For autodidact students of Sinhala, the first thing to know about "be" is that Sinhala has no single verb for it. English uses one verb for every kind of being: "the book is new", "the book is on the table", "he is a teacher", "there is a school". Written Sinhala chooses a different word according to what is being said:
- What something is or is like (the copula): the ending -ය (-ya), joined to the word. පොත අලුත්ය (pota alutya), "the book is new". After the indefinite -ක් or -එක්, the ending is -ි (-i): ගුරුවරයෙකි (guruvarayeki), "he is a teacher". - That a thing exists, is somewhere, or belongs to someone: ඇත (æta), the headword of this lesson. පාසලක් ඇත (pāsalak æta), "there is a school". - That a person or an animal exists or is somewhere: සිටී (siṭī). ගුරුවරයෙක් සිටී (guruvarayek siṭī), "there is a teacher". - That something becomes, or was: වේ (vē), past විය (viya). පොත ලස්සන විය (pota lassana viya), "the book was beautiful".
The list of headwords gives "be" as a copula and a word of existence. Sinhala shares that work among the four words above, so this lesson takes the one that carries most of it in writing: ඇත. You met it in Lesson 1 (1.7 and 1.14) without being told what it was. It is one of the commonest words in written Sinhala, and it has two jobs besides existence: it says "have", and it helps to make the perfect, "has gone", "has said".
- පොතක් ඇත (potak æta): there is a book - පොතක් නැත (potak næta): there is no book - මට පොතක් ඇත (maṭa potak æta): I have a book (literally "to me a book is") - ඔහු ගොස් ඇත (ohu gos æta): he has gone
නැත (næta) is the negative of ඇත: "is not, there is none". The past of both is supplied by another word, තිබුණි (tibuṇi), "there was"; its negative is නොතිබුණි (notibuṇi). Both ඇත and නැත are usually traced to the Old Indo-Aryan verb asti, "is", the same old word as Latin est and English is.
Only things take ඇත. For people and animals the written language uses සිටී. This is the same division as in speech, where තියෙනවා (tiyenavā) is for things and ඉන්නවා (innavā) for people and animals (Section E).
Script note: ඇත is written ඇ + ත. The letter ඇ (æ) stands alone at the start of a word; inside a word, as in නැත (න + ැ + ත), the same vowel is the sign ැ, written after the consonant. Both words end in ත, the dental t (the tongue touches the teeth). Do not confuse it with ට (ṭ), the retroflex t of the dative ending -ට, which is said with the tongue curled back. Both letters appear in almost every example of this lesson.
Key Takeaways: - Sinhala has no one word for "be": the copula -ය / -ි, ඇත, සිටී and වේ divide the work - ඇත says that a thing exists or is somewhere; නැත says that it is not - "To have" is the dative of the owner plus ඇත: මට පොතක් ඇත - The past of ඇත is තිබුණි; "that is, which is" is ඇති; "if there is" is ඇත්නම් - After a participle, ඇත makes the perfect: ගොස් ඇත, "has gone" - People and animals take සිටී, not ඇත; qualities take the ending -ය, not ඇත - ඇත, නැත and සිටී belong to written Sinhala; speech says තියෙනවා, නැහැ and ඉන්නවා
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2.1a ගමේ in-the-village පාසලක් a-school ඇත is
2.1b gamē (GA-may) village-LOC pāsalak (PAA-suh-lak) school-INDEF æta (A-tuh) exist.INAN
