For autodidact students of Sinhala, the first thing to know about "the" is that Sinhala has no separate word for it. Sinhala works the other way round from English: it marks "a", and leaves "the" unmarked. The plain singular form of a noun is definite. To make it indefinite, a suffix is added: -ක් (-k) on most nouns, -එක් (-ek) on male persons and animals.
- පොත (pota): the book → පොතක් (potak): a book - ගම (gama): the village → ගමක් (gamak): a village - මිනිසා (minisā): the man → මිනිසෙක් (minisek): a man - ළමයා (ḷamayā): the child → ළමයෙක් (ḷamayek): a child
The one place where "the" can be seen is the long vowel -ා (-ā) at the end of male and animal nouns. The stem of "man" is මිනිස් (minis-): with -ා it is "the man", මිනිසා; with -එක් it is "a man", මිනිසෙක්. So too බල්ලා (ballā), "the dog", and බල්ලෙක් (ballek), "a dog". This -ා is the headword of the lesson: in Sinhala it is as close as the language comes to a "the".
Female nouns and things have their own definite endings, often -ය (-ya) or -ිය (-iya): දැරිය (dæriya), "the girl"; මේසය (mēsaya), "the table"; ලිපිය (lipiya), "the letter". Their indefinite simply adds -ක්: දැරියක් (dæriyak), මේසයක් (mēsayak).
Only the singular makes this distinction. The plural has one form for both: පොත් (pot) is "books" or "the books", and the context decides.
Things of which there is only one need no marking at all: හිරු (hiru), "the sun". And a noun named for its whole kind also takes the plain form, as English does in "the dog is a faithful animal".
This course teaches standard written Sinhala, the language of books, newspapers and official writing. Its verbs agree with their subjects: ඔහු ගියේය (ohu giyēya), "he went", but ඇය ගියාය (æya giyāya), "she went". Everyday speech says ගියා (giyā) for both. Section E says more about the two forms of the language.
Script note: -ා is the vowel sign ā, written as a hook (ා) after the consonant it follows: ස (sa) + ා = සා (sā), so මිනිසා is ම + ි, න + ි, ස + ා. The indefinite -ක් is the consonant ක (ka) with the hal kirīma ්, the stroke that removes the inherent vowel: ක් is a bare k.
Key Takeaways: - Sinhala has no word for "the"; the plain singular noun is already definite - "A" is a suffix: -ක් (-k) for things and females, -එක් (-ek) for male persons and animals - Male and animal nouns show "the" with -ා (-ā): මිනිසා, ළමයා, බල්ලා - Many female nouns and things end in -ය or -ිය in the definite: දැරිය, මේසය - The plural has no "a" or "the": පොත් is "books" or "the books" - Written Sinhala makes its verbs agree with the subject; speech does not
✾ ❦ ✾ ❦ ✾ ✾ ❦ ✾ ❦ ✾ ✾ ❦ ✾ ❦ ✾
1.1a පොත the-book අලුත්ය is-new
1.1b pota (POH-tuh) book.DEF alutya (A-lut-yuh) new-COP
1.2a ළමයා the-child කුඩාය is-small
1.2b ḷamayā (LA-muh-yaa) child-DEF kuḍāya (KU-daa-yuh) small-COP
1.3a බල්ලා the-dog කොහිද where-is
1.3b ballā (BAL-laa) dog-DEF kohida (KO-hi-duh) where-Q
1.4a ගඟ the-river විශාලය is-big
1.4b gan̆ga (GA-nguh) river.DEF viśālaya (VI-shaa-luh-yuh) big-COP
1.5a මිනිසා the-man මාගේ my පියාය is-father
1.5b minisā (MI-ni-saa) man-DEF māgē (MAA-gay) I-GEN piyāya (PI-yaa-yuh) father-COP
1.6a දැරිය the-girl උදේ in-the-morning පාසලට to-school ගියාය went
1.6b dæriya (DA-ri-yuh) girl-DEF udē (U-day) morning pāsalaṭa (PAA-suh-luh-tuh) school-DAT giyāya (GI-yaa-yuh) go-PAST.3SG.FEM
1.7a ගුරුවරයාගේ the-teacher's පොත the-book මේසය the-table මත on ඇත is
