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!