2.2a මේසය the-table මත on පොතක් a-book ඇත is
2.2b mēsaya (MAY-suh-yuh) table-DEF mata (MA-tuh) on potak (POH-tak) book-INDEF æta (A-tuh) exist.INAN
2.3a ගඟේ in-the-river ජලය water ඇත is
2.3b gan̆gē (GA-ngay) river-LOC jalaya (JA-luh-yuh) water æta (A-tuh) exist.INAN
2.4a මට to-me පොතක් a-book ඇත is
2.4b maṭa (MA-tuh) I-DAT potak (POH-tak) book-INDEF æta (A-tuh) exist.INAN
2.5a මට to-me කාලය time නැත is-not
2.5b maṭa (MA-tuh) I-DAT kālaya (KAA-luh-yuh) time næta (NA-tuh) exist.NEG.INAN
2.6a ගමේ in-the-village පාසලක් a-school ඇත is නමුත් but පුස්තකාලයක් a-library නැත is-not
2.6b gamē (GA-may) village-LOC pāsalak (PAA-suh-lak) school-INDEF æta (A-tuh) exist.INAN namut (NA-mut) but pustakālayak (PUS-tuh-kaa-luh-yak) library-INDEF næta (NA-tuh) exist.NEG.INAN
2.7a ගුරුවරයා the-teacher පාසලට to-school පැමිණ having-come ඇත has
2.7b guruvarayā (GU-ru-wuh-ruh-yaa) teacher-DEF pāsalaṭa (PAA-suh-luh-tuh) school-DAT pæmiṇa (PA-mi-nuh) arrive-CONV æta (A-tuh) AUX
2.8a දැරිය the-girl ගමට to-the-village ගොස් having-gone ඇත has
2.8b dæriya (DA-ri-yuh) girl-DEF gamaṭa (GA-muh-tuh) village-DAT gos (GOS) go-CONV æta (A-tuh) AUX
2.9a ඔබට to-you කාලය time ඇත්නම් if-is මා me සමග with එන්න come
2.9b obaṭa (O-buh-tuh) you-DAT kālaya (KAA-luh-yuh) time ætnam (AT-nam) exist-COND mā (MAA) I.OBL samaga (SA-muh-guh) with enna (EN-nuh) come-IMP.POL
2.10a ගඟ river අසල near ගසක් a-tree තිබුණි was නමුත් but දැන් now එය it නැත is-not
2.10b gan̆ga (GA-nguh) river asala (A-suh-luh) near gasak (GA-sak) tree-INDEF tibuṇi (TI-bu-ni) exist-PAST.INAN namut (NA-mut) but dæn (DAN) now eya (E-yuh) it næta (NA-tuh) exist.NEG.INAN
2.11a මේසය the-table මත on ඇති being පොත the-book අලුත්ය is-new
2.11b mēsaya (MAY-suh-yuh) table-DEF mata (MA-tuh) on æti (A-ti) exist-PART pota (POH-tuh) book.DEF alutya (A-lut-yuh) new-COP
2.12a ගමේ in-the-village පාසලක් a-school ඇති being බව fact මිනිසා the-man දනී knows
2.12b gamē (GA-may) village-LOC pāsalak (PAA-suh-lak) school-INDEF æti (A-ti) exist-PART bava (BA-wuh) fact minisā (MI-ni-saa) man-DEF danī (DA-nee) know-PRES.3SG
2.13a පාසල the-school අසල near ඇති being ගස the-tree යට under ළමයෙක් a-child සිටී is
2.13b pāsala (PAA-suh-luh) school.DEF asala (A-suh-luh) near æti (A-ti) exist-PART gasa (GA-suh) tree.DEF yaṭa (YA-tuh) under ḷamayek (LA-muh-yek) child-INDEF siṭī (SI-tee) exist.ANIM-PRES.3SG
2.14a මිනිසා the-man ගුරුවරයෙකි is-a-teacher ඔහුට to-him ගමේ in-the-village නිවසක් a-house ඇත is
2.14b minisā (MI-ni-saa) man-DEF guruvarayeki (GU-ru-wuh-ruh-ye-ki) teacher-INDEF.COP ohuṭa (O-hu-tuh) he-DAT gamē (GA-may) village-LOC nivasak (NI-wuh-sak) house-INDEF æta (A-tuh) exist.INAN
2.15a පාසලට to-school ගිය who-went ළමයා the-child පොතක් a-book ගෙන having-taken ඇත has
2.15b pāsalaṭa (PAA-suh-luh-tuh) school-DAT giya (GI-yuh) go-PAST.ADJ ḷamayā (LA-muh-yaa) child-DEF potak (POH-tak) book-INDEF gena (GE-nuh) take-CONV æta (A-tuh) AUX