1.7b guruvarayāgē (GU-ru-wuh-ruh-yaa-gay) teacher-DEF-GEN pota (POH-tuh) book.DEF mēsaya (MAY-suh-yuh) table-DEF mata (MA-tuh) on æta (A-tuh) exist.INAN
1.8a මම I පොතක් a-book මිලදී by-purchase ගතිමි took පොත the-book ඉතා very හොඳය is-good
1.8b mama (MA-muh) I potak (POH-tak) book-INDEF miladī (MI-luh-dee) by-purchase gatimi (GA-ti-mi) take-PAST.1SG pota (POH-tuh) book.DEF itā (I-taa) very hon̆daya (HO-nduh-yuh) good-COP
1.9a හිරු the-sun නැගෙනහිරින් from-the-east උදා rising වෙයි becomes
1.9b hiru (HI-ru) sun nægenahirin (NA-ge-nuh-hi-rin) east-ABL udā (U-daa) dawn veyi (WE-yi) become-PRES.3SG
1.10a ළමයා the-child ගස the-tree යට under මලක් a-flower දුටුවේය saw
1.10b ḷamayā (LA-muh-yaa) child-DEF gasa (GA-suh) tree.DEF yaṭa (YA-tuh) under malak (MA-lak) flower-INDEF duṭuvēya (DU-tu-way-yuh) see-PAST.3SG.MASC
1.11a මිනිසෙක් a-man ගමට to-the-village පැමිණියේය came
1.11b minisek (MI-ni-sek) man-INDEF gamaṭa (GA-muh-tuh) village-DAT pæmiṇiyēya (PA-mi-ni-yay-yuh) arrive-PAST.3SG.MASC
1.12a ගමට to-the-village පැමිණි who-came මිනිසා the-man ගුරුවරයෙකි is-a-teacher
1.12b gamaṭa (GA-muh-tuh) village-DAT pæmiṇi (PA-mi-ni) arrive-PAST.ADJ minisā (MI-ni-saa) man-DEF guruvarayeki (GU-ru-wuh-ruh-ye-ki) teacher-INDEF.COP
1.13a කාන්තාව the-woman ගඟෙන් from-the-river දිය water ගෙන taking ආවාය came
1.13b kāntāva (KAAN-taa-wuh) woman.DEF gan̆gen (GA-ngen) river-ABL diya (DI-yuh) water gena (GE-nuh) take-CONV āvāya (AA-waa-yuh) come-PAST.3SG.FEM
1.14a ගමේ of-the-village පාසල the-school ගඟ the-river අසල near පිහිටා situated ඇත is
1.14b gamē (GA-may) village-GEN pāsala (PAA-suh-luh) school.DEF gan̆ga (GA-nguh) river.DEF asala (A-suh-luh) near pihiṭā (PI-hi-taa) be-situated-CONV æta (A-tuh) exist.INAN
1.15a ගුරුවරයා the-teacher ළමයාට to-the-child අලුත් new පොතක් a-book දුන්නේය gave
1.15b guruvarayā (GU-ru-wuh-ruh-yaa) teacher-DEF ḷamayāṭa (LA-muh-yaa-tuh) child-DEF-DAT alut (A-lut) new potak (POH-tak) book-INDEF dunnēya (DUN-nay-yuh) give-PAST.3SG.MASC
✾ ❦ ✾ ❦ ✾ ✾ ❦ ✾ ❦ ✾ ✾ ❦ ✾ ❦ ✾
1.1 පොත අලුත්ය. (pota alutya.) "The book is new." 1.2 ළමයා කුඩාය. (ḷamayā kuḍāya.) "The child is small." 1.3 බල්ලා කොහිද? (ballā kohida?) "Where is the dog?" 1.4 ගඟ විශාලය. (gan̆ga viśālaya.) "The river is big." 1.5 මිනිසා මාගේ පියාය. (minisā māgē piyāya.) "The man is my father." 1.6 දැරිය උදේ පාසලට ගියාය. (dæriya udē pāsalaṭa giyāya.) "The girl went to school in the morning." 1.7 ගුරුවරයාගේ පොත මේසය මත ඇත. (guruvarayāgē pota mēsaya mata æta.) "The teacher's book is on the table." 1.8 මම පොතක් මිලදී ගතිමි. පොත ඉතා හොඳය. (mama potak miladī gatimi. pota itā hon̆daya.) "I bought a book. The book is very good." 1.9 හිරු නැගෙනහිරින් උදා වෙයි. (hiru nægenahirin udā veyi.) "The sun rises in the east." 1.10 ළමයා ගස යට මලක් දුටුවේය. (ḷamayā gasa yaṭa malak duṭuvēya.) "The child saw a flower under the tree." 1.11 මිනිසෙක් ගමට පැමිණියේය. (minisek gamaṭa pæmiṇiyēya.) "A man came to the village." 1.12 ගමට පැමිණි මිනිසා ගුරුවරයෙකි. (gamaṭa pæmiṇi minisā guruvarayeki.) "The man who came to the village is a teacher." 1.13 කාන්තාව ගඟෙන් දිය ගෙන ආවාය. (kāntāva gan̆gen diya gena āvāya.) "The woman brought water from the river." 1.14 ගමේ පාසල ගඟ අසල පිහිටා ඇත. (gamē pāsala gan̆ga asala pihiṭā æta.) "The village school stands near the river." 1.15 ගුරුවරයා ළමයාට අලුත් පොතක් දුන්නේය. (guruvarayā ḷamayāṭa alut potak dunnēya.) "The teacher gave the child a new book."
