I can be/ I want to be: Sinhala Grammar #41

 Ayubowan!

In last week's lesson, we learned about expressing an “I am sentence”

in multiple tenses. In today’s lesson, we will be learning how to make more 

of these sentences. 

In the previous lesson, we did not use a verb for “to be”. This is not the case

 for the concepts introduced in this lesson. The verb we are using for “To be”

is venna/ වෙන්න. Although we have a new verb, the grammar structure for these

ideas is similar to the ones that we have covered previously.

Remember:

Mata kanna puluwan.

මට කන්න පුළුවන්.

I can eat.

We use a similar pattern for venna

I can be/ I can’t be

Mata daksha venna puluwan.

මට දක්ෂ වෙන්න පුළුවන්.

I can be smart.

This pattern also applies to the negative.

Mage lamayi varedhi venna bæ.

මගේ ළමයි වැරදි වෙන්න බැ.

My children can’t be wrong.

I want to be/ I don’t want to be 

This is also similar to patterns we’ve seen with verb + want to structures. 

Mata daksha venna one.   

මට දක්ෂ වෙන්න ඕනෙ.

I want to be smart.

Mata dosthara kenek venna one nǣ.

මට දොස්තර කෙනෙක් වෙන්න ඕනෙ නෑ.

I don’t want to be a doctor.

That’s all for this lesson! If you have any questions or comments, please leave

them down below. Stay tuned for a new lesson on January 11th at 12AM PST

Thank you for reading! See you next year!

I was/was not: Sinhala Grammar #40

Ayubowan! Today’s lesson will be about expressing the idea of “I/He/She/It was not”.

While this may seem like a simple concept, it is not quite the same as it is in English, which is why I’ve decided to talk about it today. 

So as we’ve learned previously, an “I am” sentence is:

I am a nurse.

Mama hedhiyak.

මම හෙදියක්.

In English, if we wanted to say that we were previously a doctor, we would just 

change “am” to “was”. However, since Sinhala does not exactly have a verb to express

this concept, there is no past tense verb that translates directly.* 

What we do instead is this:

We would express the statement the exact same way as we would in the present

tense, but we must include a detail about the time in the past that we are talking about.

Before coming to Australia, I was a nurse in France.

Ostreliyaavata enna kalin, mama pranshaye hediyak.

ඕස්ට්‍රේලියාවට එන්න කලින්, මම ප්‍රංශයේ හෙදියක්.

*Just as a side note, if we wanted to emphasize the fact that I am a nurse, we would place

the adjective Thamayi at the end of the sentence.

Mama hedhiyak thamayi (තමයි). 

If we want to express this idea in the negative, it works a little differently. 

We actually have to add an adjective Nemeyi to the end of the sentence.

I am not a good child.

mama hondha lamayek nemeyi.

මම හොඳ ළමයෙක් නෙමෙයි.

Similarly to before, the present and the past tense are the same.

When I was going to school, I was not a good child.

Iskole yana kale, mama hondha lamayek nemeyi.

ඉස්කෝලේ යනකලේ, මම හොඳ ළමයෙක් නෙමෙයි.

That’s it for this lesson! As always, if you have any questions or comments, please 

leave them down below in the comments box. Stay tuned for the next lesson on 

December 28th at 12AM PST, which is next week as opposed to two weeks from the date of

this posting. 

Thank you for reading!

As/As much as possible: Sinhala Grammar #39

 Ayubowan! Today we will be learning how to express the idea of ‘as much as possible’.

Let’s jump in with the first example:

I’m not as tall as you.

Mama oyaa tharam usa næ.

මම ඔයා තරම් උස නැ.

When making a statement that would use “as”, we use the phrase 

tharam/තරම්. In the following examples, we will see some combinations of 

tharam and other words that we can use to express different ideas.

As much as possible

You should study as much as possible. 

Oyaa hæki tharam igennaganna one.

ඔයා හැකි තරම් ඉගෙන ගත ඕනේ.

Hæki is a form of “can do”. When combined with tharam, it means

 ‘as much as can be done’.

As much as wanted

Eat as much rice as you want.

Oyata ona tharam bath kanna.

ඔයට ඕන තරම් බත් කන්න.

As much as needed

Drink as much water as you need.

Oyata æthi tharam wathura bonna.

ඔයට ඇතයි තරම් වතුර බොන්න.

That’s all for this lesson! If you have any question, comments, or corrections,

please let me know in the comments down below. Stay tuned for the next lesson 

on December 21st!

Thank you for reading!

Most ___(Superlative Adjectives): Sinhala Grammar #38

Ayubowan! Today we will be learning about how to express something that has a

characteristic to the highest degree. In other words, we will learn how to talk about

superlatives. Let’s begin with the first sentence.

Everest is the tallest mountain.

Everest usama kanda.

එවරස්ට් උසම කන්ද. 

In order to form the superlative form of the adjective, we must swap the -yi sound in

usayi with -ma.

Usayi → Usama

I am the smallest daughter.

Mama thamayi* kudhaama duwa.

මම තමයි කුඩාම දුව.

* Thamayi here is optional. It is used for emphasis.

The same rule would apply here. We would change:

Kudhaayi → Kudhaama

This is the tastiest banana

Meya rasama kesel.

මෙය රසම කෙසෙල්.

Rasayi → Rasama

Where I’m from (In my city), January is the coldest month.

Mage nagareye, janawaari sithalama maasaya.

මගේ නගරයේ, ජනවාරි ශීතලම මාසය.

Sithalayi → Sithalama

That’s all for this lesson! If you have any questions or corrections, please let me

know in the comments down below. Stay tuned for the next lesson on November 30th!

Basic Grammar Review #1

 Hello everyone! 

Rather than introducing a new topic this week, I thought it might be 

helpful to go back and review some of the basic structures most commonly 

used in Sinhala. WIth university, I definitely haven’t gotten the chance to study 

Sinhala, so for me, this is much needed. All of these sentences relate to reading 

and books, but I would recommend plugging in your own worlds into these 

sentences to practice.

I like to read.                                              

Mama kiyavanna asayi/kæmathiyi.

මම කියවන්න  ආසයි/කැමතියි.

I want to read.

Mata kiyanvanna one.

මට කියවන්න ඕනෙ.

I can read.

Mata kiyavanna puluwan.

මට කියවන්න පුළුවන්

I cannot read. 

Mata kiyavanna bæ.

මට කියවන්න බැ.

I read that book.

Mama ē potha kiyevvaa.

මම ඒ පොත කියෙව්වා.

I did not read that book.

Mama ē potha kiyevvē næ.

මම ඒ පොත කියෙව්වේ නැ.

Read that book.

ē potha kiyavanda.

ඒ පොත කියවඩ.

This is my book.

Me mage potha (thamayi- For emphasis).

මේ මගේ පොත.

This is not my book.

Me mage potha nemeyi.

මෙ මගේ පොත නෙමෙයි.

When will you read the book?

Oyaa potha kiyavanne kavadaada?

ඔයා පොත කියවන්නේ කවදාද?

A: Where is the book?

     Potha koheda?

     පොත කොහෙද? 

B: The book is here?

      Potha me thiyenne.

     පොත මෙ තියෙන්නේ    

A: Where are you?

     Oyaa koheda (inne)?

     ඔයා කොහෙද (ඉන්නේ)?

B:  I am here.

     Mama me inne.

      මම මෙ ඉන්නේ.

That’s all for this entry! If you have any questions or comments, please

feel free to leave a comment down below. 

Stay tuned for a lesson on November 16th at 12AM PST!

Thank you for reading!