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2.1 ගමේ පාසලක් ඇත. (gamē pāsalak æta.) "There is a school in the village." 2.2 මේසය මත පොතක් ඇත. (mēsaya mata potak æta.) "There is a book on the table." 2.3 ගඟේ ජලය ඇත. (gan̆gē jalaya æta.) "There is water in the river." 2.4 මට පොතක් ඇත. (maṭa potak æta.) "I have a book." 2.5 මට කාලය නැත. (maṭa kālaya næta.) "I have no time." 2.6 ගමේ පාසලක් ඇත, නමුත් පුස්තකාලයක් නැත. (gamē pāsalak æta, namut pustakālayak næta.) "The village has a school, but it has no library." 2.7 ගුරුවරයා පාසලට පැමිණ ඇත. (guruvarayā pāsalaṭa pæmiṇa æta.) "The teacher has come to the school." 2.8 දැරිය ගමට ගොස් ඇත. (dæriya gamaṭa gos æta.) "The girl has gone to the village." 2.9 ඔබට කාලය ඇත්නම් මා සමග එන්න. (obaṭa kālaya ætnam mā samaga enna.) "If you have time, come with me." 2.10 ගඟ අසල ගසක් තිබුණි, නමුත් දැන් එය නැත. (gan̆ga asala gasak tibuṇi, namut dæn eya næta.) "There was a tree near the river, but now it is gone." 2.11 මේසය මත ඇති පොත අලුත්ය. (mēsaya mata æti pota alutya.) "The book on the table is new." 2.12 ගමේ පාසලක් ඇති බව මිනිසා දනී. (gamē pāsalak æti bava minisā danī.) "The man knows that there is a school in the village." 2.13 පාසල අසල ඇති ගස යට ළමයෙක් සිටී. (pāsala asala æti gasa yaṭa ḷamayek siṭī.) "Under the tree near the school there is a child." 2.14 මිනිසා ගුරුවරයෙකි. ඔහුට ගමේ නිවසක් ඇත. (minisā guruvarayeki. ohuṭa gamē nivasak æta.) "The man is a teacher. He has a house in the village." 2.15 පාසලට ගිය ළමයා පොතක් ගෙන ඇත. (pāsalaṭa giya ḷamayā potak gena æta.) "The child who went to school has taken a book."
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2.1 ගමේ පාසලක් ඇත. 2.2 මේසය මත පොතක් ඇත. 2.3 ගඟේ ජලය ඇත. 2.4 මට පොතක් ඇත. 2.5 මට කාලය නැත. 2.6 ගමේ පාසලක් ඇත, නමුත් පුස්තකාලයක් නැත. 2.7 ගුරුවරයා පාසලට පැමිණ ඇත. 2.8 දැරිය ගමට ගොස් ඇත. 2.9 ඔබට කාලය ඇත්නම් මා සමග එන්න. 2.10 ගඟ අසල ගසක් තිබුණි, නමුත් දැන් එය නැත. 2.11 මේසය මත ඇති පොත අලුත්ය. 2.12 ගමේ පාසලක් ඇති බව මිනිසා දනී. 2.13 පාසල අසල ඇති ගස යට ළමයෙක් සිටී. 2.14 මිනිසා ගුරුවරයෙකි. ඔහුට ගමේ නිවසක් ඇත. 2.15 පාසලට ගිය ළමයා පොතක් ගෙන ඇත.
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These are the grammar rules for expressing "be" in Sinhala.
There is no single verb "be". Written Sinhala divides the work: - The copula -ය (-ya), or -ි (-i) after an indefinite, for what something is or is like: පොත අලුත්ය (the book is new, Lesson 1), ගුරුවරයෙකි (is a teacher, 2.14) - ඇත (æta) for things that exist, are somewhere, or are owned: පාසලක් ඇත (2.1) - සිටී (siṭī) for people and animals that exist or are somewhere: ළමයෙක් සිටී (2.13) - වේ (vē) for becoming, and විය (viya) and its relatives for the past: ලස්සන විය (2.18)
ඇත: a thing exists or is somewhere. The order is place, thing, ඇත. The thing is a new topic and takes the indefinite -ක්, as in Lesson 1: ගමේ පාසලක් ඇත (2.1), මේසය මත පොතක් ඇත (2.2), ගඟේ ජලය ඇත (2.3). Water, like time, is not counted and needs no -ක්. ඇත itself never changes for person or number; ඇත is "is" and also "are".
Having: the owner in the dative. Sinhala does not say "I have a book" with a verb "have". It says "to me a book is": the owner takes the dative -ට and the thing is the subject. - මට (to me): මට පොතක් ඇත (2.4), මට කාලය නැත (2.5) - ඔබට (to you): ඔබට කාලය ඇත්නම් (2.9) - ඔහුට (to him): ඔහුට ගමේ නිවසක් ඇත (2.14) A person "had" is the same, with සිටී: ඔහුට සොහොයුරියක් සිටියාය (2.26).
Not being: නැත. නැත takes the place of ඇත: පුස්තකාලයක් නැත (2.6), එය නැත (2.10). There is no separate word for "not" with this verb. Used before a noun, or with a verb of becoming, the form is නැති (næti): පොත නැති විය (the book was lost, 2.20).