✾ ❦ ✾ ❦ ✾ ✾ ❦ ✾ ❦ ✾ ✾ ❦ ✾ ❦ ✾
1.1 පොත අලුත්ය. 1.2 ළමයා කුඩාය. 1.3 බල්ලා කොහිද? 1.4 ගඟ විශාලය. 1.5 මිනිසා මාගේ පියාය. 1.6 දැරිය උදේ පාසලට ගියාය. 1.7 ගුරුවරයාගේ පොත මේසය මත ඇත. 1.8 මම පොතක් මිලදී ගතිමි. පොත ඉතා හොඳය. 1.9 හිරු නැගෙනහිරින් උදා වෙයි. 1.10 ළමයා ගස යට මලක් දුටුවේය. 1.11 මිනිසෙක් ගමට පැමිණියේය. 1.12 ගමට පැමිණි මිනිසා ගුරුවරයෙකි. 1.13 කාන්තාව ගඟෙන් දිය ගෙන ආවාය. 1.14 ගමේ පාසල ගඟ අසල පිහිටා ඇත. 1.15 ගුරුවරයා ළමයාට අලුත් පොතක් දුන්නේය.
✾ ❦ ✾ ❦ ✾ ✾ ❦ ✾ ❦ ✾ ✾ ❦ ✾ ❦ ✾
These are the grammar rules for expressing "the" in Sinhala.
There is no article; the plain singular is definite. A Sinhala noun in its ordinary singular form means "the": පොත (the book), ගම (the village), ගඟ (the river). "A" is the marked form, made with a suffix: - -ක් (-k) for things and for most female nouns: පොතක් (a book), ගමක් (a village), මලක් (a flower), මේසයක් (a table), දැරියක් (a girl), කාන්තාවක් (a woman) - -එක් (-ek) for male persons and for animals: මිනිසෙක් (a man), ළමයෙක් (a child), බල්ලෙක් (a dog), ගුරුවරයෙක් (a teacher)
The visible "the": -ා on male and animal nouns. Nouns for men and animals end in -ා (-ā) in the definite singular; in the indefinite, -එක් takes its place: - මිනිසා (the man), මිනිසෙක් (a man) - ළමයා (the child), ළමයෙක් (a child) - බල්ලා (the dog), බල්ලෙක් (a dog) - ගුරුවරයා (the teacher), ගුරුවරයෙක් (a teacher)
Female nouns and things. Many end in -ය or -ිය in the definite singular, and keep it before -ක්: දැරිය / දැරියක් (the girl / a girl), මේසය / මේසයක් (the table / a table), ලිපිය / ලිපියක් (the letter / a letter). Others end in a plain vowel: පොත / පොතක්, ගම / ගමක්, කාන්තාව / කාන්තාවක්.
The plural makes no distinction. පොත් (books, the books), මල් (flowers, the flowers), මිනිස්සු (men, the men). The context says which is meant.
"A" first, "the" after. Example 1.8 shows the usual pattern of a story or a conversation: a thing is brought in with -ක් and named again in the plain form. මම පොතක් මිලදී ගතිමි. පොත ඉතා හොඳය. 1.11 and 1.12 do the same with a man: මිනිසෙක් (a man) arrives, and then he is මිනිසා (the man).
Case endings follow the noun. The definite or indefinite form comes first, and the case ending is added to it: - Dative -ට (-ṭa), "to": පාසලට (to the school, 1.6), ගමට (to the village, 1.11), ළමයාට (to the child, 1.15) - Genitive of persons -ගේ (-gē), "of": ගුරුවරයාගේ (the teacher's, 1.7); with the pronoun, මාගේ (my, 1.5) - Genitive and locative of things -ඒ (-ē): ගමේ (of the village, 1.14), ගසේ (on the tree, 1.20) - Ablative of things -එන් (-en), "from": ගඟෙන් (from the river, 1.13), නිවසින් (from the house, 1.21) with -ඉන් after some nouns - The indefinite takes the same endings: ගමක (in a village, 1.16), දණ්ඩකින් (with a stick, 1.25)
"Is a …": -ක් + ඉ. To say that something is "a" something, written Sinhala joins the indefinite to the copula -ඉ (-i): ගුරුවරයා + එක් + ඉ = ගුරුවරයෙකි (is a teacher, 1.12); පොතකි (it is a book). With a definite noun or an adjective, the written copula is -ය (-ya): පියාය (is the father, 1.5), අලුත්ය (is new, 1.1). Many writers separate it: පියා ය, අලුත් ය. Both spellings are correct; this course writes it joined.
