Subject Pronouns (Me and You): Sinhala from Zero (Chapter 1)

Ayubowan! Hello everyone!

Let’s get started on our very grammar lesson of Sinhala: Pronouns!

Pronouns are words that replace nouns (a person/place/ or thing) in a sentence. In Sinhala, there are multiple types of pronouns. Let’s first learn about subject pronouns. These are pronouns that replace the subject of a sentence. 

For example, if you said, “Mary walks her dog,” you can also say, “She walks her dog.” They mean the same thing!

Take a look at this table here for the subject pronouns in Sinhala:

	Singular	Plural
1st Person	I = Mama /මම	We = Api /අපි
2nd Person	You = Oyaa /ඔයා	You = Ogollo /ඔගොල්ලො
3rd Person  (Living)	He/She = Eya /එයා	They = Egollo /එගොල්ලො
3rd Person  (Non-living)	It = Ēka/ඒක	They (non-living) = Ēvā/ඒවා

Knowing this, we can start to form our first sentence:

I am Dilshan. 

Mama Dilshan. 

මම ඩිල්ෂාන්. 

It is a flower.  

Ēka malak.

ඒක මලක්.

You can use this structure when you want to say: Noun is/are Noun. 

Exercises: 

It’s your turn to practice! The answer key is at the end of the lesson!

1. Let’s say you are meeting someone for the first time. How do you tell them your name?

2. Translate the following phrases: 

*Hint

- An apple = æpal geḍiyak/ඇපල් ගෙඩියක්

- Apples =  æpal/ඇපල්

- A child = lamaya/ළමයා

- Children = lamayi/ළමයි

2.1 It is an apple.

2.2 They are apples. 

2.3 She is a child.

2.4 They are children.

Answer Key:
1.
Mama _____.
මම _____.

2.1
Ēka æpal geḍiyak.
ඒක ඇපල් ගෙඩියක්.

2.2
Ēvā æpal
ඒවා ඇපල්.

2.3
Eya lamaya.
එයා ළමයා.

2.4
Egollo lamayi.
එගොල්ලො ළමයි.

That's all for this lesson! Stay tuned for the next one on November 14th at 12AM GMT!