Thursday, November 13, 2025

Possessive Nouns and Pronouns: Sinhala from Zero (Chapter 2)

Possessive Pronouns

Person Singular Plural
1st Person Mine = Mage (මගේ)
Ours = Ape (අපේ)
2nd Person Yours = Oyāge (ඔයාගේ)
Yours (plural) = Ogollange (ඔගොල්ලන්ගේ)
3rd Person (living) His/Hers = Eyāge (ඒයාගේ)
Theirs = Egollange (එගොල්ලන්ගේ)
3rd Person (non-living) Its = Eke (එකේ)
Theirs (non-living) = Ewage (එවගේ)

Note: Most of these pronouns end in –ge (ගේ), indicating possession.
However, Ape (අපේ) and Eke (එකේ) are exceptions.

Examples

1.

My name is Nalani.

Mage nama Nalani. 

මගේ නම නලනි.


2.

Your daughter is Maria.

Oyage duwa Maria. 

ඔයාගේ දුව මරියා.


3. 

Her books.

Eyage poth. 

ඒයාගේ පොත්.


4.

Our love.

Ape adareyi. 

අපේ ආදරෙයි.


5.

Your (plural) house is beautiful.

Ogollange gedara lasanayi. 

ඔගොල්ලන්ගේ ගෙදර ලස්සනයි.


6.

That house is theirs.

E gedara egollange. 

ගෙදර එගොල්ලන්ගේ.


7.

Its color.

Ewāge pāṭayi. 

එවගේ පාටයි.


Forming Possessives from Nouns

You can make possessive forms of other nouns by adding –ge (ගේ) just like pronouns:

Maria’s daughter.

Maria ge duwa.

මරියාගේ දුව.


Irregular Possessives for Inanimate Objects

Be careful: when showing possession for inanimate objects, the form changes slightly.

The color of the book.

Pothe pata. 

පොතේ පාට.


The color of the books.

Pothvala pata. 

පොත්වල පාට.

-ē (ේ) and -vala (වල) endings show possession for objects or plural items, instead of –ge (ගේ) which is used for people.

Exercises

Translate the following phrases into Sinhala:

  1. Your name is Rani.

  2. My name is ________.

  3. Our child.

  4. The dog’s toy. (Hint: Dog = Bala / බලා, Toy = Sellang badu / සෙල්ලං බඩු)

  5. Your (plural) apples.

  6. Their house.

  7. The toy’s color.

  8. The toy is hers.

Answer Key

Oyage nama Rani.  

ඔයාගේ නම රනි.


Mage nama ______.  

මගේ නම ______.

Ape lamaya. 

අපේ ළමයා.

Balage sellang badu.  

බලාගේ සෙල්ලං බඩු.

Ogollange appel. 

ඔගොල්ලන්ගේ ඇපල්.

Egollange gedara.  

එගොල්ලන්ගේ ගෙදර.

Sellang baduwe pāṭa. 

සෙල්ලං බඩුවේ පාට.

Sellang baduwa eyāge. 

සෙල්ලං බඩුව ඒයාගේ.

 



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