Where something is: ඇත. ඇත (æta), "there is, is", is used for things: පොත මේසය මත ඇත (1.7). For people and animals written Sinhala uses සිටී or a form of සිටිනවා (1.16).
The written verb agrees with its subject. This is the feature that most separates written from spoken Sinhala. In the past tense: - I: -මි (-mi): මම … ගතිමි (I took, 1.8) - he, and male nouns: -ඒය (-ēya): දුටුවේය (saw, 1.10), පැමිණියේය (came, 1.11), දුන්නේය (gave, 1.15) - she, and female nouns: -ආය (-āya): ගියාය (went, 1.6), ආවාය (came, 1.13) - they: -හ (-ha): වූහ (became, 1.30) In the present, the third person singular ends in -යි (-yi): වෙයි (becomes, 1.9). So the verb tells you whether the subject is a man or a woman even where no pronoun is used: in 1.6 the girl went, ගියාය; in 1.11 the man came, පැමිණියේය.
No marking where there is only one. හිරු (the sun, 1.9) is used in the plain form like any definite noun; it never takes -ක් in ordinary use.
Common Mistakes: - Looking for a word for "the". There is none; the plain noun is "the". - Using එක (eka, "one") as an article. එක පොත means "one book", not "the book" or "a book". "A book" is පොතක්. - Using -ක් with a male or animal noun: \*මිනිසක් is not the nominative; say මිනිසෙක් (a man). - Leaving off -ා on a male or animal noun: \*මිනිස් ගියේය is wrong; say මිනිසා ගියේය (the man went). - Adding -ක් to a plural: \*පොත්ක් does not exist. පොත් is "books" whether definite or not. - Mixing written and spoken forms in one sentence. ළමයා ගියා is correct speech; ළමයා ගියේය is correct writing; do not write the one where the other is expected.
✾ ❦ ✾ ❦ ✾ ✾ ❦ ✾ ❦ ✾ ✾ ❦ ✾ ❦ ✾
Sinhala lives in two forms. ලිඛිත භාෂාව (likhita bhāṣāva), the written language, is used in books, newspapers, official letters, the news on radio and television, and school examinations. කථන භාෂාව (kathana bhāṣāva), the spoken language, is used in conversation everywhere, in songs and films, and in the dialogue of modern novels. A Sri Lankan child grows up speaking the one and learns the other at school, and educated speakers move between them all day. The definite and indefinite forms of this lesson belong to both; what changes most is the verb. Writing says ළමයා පාසලට ගියේය; speech says ළමයා ඉස්කෝලේ ගියා, with a different word for school as well.
Some nouns also differ between the two. "The man" in writing is මිනිසා; in speech it is usually මිනිහා (minihā), and "a man" is මිනිහෙක් (minihek). "The tree" is ගස in writing and ගහ (gaha) in speech. Both forms appear in the proverbs of Section F.
The distinction between male and female nouns is strongest in the written language. In speech, many speakers use -එක් for women as well as men, as in ගෑනු කෙනෙක් (a woman), and the verb has no gender at all.
The -ා ending of male and animal nouns is plain and neutral; it is not disrespectful in itself. Respect is shown instead by the choice of word and by honorific forms: a teacher is ගුරුවරයා (the teacher), ගුරුතුමා (the honoured teacher), or in speech සර් (sir). A monk is හාමුදුරුවෝ (the venerable monk), a form you will meet in later lessons.
Folk tales in Sinhala begin much as English ones do, with an indefinite: එක් ගමක … (in a certain village …), and then name each person again in the plain definite form. The Genre Section follows that pattern.
✾ ❦ ✾ ❦ ✾ ✾ ❦ ✾ ❦ ✾ ✾ ❦ ✾ ❦ ✾
Two traditional Sinhala proverbs (ප්‍රස්තාව පිරුළු, prastāva piruḷu), from the common stock of oral tradition; anonymous
The first is in the spoken language, the second in the old written language. Both use the plain definite form of the noun where English would say "the".
