Sinhala Grammar #61: Not Enough

Ayubowan! 

This lesson accompanies the previous post: Too much: Sinhala Grammar #60

We will be discussing how to express the idea of “Not Enough” in Sinhala. 

Let’s jump in!

(There is) not enough time.

Velava madhi.

වෙලාව මදි.

Madhyi  has pretty much the same function as Vædhiyi. It captures the idea in 

one word and can be placed anywhere in the sentence. 

I don’t have enough money to buy a new phone.

Aluth fon ekak ganna salli madhi.

අලුත් ෆෝන් එකක් ගන්න සල්ලි මදි.

We do not have enough rice to give to everyone.

Hæmotama dhenna bath madhi.

හැමෝටම දෙන්න බත් මදි.

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

free to leave them down below. Stay tuned for the next lesson on February 8th, 2023!

Thank you for reading!

Too much: Sinhala Grammar #60

 Ayubowan!

Today, we will be learning how to express the idea of ‘too much’ in Sinhala. 

I ate too much last night.

Mama iye rǣ kǣvaa vædiyi.

මම ඊයේ රෑ කෑවා වැඩියි.

The idea of excess can be expressed in one word: vædiyi/වැඩියි.

As Sinhala does not have a word order, it doesn't really matter where

Vædiyi goes in the sentence. However, putting it at the end is the most

natural to me.

(There are) too many children in this school.

Me iskole lamayi vædiyi.

මේ ඉස්කෝලේ ළමයි වැඩියි.

That is too expensive for us.

Eka apita ganang vædiyi.

ඒක අපිට ගනං වැඩියි.

You eat too slowly.

Oyaa kanawaa himing vædiyi.

ඔයා කනවා හිමින් වැඩියි.

In terms of saying you did too much of a certain activity, there isn't 

really a natural way to say it. However, you could use this:

We ran more than expected.

Api onawata vadaa diuwaa.

අපි ඕනෑවට වඩා දිව්වා.

That’s all for this lesson! Feel free to leave any comments or questions down 

below. Stay tuned for the next lesson on February 21st. Thank you for reading!

Post moved from 01/31/22 to 02/12/22

From a location: Sinhala Grammar #59

Ayubowan! 

Today we will be talking about how to express the concept of “from” in Sinhala. 

Let’s jump right in!

I got bread from the store.

Mama kaden paan gaththa.

මම කඩෙන් පාන් ගත්තා.

The word for the location the bread is from needs to be modified in order to 

add the -from.

Kade  ->  Kaden

කඩේ         කඩෙන්

Essentially, we add a -n sound to the end of the word. This rule can be somewhat

applied to foreign words.

I bought shoes from *No Limit.

Mama No Limit eken sapattu  gaththa.

මම No Limit එකෙන් සපත්තු ගත්තා.

In this example, we are modifying eka/, since “No Limit” are foreign words.

Eka   -> Eken 

එක        එකෙන්

*No Limit is a popular retail chain in Sri Lanka.

A final concept I’d like to touch on is a question word that we haven’t covered yet:

Kohenda?: From where?

Here’s how it would be used:

Where did you come from?

Kohenda oyaa ave?

කොහෙන්ද ඔයා ආවේ?

That’s all for this lesson. Feel free to leave any questions or concerns in the 

comments down below. Stay tuned for the next post on January 31st!

Reflexive Pronouns (Myself, Yourself, etc.): Sinhala Grammar #58

 Ayubowan!

Today we will be learning about reflexive pronouns (Myself, yourself, himself, etc.). 

Let’s dive right in:

I bought a shirt for myself.

Mama matama kamisayak gaththaa.

මම මටම කමිසයක් ගත්තා.

Essentially, we treat “myself” as an indirect object. This applies for all of the other 

personal pronouns: 

He hits himself.

Eyaa eyatama gahanawaa.

එයා එයටම ගහනවා. 

You can make yourself tea.

Oyaa oyatama the hadhanna puluvan. 

ඔයා ඔයටම තේ හද්හන්න පුළුවන්. 

To finish off, this is a table of the different pronouns

	Singular	Plural
I/ We	Matama/මටම/Myself	Apitama/අපිටම/ We
You/ You all	Oyatama/ඔයටම/Yourself	Ogollangtama/ඔගොල්ලන්ග්ටම/ Yourselves
Her/Him/ Them	Eyatama/එයටම/Herself	Egollangtama/ඒගොල්ලන්ග්ටම/ Themselves

That’s all for this post. If you have any questions or comments, leave them down below.

Stay tuned for the next post on January 17th!

Without: Sinhala Grammar #57

Happy New Year! Let’s kick off the new year with a new lesson. Today, we’ll be 

talking about the concept of “without” in Sinhala. Let’s get started:

I went to school without eating.

Kanne næthuwa eskoleta giya.

කන්නේ නැතුව ඉස්කෝලේට ගිය.

Essentially, when talking about the lack of an action, we must add the -ne form 

of the verb with the word nathuwa/නැතුව, which means “without”. Let’s look at 

another example:

You cannot come inside without taking off your shoes.

Sapaththu galavanne næthuwa æthulata enna bǣ.

සපත්තු ගලවන්නේ නැතූව ඇතුලට එන්න බෑ.

You can also use næthuwa with nouns:

I want to eat bread without butter.

Mata batar næthuwa pan kanna one.

මට බටර් නැතුව පාන් කන්න ඕනේ.  

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

 them down below. Stay tuned for the next lesson on January 10th!