The forms of ඇත. - Present: ඇත (2.1); negative නැත (2.5) - Past: තිබුණි (tibuṇi), ගසක් තිබුණි (2.10); negative නොතිබුණි (notibuṇi), පොතක් නොතිබුණි (2.27). The negative prefix නො- is joined to the verb, as in Lesson 1. - "That is, which is": ඇති (æti), written before its noun: මේසය මත ඇති පොත (2.11), පාසල අසල ඇති ගස (2.13). It works as the relative clauses of Lesson 1 do (ගමට පැමිණි මිනිසා). - "That there is": ඇති බව (æti bava), "the fact of being": ගමේ පාසලක් ඇති බව මිනිසා දනී (2.12) - "If there is": ඇත්නම් (ætnam), කාලය ඇත්නම් (2.9). "If there is not" is නැත්නම් (nætnam).
ඇත as a helping verb: the perfect. After the "-ing-and-then" form of another verb (the conjunctive participle), ඇත says that the action has been done and counts now. It is the commonest use in news writing: පැමිණ ඇත (has come, 2.7), ගොස් ඇත (has gone, 2.8), ගෙන ඇත (has taken, 2.15). The Lesson 1 sentence ගඟ අසල පිහිටා ඇත (1.14) is the same pattern. With a third-person subject, ඇත stays as it is, whether the subject is a man (2.7), a girl (2.8) or a child (2.15). The past perfect puts තිබුණි in its place: ගොස් තිබුණි, "had gone".
People and animals: සිටී. ඇත is not used for a person. The present is සිටී for one subject and සිටිති (siṭiti) for several; the past agrees with the subject as every written past does: සිටියේය (he), සිටියාය (she), සිටියහ (they). සිටී also means "stay": 1.16 and 1.20 in Lesson 1.
Qualities and classes: the copula. To say what something is or is like, ඇත is not used. Instead -ය is joined to the word: ඔහුගේ නම සුනිල්ය (his name is Sunil). After the indefinite -ක් or -එක් the ending is -ි: ගුරුවරයෙකි (2.14). Formal prose often uses වේ in the same place, and the negative is නොවේ (novē), as in Section F.
වේ: becoming, and the past of the copula. In the past the written language does not use -ය but a form of වෙනවා, "become": විය for things (පොත ඉතා ලස්සන විය, 2.18), වූයේය for a man (2.24), වූවාය for a woman (2.29), වූහ for several (Lesson 1, 1.30). Of a lost thing, නැති විය (2.20), "became not-existing", is the ordinary phrase.
තිබේ. The written language has a second present for things, තිබේ (tibē), "is, is placed", which shares the past තිබුණි. 2.22 has it in a question: මාගේ පොත කොහි තිබේද?. ඇත is the more general verb, and the only one used for the perfect.
Common Mistakes: - Looking for one Sinhala word to translate every English "is". - Using ඇත for a person: say ගුරුවරයෙක් සිටී, not ගුරුවරයෙක් ඇත. - Putting the owner in the nominative. "I have a book" is not මම පොතක් ඇත but මට පොතක් ඇත. - Joining a noun to its description with ඇත. For "the book is new" say පොත අලුත්ය. - Writing the spoken forms තියෙනවා, ඉන්නවා, නැහැ or නෑ in a written text. - Negating the past of ඇත with නැත. The past is නොතිබුණි. - Expecting ඇත to agree with its subject. In the perfect it stays unchanged.
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ඇත and නැත are the words of written Sinhala. In speech the same ideas are said with other words. Where writing has පාසලක් ඇත, speech has a form of තියෙනවා (tiyenavā), and where writing has නැත, speech says නැහැ (næhæ) or the shorter නෑ (næ). People and animals take ඉන්නවා (innavā), the spoken partner of සිටී. A child who has learned these at home meets ඇත and සිටී at school and in books, and the two sets stand side by side all through life.
Speech also has no copula of the written kind. "He is a teacher" is simply ඔහු ගුරුවරයෙක්, with no ending and no verb. The ending -ය and the verb වේ appear only when someone writes. This course teaches the written forms, and this lesson marks which are which.
The perfect with ඇත is the backbone of Sri Lankan newspaper and radio news. A report of what someone has said ends with a form like පවසා ඇත (pavasā æta), "has said", and a report of what has been done ends with කර ඇත (kara æta), "has been done". Because ඇත does not change, the news does not need to tell you whether the speaker is a man or a woman.
