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!