ගහෙන් වැටුණු මිනිහට ගොනා ඇන්නා වගේ පිරුණු කළේ දිය නොසැලේ
F-A: Interlinear
F.1a ගහෙන් from-the-tree වැටුණු fallen මිනිහට to-the-man ගොනා the-bull ඇන්නා gored වගේ like
F.1b gahen (GA-hen) tree-ABL væṭuṇu (WA-tu-nu) fall-PAST.ADJ minihaṭa (MI-ni-huh-tuh) man.DEF-DAT gonā (GO-naa) bull-DEF ænnā (AN-naa) gore-PAST vagē (WA-gay) like
F.2a පිරුණු filled කළේ in-the-pot දිය water නොසැලේ does-not-shake
F.2b piruṇu (PI-ru-nu) be-filled-PAST.ADJ kaḷē (KA-lay) pot-LOC diya (DI-yuh) water nosælē (NO-sa-lay) NEG-shake-PRES.3SG
F-B: Original and Translation
ගහෙන් වැටුණු මිනිහට ගොනා ඇන්නා වගේ / පිරුණු කළේ දිය නොසැලේ
"Like the bull goring the man who fell from the tree." / "In the full pot the water does not slosh." (Translation: Latinum Institute.)
F-C: Original
ගහෙන් වැටුණු මිනිහට ගොනා ඇන්නා වගේ පිරුණු කළේ දිය නොසැලේ
F-D: Grammar and Literary Commentary
The first proverb is said when misfortune falls on someone already in trouble: the man has fallen from the tree, and now the bull gores him as he lies there. English says "it never rains but it pours". It is in the spoken language, and so its nouns are spoken forms: ගහ (gaha) for written ගස, "tree", and මිනිහා (minihā) for written මිනිසා, "man". Its verb ඇන්නා (ænnā), "gored", has no gender ending, as spoken verbs never do. The collections print it with small differences of spelling (වැටුන for වැටුණු, වාගේ for වගේ); the wording is the same. It is still current: a headline in the Sri Lankan daily Lankadeepa quoted it of a government, "a government that gores the man who fell from the tree".
Look at the nouns. ගොනා (gonā), "the bull", has the definite -ා of an animal noun, and මිනිහට (minihaṭa) is the definite මිනිහා with the dative -ට, "to the man". English might say "like a bull goring a man", but the proverb, like a story told many times, speaks of "the" bull and "the" man: they are the familiar figures of the tale. The relative clause comes before the noun with no word for "who": ගහෙන් වැටුණු මිනිහා is "the from-the-tree-fallen man", built exactly as ගමට පැමිණි මිනිසා, "the man who came to the village", in 1.12.
The second proverb is said of the learned and the wise: a full pot does not slosh when it is moved, while a half-empty one does. Those who know much make little noise. It is in the written language. කළේ (kaḷē) is the locative of කළය (kaḷaya), "the pot", with the ending -ඒ of 1.14 and 1.20. පිරුණු (piruṇu), "filled", stands before the noun as වැටුණු does in the first proverb. දිය (diya) is the written and poetic word for water; it is the word used in 1.13. නොසැලේ (nosælē) is the verb සැලේ, "shakes, is stirred", with the negative prefix නො- (no-), which the written language attaches directly to the verb. Here again "the pot" is any pot that is full: the plain definite form names the kind, as "the" does in English "the early bird catches the worm".
✾ ❦ ✾ ❦ ✾ ✾ ❦ ✾ ❦ ✾ ✾ ❦ ✾ ❦ ✾
A short tale in the written past tense, of the kind found in school readers. Each person and thing is brought in with "a" (-ක් / -එක්) and named again in the plain form, "the". Watch the verbs too: -ඒය for the old man, -ආය for the girl.
