + da       Yanda යන්ඩ

Enawaa               -awaa + da       Enda එන්ඩ

Karanawa            -awaa + da       Karanda    කරන්ඩ

Dhenawaa           -awaa + da       Dhenda      දෙන්ඩ

Practice:

Give the phone to me.                           Mata phone eka dhenda.

                මට ෆෝන් එක දෙන්ඩ.

Eat the rice.                                            Bath kanda.           

    බත්  කන්ඩ.   

Drink milk.                                              Kiri bonda.         

    කිරි බොන්ඩ.               

That’s all for now. Please let me know if you have any questions 

or comments in the comment section down below.

Thanks for reading!

Sinhala Grammar #9: I Think, I Knew, I Said

Today we are going to learn how to express what we think, know, and say.

I Think

I think that the book is good.

Mama hithanne poth *eka hondhayi kiyala.

මම හිතන්නේ පොත එක හොඳයි.

*Meant to indicate a specific book.

I Thought

I thought that the book was good.

Mama hithuwee poth eka hondhayi kiyala

මම හිතුවේ පොත එක හොඳයි කියලා

Essentially, we construct our sentences using this pattern.

Subject hitanne “thought” kiyala.

“Kiyala” signals the end of your thought. You could say that it kind of acts like the 

“that” in the sentence. I don’t believe that “kiyala” directly translates to “that”, 

but thinking of it that way might help you to remember it.

I Don’t Think

I don’t think that the book is good.

Mama hitanne næ poth eka hondhayi kiyala.

මම හිතන්නේ නැ පොත එක  හොඳයි කියලා.

I Didn’t Think

I didn’t think that the book was good.

Mama hithuwee næ book eka hondhayi kiyala.

මම හිතුවේ නැ  පොත එක හොඳයි කියලා.

The patterns for “I knew” and “I said” sentences are only a little 

different from the “I thought” patterns.

Let’s take a look:

I Know

Subject (Knower) dhannawa “what is known”kiyala.

I know that you want to eat apples.

Mama dhannawa oyata apple kanna one kiyala.

මම දන්නවා ඔයට  ඇපල් කන්න ඕනෙ කියලා.

I Knew

I knew that you didn’t want to study.

Mama dhænagena hiṭiyaa oyata igennaganna one vune næ kiyala.

 මම දැනගෙන හිටියා  ඔයට ඉගෙන්නගන්න ඕනෙ  වුනේ නැ කියලා.

I Said

I said works pretty similarly to “I know”

Subject (Sayer) kiuwaa “said phrase” kiyala.

I said, “I don’t like milk.”

Mama kiuwaa kiri valata aasa næ kiyala.

මම කිව්වා, “මම කිරි වලට ආස නැ  කියලා.

That's all for this lesson. Thank you for reading!

Sinhala Grammar #8: I like/I like doing

Today, we are going to learn how to express our liking towards something.

The main word we have to focus on is “aasayi”, which basically means “Like”

You might also hear the word kæmithiyi, which is more formal, but interchangeable

 with aasayi.

I Like

I like milk.

Mama kiri valata aasayi.

මම කිරි වලට ආසයි.

Things to Remember:

-The object that is liked must have either ‘valata’ or ‘ta’ attached to it. I think with 

more exposure to Sinhala, you will learn which situations you should use which

suffix with.

The rest of the tenses and positives/negatives pretty much follow the same

patterns as the “I Want” sentence structure we learned in the previous lesson.

Let’s take a look:

Past Tense

I liked milk.

Mama kiri valata aasa vuna.

මම කිරි වලට ආස වුනා .

-Only thing to note here: When “asayi” is in front of another sound, like vuna or næ,

the “-yi” sound is dropped. This also applies to “kæmithiyi”

I Don’t Like

I don’t like milk.

Mama kiri valata aasa næ.

මම කිරි වලට කැමති/ආස නැ.

Past Tense

I didn’t like milk.

Mama kiri valata aasa vune næ.

මම කිරි වලට ආස වුනේ නැ.

I Like Doing

I like drinking milk.

Mama kiri bonna aasayi.

මම කිරි බොන්න ආසයි.

Past Tense

I liked drinking milk. 

Mama kiri bonna aasa vuna.

මම කිරි බොන්න ආස වුනා.

I Don’t Like Doing

I don’t like drinking milk.

Mama kiri bonna aasa næ

මම කිරි බොන්න ආස නැ.

Past Tense

I didn’t like drinking milk.

Mama bonna aasa vune næ.

මම කිරි  බොන්න ආස වුනේ නැ.

That’s all for this lesson. Thanks for reading!