The word ඇත්ත (ætta), "the truth, what is the case", and the adverb ඇත්තෙන්ම (ættenma), "really, in truth", are usually taken to come from the same verb, so that "what exists" and "what is true" are one idea in the language.
To offer or to ask politely in writing, ඔබට … ඇත්නම් (if you have …) is the standard opening, as in 2.9. ✾ ❦ ✾ ❦ ✾ ✾ ❦ ✾ ❦ ✾ ✾ ❦ ✾ ❦ ✾
A traditional Sinhala saying (ප්‍රස්තාව පිරුළු, prastāva piruḷu), anonymous, and a sentence from the Sinhala Wikipedia article on Sri Lanka (ශ්‍රී ලංකාව)
The saying is in the written language and shows the negative copula. The sentence is modern written prose and shows ඇති and the past විය. Both are given as found, in the spelling of the sources.
දිළිසෙන සියල්ල රත්තරං නොවේ
විවිධ නම් ගණනාවකින් පුරාණයේ හැඳින්වූ මෙම දූපත "නම් දහසක් ඇති දූපත" ලෙස ප්‍රචලිත ද විය
F-A: Interlinear
F.1a දිළිසෙන glittering සියල්ල all රත්තරං gold නොවේ is-not
F.1b diḷisena (DI-li-se-nuh) glitter-PRES.PART siyalla (SI-yal-luh) all rattaraṁ (RAT-tuh-rang) gold novē (NO-way) NEG-be-PRES
F.2a විවිධ various නම් names ගණනාවකින් by-a-number-of පුරාණයේ in-ancient-times හැඳින්වූ called මෙම this දූපත island නම් names දහසක් a-thousand ඇති being දූපත island ලෙස as ප්‍රචලිත famous ද also විය was
F.2b vividha (VI-wi-duh) various nam (NAM) name.PL gaṇanāvakin (GA-nuh-naa-wuh-kin) number-INDEF-INSTR purāṇayē (PU-raa-nuh-yay) ancient-times-LOC hæn̆dinvū (HA-ndin-woo) call-PAST.PART mema (ME-muh) this dūpata (DOO-puh-tuh) island nam (NAM) name.PL dahasak (DA-huh-sak) thousand-INDEF æti (A-ti) exist-PART dūpata (DOO-puh-tuh) island lesa (LE-suh) as pracalita (PRA-chuh-li-tuh) famous da (DA) also viya (VI-yuh) become-PAST.3SG
F-B: Original and Translation
දිළිසෙන සියල්ල රත්තරං නොවේ
"All that glitters is not gold." (Translation: Latinum Institute.)
මෙම දූපත "නම් දහසක් ඇති දූපත" ලෙස ප්‍රචලිත ද විය
"This island, called in ancient times by a number of different names, was also famous as 'the island with a thousand names'." (Translation: Latinum Institute.)
F-C: Original
දිළිසෙන සියල්ල රත්තරං නොවේ
විවිධ නම් ගණනාවකින් පුරාණයේ හැඳින්වූ මෙම දූපත "නම් දහසක් ඇති දූපත" ලෙස ප්‍රචලිත ද විය
F-D: Grammar and Literary Commentary
The saying is a warning against judging by the surface: what shines is not always gold. Collections of Sinhala sayings list it, with small differences of spelling (දිළිසෙන or දිලිසෙන, රත්තරං or රත්තරන්); the wording is otherwise the same. It is a saying known in many languages. The collections do not give an author or a date for the Sinhala form, and this lesson claims none. What matters here is its last word. නොවේ (novē) is the negative prefix නො- joined to වේ, the written "is": "is not". Its predicate, රත්තරං, "gold", is a bare noun, because a class takes no -ක් or article; this is the form the copula governs, and it is why the sentence has no ඇත. The long first part, දිළිසෙන සියල්ල, "all that glitters", is a participle before its noun, built like the relative clauses of Lesson 1.
The second text is the third sentence of the Sinhala Wikipedia article ශ්‍රී ලංකාව, quoted whole as the page read on 15 October 2026; the text of Wikipedia is available under a free licence. The island, it says, which was called by many names in ancient times, was also famous as "the island that has a thousand names". The first part, විවිධ නම් ගණනාවකින් පුරාණයේ හැඳින්වූ, "called in ancient times by a number of different names", is a participle phrase before මෙම දූපත, "this island", built like the relative clauses of Lesson 1. Now look at the phrase නම් දහසක් ඇති දූපත. නම් (nam) is "names", the plural, with no -ක්. දහසක් (dahasak) is "a thousand", with the indefinite. ඇති is the participle of ඇත, "which has" or "which is", written before the noun it describes: "the thousand-names-having island". The sentence ends with the verb of becoming, විය (viya), the past of වේ, with the adjective ප්‍රචලිත, "famous, widespread", and the particle ද, "also". Here ඇති is the same word as in 2.11 and 2.13, and විය is the past form of Section D.