1.16a එක් one ගමක in-a-village මහලු old මිනිසෙක් a-man සිටියේය was
1.16b ek (EK) one gamaka (GA-muh-kuh) village-INDEF.LOC mahalu (MA-huh-lu) old minisek (MI-ni-sek) man-INDEF siṭiyēya (SI-ti-yay-yuh) be-PAST.3SG.MASC
1.17a මිනිසාගේ of-the-man නිවස the-house අසල near අඹ mango ගසක් a-tree තිබුණි was
1.17b minisāgē (MI-ni-saa-gay) man-DEF-GEN nivasa (NI-wuh-suh) house.DEF asala (A-suh-luh) near am̆ba (A-mbuh) mango gasak (GA-sak) tree-INDEF tibuṇi (TI-bu-ni) exist-PAST.3SG.INAN
1.18a ගස the-tree ඉතා very පැරණි old විය was
1.18b gasa (GA-suh) tree.DEF itā (I-taa) very pæraṇi (PA-ruh-ni) old viya (VI-yuh) become-PAST.3SG
1.19a දිනක් one-day දැරියක් a-girl ගස the-tree යටට to-under පැමිණියාය came
1.19b dinak (DI-nak) day-INDEF dæriyak (DA-ri-yak) girl-INDEF gasa (GA-suh) tree.DEF yaṭaṭa (YA-tuh-tuh) under-DAT pæmiṇiyāya (PA-mi-ni-yaa-yuh) arrive-PAST.3SG.FEM
1.20a දැරිය the-girl ගසේ on-the-tree ඇති being අඹයක් a-mango දෙස towards බලා looking සිටියාය stood
1.20b dæriya (DA-ri-yuh) girl-DEF gasē (GA-say) tree-LOC æti (A-ti) exist-ADJ am̆bayak (A-mbuh-yak) mango-INDEF desa (DE-suh) towards balā (BA-laa) look-CONV siṭiyāya (SI-ti-yaa-yuh) be-PAST.3SG.FEM
1.21a මහලු old මිනිසා the-man නිවසින් from-the-house එළියට outside ආවේය came
1.21b mahalu (MA-huh-lu) old minisā (MI-ni-saa) man-DEF nivasin (NI-wuh-sin) house-ABL eḷiyaṭa (E-li-yuh-tuh) outside-DAT āvēya (AA-way-yuh) come-PAST.3SG.MASC
1.22a මිනිසා the-man දැරියට to-the-girl කතා speech කළේය did
1.22b minisā (MI-ni-saa) man-DEF dæriyaṭa (DA-ri-yuh-tuh) girl-DEF-DAT katā (KA-taa) talk kaḷēya (KA-lay-yuh) do-PAST.3SG.MASC
1.23a ඔබට to-you අඹයක් a-mango අවශ්‍යද is-needed යි QUOTE ඔහු he ඇසුවේය asked
1.23b obaṭa (O-buh-tuh) you-DAT am̆bayak (A-mbuh-yak) mango-INDEF avaśyada (A-wuh-shyuh-duh) needed-Q yi (YI) QUOTE ohu (O-hu) he æsuvēya (A-su-way-yuh) ask-PAST.3SG.MASC
1.24a දැරිය the-girl සිනාසුණාය smiled
1.24b dæriya (DA-ri-yuh) girl-DEF sināsuṇāya (SI-naa-su-naa-yuh) smile-PAST.3SG.FEM
1.25a මිනිසා the-man දිගු long දණ්ඩකින් with-a-stick අඹය the-mango කඩා plucking ඇයට to-her දුන්නේය gave
1.25b minisā (MI-ni-saa) man-DEF digu (DI-gu) long daṇḍakin (DAN-duh-kin) stick-INDEF-INSTR am̆baya (A-mbuh-yuh) mango-DEF kaḍā (KA-daa) pluck-CONV æyaṭa (A-yuh-tuh) she-DAT dunnēya (DUN-nay-yuh) give-PAST.3SG.MASC
1.26a අඹය the-mango ඉතා very පැණිරස sweet විය was
1.26b am̆baya (A-mbuh-yuh) mango-DEF itā (I-taa) very pæṇirasa (PA-ni-ruh-suh) sweet viya (VI-yuh) become-PAST.3SG
1.27a දැරිය the-girl මිනිසාට to-the-man ස්තුති thanks කළාය did
1.27b dæriya (DA-ri-yuh) girl-DEF minisāṭa (MI-ni-saa-tuh) man-DEF-DAT stuti (STU-ti) thanks kaḷāya (KA-laa-yuh) do-PAST.3SG.FEM
1.28a ඊළඟ next දිනයේ on-the-day දැරිය the-girl මලක් a-flower රැගෙන carrying පැමිණියාය came
1.28b īḷan̆ga (EE-luh-nguh) next dinayē (DI-nuh-yay) day-LOC dæriya (DA-ri-yuh) girl-DEF malak (MA-lak) flower-INDEF rægena (RA-ge-nuh) carry-CONV pæmiṇiyāya (PA-mi-ni-yaa-yuh) arrive-PAST.3SG.FEM
1.29a ඇය she මල the-flower මිනිසාට to-the-man දුන්නාය gave
1.29b æya (A-yuh) she mala (MA-luh) flower.DEF minisāṭa (MI-ni-saa-tuh) man-DEF-DAT dunnāya (DUN-naa-yuh) give-PAST.3SG.FEM
