An Update: 11/24/19

Hello Everyone!

Since I uploaded the last lesson of November yesterday, I just wanted to let
you guys know the release schedule for new lessons, since it's going to be a
little different from what I've been doing for the past few months.

December 2nd: Lesson #18
December 9th: Lesson #19
December 23nd: Lesson #20
December 30th: Lesson #21

These lessons will be released by 12:00 AM PST. I might post them a little earlier,
but you can expect to see the lesson on the blog by that time.

Is releasing this kind of schedule for lessons helpful? What do you guys think?
I would also like to know if there are any concepts you want me to cover, since
chances are, I would be interested in learning about them too.

Thanks for your support!

Sinhala Grammar #17: Expressing Position

Today, we will be learning how to express something’s position in relation to

another object. 

Let’s start with talking about inanimate objects:

My book is under the table.

Magē potha mēsaya yaṭa (thiyenawaa).

මගේ පොත මේසය යට (තියෙනවා).

When talking in casual Sinhala, you can omit ‘thiyenawaa’, as it is implied that

the object is there. You don’t necessarily need to express it, but it’s up to you.

My book is on (above) the table.

Magē potha mēsaya uda thiyenawaa.

මගේ පොත මේසය උද (තියෙනවා).

My book is in the room.

Magē potha kāmarayē (thiyenawaa.)

මගේ පොත කාමරයේ (තියෙනවා).

Now that we’ve learned how to talk about inanimate objects, let’s move on to

talking about live subjects:

I am behind Dilshan.

Mama Dilshan piṭipase (innawaa).

මම ඩිල්ෂාන් ඩිල්ෂාන් ඉන්නවා.

One really important thing to remember about expressing existence is that ‘innawaa’

is used for animate, live objects, while ‘thiyenawaa’ is used for inanimate objects.

I am in front of Dilshan.

Mama Dilshan isaraha (innawaa).

මම ඩිල්ෂාන් ඉස්සරහ ඉන්නවා.

I am next to (close to) Dilshan.

Mama Dilshan langa(innawaa).

මම ඩිල්ෂාන් ළඟ  ඉන්නවා.

I am right of Dilshan.

Mama Dilshan dakuṇu pæththē (innawaa).

මම ඩිල්ෂාන් දකුණු පැත්තේ  ඉන්නවා.

‘Paththe’ means ‘direction’.  So when we talk about right and left, we are saying

something along the lines of ‘in the right direction’ and ‘in the left direction’.

I am left of Dilshan.

Mama Dilshan vam paththē (innawaa).

මම ඩිල්ෂාන් වම් පැත්තේ  ඉන්නවා.

That’s it for today’s lesson! Like always, comment below if you have any questions or

comments. Thanks for reading!

Sinhala Grammar #16: Started/Finished Doing

Hello everyone! I hope November has been treating you well. Today

we will be learning how to express the completion of our actions.

This requires only two components: the action we are doing and the

verb for beginning/finishing.

In Sinhala, beginning is patan gannavaa/ පටන් ගන්නවා

Finishing is ivaraa/ ඉවරා

Let’s say you wanted to say that you just started eating:

As we have learned in previous lessons, that would be kanavaa/ 

In this case, we are using the plain form of this verb, which is kanna/

If we put that together:

Mama kanna patan gannavaa.

මම කන්න පටන් ගන්නවා

I am starting to eat.

If we are finishing our meal we can say:

Mama kanna ivaraa.

මම කන්න ඉවරා

I am done eating.

Thanks for reading everyone!

Like always, let me know if you have any questions