Monday, January 17, 2022

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!


Monday, January 10, 2022

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!


Thursday, January 6, 2022

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!


Updates to the Blog!

Ayubowan! I apologize for the long wait. I hope that you have been well and making use of the existing lessons on the blog! I wanted to anno...