1.30a එදින that-day සිට from මහලු old මිනිසා the-man සහ and දැරිය the-girl මිතුරෝ friends වූහ became
1.30b edina (E-di-nuh) that-day siṭa (SI-tuh) from mahalu (MA-huh-lu) old minisā (MI-ni-saa) man-DEF saha (SA-huh) and dæriya (DA-ri-yuh) girl-DEF miturō (MI-tu-roh) friend-PL vūha (VOO-huh) become-PAST.3PL
1.16 එක් ගමක මහලු මිනිසෙක් සිටියේය. (ek gamaka mahalu minisek siṭiyēya.) "In a certain village there lived an old man." 1.17 මිනිසාගේ නිවස අසල අඹ ගසක් තිබුණි. (minisāgē nivasa asala am̆ba gasak tibuṇi.) "Near the man's house there was a mango tree." 1.18 ගස ඉතා පැරණි විය. (gasa itā pæraṇi viya.) "The tree was very old." 1.19 දිනක් දැරියක් ගස යටට පැමිණියාය. (dinak dæriyak gasa yaṭaṭa pæmiṇiyāya.) "One day a girl came under the tree." 1.20 දැරිය ගසේ ඇති අඹයක් දෙස බලා සිටියාය. (dæriya gasē æti am̆bayak desa balā siṭiyāya.) "The girl stood looking at a mango on the tree." 1.21 මහලු මිනිසා නිවසින් එළියට ආවේය. (mahalu minisā nivasin eḷiyaṭa āvēya.) "The old man came out of the house." 1.22 මිනිසා දැරියට කතා කළේය. (minisā dæriyaṭa katā kaḷēya.) "The man spoke to the girl." 1.23 "ඔබට අඹයක් අවශ්‍යද?" යි ඔහු ඇසුවේය. ("obaṭa am̆bayak avaśyada?" yi ohu æsuvēya.) "'Would you like a mango?' he asked." 1.24 දැරිය සිනාසුණාය. (dæriya sināsuṇāya.) "The girl smiled." 1.25 මිනිසා දිගු දණ්ඩකින් අඹය කඩා ඇයට දුන්නේය. (minisā digu daṇḍakin am̆baya kaḍā æyaṭa dunnēya.) "The man knocked the mango down with a long stick and gave it to her." 1.26 අඹය ඉතා පැණිරස විය. (am̆baya itā pæṇirasa viya.) "The mango was very sweet." 1.27 දැරිය මිනිසාට ස්තුති කළාය. (dæriya minisāṭa stuti kaḷāya.) "The girl thanked the man." 1.28 ඊළඟ දිනයේ දැරිය මලක් රැගෙන පැමිණියාය. (īḷan̆ga dinayē dæriya malak rægena pæmiṇiyāya.) "The next day the girl came back, bringing a flower." 1.29 ඇය මල මිනිසාට දුන්නාය. (æya mala minisāṭa dunnāya.) "She gave the flower to the man." 1.30 එදින සිට මහලු මිනිසා සහ දැරිය මිතුරෝ වූහ. (edina siṭa mahalu minisā saha dæriya miturō vūha.) "From that day on, the old man and the girl were friends."
1.16 එක් ගමක මහලු මිනිසෙක් සිටියේය. 1.17 මිනිසාගේ නිවස අසල අඹ ගසක් තිබුණි. 1.18 ගස ඉතා පැරණි විය. 1.19 දිනක් දැරියක් ගස යටට පැමිණියාය. 1.20 දැරිය ගසේ ඇති අඹයක් දෙස බලා සිටියාය. 1.21 මහලු මිනිසා නිවසින් එළියට ආවේය. 1.22 මිනිසා දැරියට කතා කළේය. 1.23 "ඔබට අඹයක් අවශ්‍යද?" යි ඔහු ඇසුවේය. 1.24 දැරිය සිනාසුණාය. 1.25 මිනිසා දිගු දණ්ඩකින් අඹය කඩා ඇයට දුන්නේය. 1.26 අඹය ඉතා පැණිරස විය. 1.27 දැරිය මිනිසාට ස්තුති කළාය. 1.28 ඊළඟ දිනයේ දැරිය මලක් රැගෙන පැමිණියාය. 1.29 ඇය මල මිනිසාට දුන්නාය. 1.30 එදින සිට මහලු මිනිසා සහ දැරිය මිතුරෝ වූහ.
"A" first, "the" after. Every new person or thing in the story arrives with "a" and is named again in the plain form: - මහලු මිනිසෙක් (an old man, 1.16) → මිනිසා (the man, 1.17, 1.22, 1.25), මහලු මිනිසා (the old man, 1.21, 1.30) - අඹ ගසක් (a mango tree, 1.17) → ගස (the tree, 1.18, 1.19), ගසේ (on the tree, 1.20) - දැරියක් (a girl, 1.19) → දැරිය (the girl, 1.20 onward) - අඹයක් (a mango, 1.20, 1.23) → අඹය (the mango, 1.25, 1.26) - මලක් (a flower, 1.28) → මල (the flower, 1.29) The man's change is in the ending: -එක් becomes -ා. The girl, the mango and the flower simply drop -ක්.
