Sinhala Grammar #15: Instrument of Use

Today, we will be learning how to describe what tools we use in order to accomplish a goal.
The proper term for what we are learning today is ‘The ablative of instrument’, but that is not
really that important to know.

Let’s say you want to tell someone that you eat your rice and curry with your hands instead of
a fork. You might say:

Mama athin kanawaa.

මම අතින් කනවා.

I eat with my hands

The Sinhala word for hand is ‘atha/අත’. All we had to do was replace the ‘a’ sound with an
‘in’ sound.

Let’s look at another example:

I write with a pen.

Mama paenakin liyanawaa.

මම පෑනකින්  ලියනවා

The Sinhala word for pen is ‘paena’. All that was done was that ‘kin’ was added to the end
of the word. I think that reason that ‘paenain’ or ‘athkin’ aren’t correct is probably because
they both sound kind of strange. I think that as we practice this concept, which suffix we use
will be more intuitive, but for now, I’m going to try to come up with some rules to
navigate this.

If the word ends with ‘tha’, ‘dha’, ‘bha’ sounds, take away the ‘a’ sound and add ‘in’ 

All other words can have ‘kin’ added to the end

Postponed Lesson: 10/20/19

Hi everyone!

I'm sorry this announcement is last minute, but I wanted to let you know that
this week's lesson will be postponed to next week, due to all of the stuff happening
 in my life right now. Thank you for tuning in to my blog and I'll see you next week!

Sinhala Grammar #14: ~Because

Today, we will briefly talk about how to explain our reasoning.

Like in English, we only need to add one word to the sentence, which in this case is “Hindha”.

Let’s look at a few sentences:

I eat because I am hungry.

Mama kanawaa mata badagini hindha.

මම කනවා මට බඩගිනි හින්ඩා.

I study because there is a test tomorrow

Mama padam karanna heta test thibena hinda.

මම පාඩම් කරන්නේ හෙට ටෙස්ටීතිබෙන හින්ඩා.

Essentially, the way we form this explanation is by putting ‘hindha’ at the end of the
reason/explanation, rather than at the beginning, like we would in English.

Thanks for reading everyone! Let me know if you have any questions or comments.