Yet & Already (Part 1): Sinhala Grammar #28

Hello Everyone!

Today’s lesson will be a mini-lesson. The second part of this lesson will be released

on April 6th

In today’s lesson, we will be learning how to communicate that an action

was not yet done by the subject.

I did not eat yet.

Mama thama kǣve næ.

මම තම කෑවේ නැ

In order to express that something hasn’t happened yet, you must

use thama with the past negative tense of the verb. Let’s look at two more

examples to reinforce the concept:

(I )didn’t drink my tea yet.

Mage the thama biuwe nae.

මගේ තේ තම බිව්වේ නැ.

Why (didn’t you) do your homework yet?

Aeyi oyage gedara vaeda thama kare næ?

ඇයි ඔයාගේ ගෙධර වැඩ වැඩ කරේ නැ?

That’s all for today’s lesson! Thank you for reading, and like always,

feel free to leave questions or thoughts down in the comments below.

Tune back in on April 5th for the second part of this lesson!

If~ Statements: Sinhala Grammar #27

Ayubowan!

Today we will be learning to talk about If~ statements. Let’s jump right in 

with our first example.

If you eat old food, your stomach will hurt.

Oyaa naraka kæma kævoth, oyaage bada rideyi.

ඔයා නරක කෑම කැවොට්, ඔයාගේ බඩ රිදෙයි.

When we are making If~ statements, the If~ aspect of the sentence is added onto the 

verb. The If~ form of Kannawa is kævoth. The pattern for making these verbs into 

~If verbs is by dropping the ‘-ah’ sound and adding ‘-oth’. Let’s take a look at another 

verb to get a better understanding:

If you go to the store, can you buy some rice?

Oyaa kade giyoth, mata hal ganna puluwandha?

ඔයා කඩේ ගියොත්, මට හල ගන්න පුළුවන්ද?

In this case, we form this verb by taking giyaa, dropping the -yaa, and adding -oth.

Let’s take a look at one final example:

If you come to my house, we can play cards.

Oya mage gedhara aavoth, apita caad sellam karanna puluwan.

ඔයා මගේ ගෙදරට ආවොත්, අපට කාඩ් සෙල්ලම් කරන්න පුළුවන්.

In the case of aavaa, we drop the -vaa sound, and replace it with -voth to make aavoth.

That’s everything for today’s lesson! If you have any questions or comments, please feel 

free to leave them below. The next lesson is scheduled for March 23rd, so stay tuned. 

Thank you for reading!

Explaining Multiple Actions: Sinhala Grammar #26

Ayubowan!

Today we will be learning about how to express multiple actions

 that were done in a specific order. Let’s jump right into it!

Let’s talk about this concept through the context of explaining your

 morning routine. This is what you might want to express in English:

I wake/woke up, change/changed my clothes, brush/brushed my teeth, 

eat/ate breakfast, and then leave for school.

In Sinhala, you would say:

Mama nakitalaa, ædhum maru karalaa, dath madhaelaa, kǣma kalaa, iskole yannawa.

මම නකිටලා, ඇඳුම් මාරු කරලා, දත් මැදලා, කෑම කාලා, ඉස්කෝලේ යන්නවා. 

The reason we use -la was a little difficult for me to understand, but I’ll try my best to 

explain it. In this sentence, we are giving a general statement about our morning 

routine. However, a version of the past tense, the -la form must be used. The

 -laa form talks about an action that isn’t yet completed being completed. The 

-raa form talks about an action that is already completed.

We don’t really have an equivalent for this in English, but try to think about it 

this way. Make sure to always end this type of sentence with the present tense 

form of the verb, as you are explaining the list of events that leads up to that moment.

Once I have done my work, I will play with you.

In this case, we would use  ‘vaeda karala/ වැඩ කරලා,’    

On the other hand, there is this sentence:

I did work at home.

In this case we would use ‘vaeda kara වැඩ කරා,’

You would use the same sentence structure to tell someone your plans for the future:

I’ll come home, do some work, make some food, and then go to sleep.

Mama gedara avillaa, vædha karalaa, kǣma hadhaelaa, nidhagannawa.

මම ගෙදර ඇවිල්ලා, වැඩ කරලා, කෑම හැදලා, නිදගන්නවා.

That’s all for this lesson! Thank you so much for reading and make sure to

 stay tuned for the next lesson on March 16th. Feel free to leave any questions or comments you may have down below.