One mango, two descriptions (1.23–1.25). The old man offers අඹයක්, "a mango": any one of the fruit on the tree. When he knocks it down and hands it over, it is අඹය, "the mango", the one they are both looking at.
The indefinite in other cases. -ක් takes case endings like any noun: ගමක (in a village, 1.16, locative), දණ්ඩකින් (with a stick, 1.25, instrumental). දිනක් (1.19), "one day", is simply "a day" used as a time expression.
Being and existing. සිටියේය (1.16) and සිටියාය (1.20) are the past of සිටිනවා, "to be, to stay", used for people and animals. තිබුණි (1.17) is the past of the verb used for things: the tree "was there". විය (1.18, 1.26), "became, was", links a noun to a description in the past.
Gender in the verb. The old man's verbs end in -ඒය: සිටියේය, ආවේය, කළේය, ඇසුවේය, දුන්නේය. The girl's end in -ආය: පැමිණියාය, සිටියාය, සිනාසුණාය, කළාය, දුන්නාය. Compare දුන්නේය (he gave, 1.25) with දුන්නාය (she gave, 1.29). With two subjects in 1.30 the verb is plural, වූහ (they became), and the noun is plural too: මිතුරෝ (friends). The plural has no "a" or "the".
Verbs joined in a chain. බලා සිටියාය (stood looking, 1.20), කඩා … දුන්නේය (plucked … and gave, 1.25), රැගෙන පැමිණියාය (came bringing, 1.28): the first verb takes the -ආ or -එන form and the last one carries the tense and the person.
Quoting: -යි (1.23). The written language closes a quotation with යි (yi) before the verb of saying: "ඔබට අඹයක් අවශ්‍යද?" යි ඔහු ඇසුවේය. The question itself ends in -ද (-da): අවශ්‍යද, "is it needed?", as කොහිද (where?) in 1.3.
✾ ❦ ✾ ❦ ✾ ✾ ❦ ✾ ❦ ✾ ✾ ❦ ✾ ❦ ✾
The romanisation in this course is ISO 15919, the standard scholarly system for the scripts of South Asia; it writes the letters, not the sounds. In it ā, ī, ū, ē, ō are long vowels; æ is the vowel of English "cat" (ǣ when long); ṭ and ḍ are retroflex, with the tongue curled back; t and d are dental, with the tongue against the teeth; ṇ and ḷ are written letters now pronounced as plain n and l; ś is "sh"; n̆g, n̆d, n̆ḍ and m̆b are the prenasalised consonants. In the respellings, capitals mark the first syllable, where Sinhala puts a light stress, "uh" is the short neutral vowel of English "about", and "aa", "ay", "ee" and "oh" are long vowels. The respellings do not distinguish dental from retroflex t and d; listen for the difference.
-ා (-ā) — IPA: /aː/ — A long "a", as in English "father". It carries the definite of male and animal nouns: මිනිසා /minisaː/. -ක් (-k) — IPA: /k/ — A bare k, without the inherent vowel: පොතක් (potak), "a book". පොත (pota) — IPA: /potə/ — The written a of a non-first syllable is usually reduced to the short neutral vowel /ə/. The ත is dental: the tongue touches the back of the upper teeth. ගම (gama) — IPA: /ɡamə/ — The same: the first a is full, the second reduced. ගඟ (gan̆ga) — IPA: /ɡaᵑɡə/ — ඟ is a prenasalised g: a very short "n" slides into the g within one consonant. It is not the "ng-g" of English "finger", which is longer. අඹ (am̆ba) — IPA: /aᵐbə/ — ඹ is the prenasalised b, a brief "m" running into b. දැරිය (dæriya) — IPA: /dæɾijə/ — ඇ is /æ/, as in "cat". The ර is a single tap, as in Spanish "pero". ඇත (æta) — IPA: /ætə/ — Again /æ/. පාසලට (pāsalaṭa) — IPA: /paːsələʈə/ — ට is retroflex: curl the tip of the tongue back before releasing it. ළ (ḷa) — IPA: /l/ — ළ was once a retroflex l; in standard modern pronunciation it is said as plain /l/, so ළමයා begins like ලමයා. In the same way ණ is said as plain /n/. කාන්තාව (kāntāva) — IPA: /kaːntaːʋə/ — ව is between English v and w, with the lips only lightly touching. මේසය (mēsaya) — IPA: /meːsəjə/ — ඒ is a long pure "e", as in "café" held longer; it does not glide to "i" as English "may" does.
✾ ❦ ✾ ❦ ✾ ✾ ❦ ✾ ❦ ✾ ✾ ❦ ✾ ❦ ✾
---
Course Index: [latinum.substack.com/p/index](https://latinum.substack.com/p/index)