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A short tale in the written past tense, of the kind found in school readers. Each of the three ways of "was" appears: සිටියේය and සිටියාය for a person who was there, තිබුණි for a thing that was there, and විය, වූයේය and වූවාය for something that became.
2.16a එක් one ගමක in-a-village සුනිල් Sunil නම් named ළමයෙක් a-child සිටියේය was
2.16b ek (EK) one gamaka (GA-muh-kuh) village-INDEF.LOC sunil (SU-nil) Sunil nam (NAM) named ḷamayek (LA-muh-yek) child-INDEF siṭiyēya (SI-ti-yay-yuh) exist.ANIM-PAST.3SG.MASC
2.17a ඔහුට to-him අලුත් new පොතක් a-book තිබුණි was
2.17b ohuṭa (O-hu-tuh) he-DAT alut (A-lut) new potak (POH-tak) book-INDEF tibuṇi (TI-bu-ni) exist-PAST.INAN
2.18a එම that පොත the-book ඉතා very ලස්සන beautiful විය was
2.18b ema (E-muh) that pota (POH-tuh) book.DEF itā (I-taa) very lassana (LAS-suh-nuh) beautiful viya (VI-yuh) become-PAST.3SG
2.19a දිනක් one-day සුනිල් Sunil පාසලට to-school ගියේය went
2.19b dinak (DI-nak) day-INDEF sunil (SU-nil) Sunil pāsalaṭa (PAA-suh-luh-tuh) school-DAT giyēya (GI-yay-yuh) go-PAST.3SG.MASC
2.20a පාසලේ at-school ඔහුගේ his පොත the-book නැති lost විය became
2.20b pāsalē (PAA-suh-lay) school-LOC ohugē (O-hu-gay) he-GEN pota (POH-tuh) book.DEF næti (NA-ti) exist.NEG-PART viya (VI-yuh) become-PAST.3SG
2.21a ඔහු he බොහෝ much වේලාවක් a-time සොයා searching බැලුවේය looked
2.21b ohu (O-hu) he bohō (BO-hoh) much vēlāvak (WAY-laa-wak) time-INDEF soyā (SO-yaa) search-CONV bæluvēya (BA-lu-way-yuh) look-PAST.3SG.MASC
2.22a මාගේ my පොත the-book කොහි where තිබේද is-Q යි QUOTE ඔහු he ගුරුවරයාගෙන් from-the-teacher ඇසුවේය asked
2.22b māgē (MAA-gay) I-GEN pota (POH-tuh) book.DEF kohi (KO-hi) where-LOC tibēda (TI-bay-duh) exist.INAN-PRES-Q yi (YI) QUOTE ohu (O-hu) he guruvarayāgen (GU-ru-wuh-ruh-yaa-gen) teacher-DEF-ABL æsuvēya (A-su-way-yuh) ask-PAST.3SG.MASC
2.23a ඔබේ your පොත the-book මෙහි here ඇත is යි QUOTE ගුරුවරයා the-teacher කීවේය said
2.23b obē (O-bay) you-GEN pota (POH-tuh) book.DEF mehi (ME-hi) here-LOC æta (A-tuh) exist.INAN yi (YI) QUOTE guruvarayā (GU-ru-wuh-ruh-yaa) teacher-DEF kīvēya (KEE-way-yuh) say-PAST.3SG.MASC
2.24a සුනිල් Sunil ඉතා very සතුටු happy වූයේය became
2.24b sunil (SU-nil) Sunil itā (I-taa) very satuṭu (SA-tu-tu) happy vūyēya (VOO-yay-yuh) become-PAST.3SG.MASC
2.25a දැන් now පොත the-book ඔහුගේ his අතේ in-hand තිබුණි was
2.25b dæn (DAN) now pota (POH-tuh) book.DEF ohugē (O-hu-gay) he-GEN atē (A-tay) hand-LOC tibuṇi (TI-bu-ni) exist-PAST.INAN
2.26a ඔහුට to-him සොහොයුරියක් a-sister සිටියාය was
2.26b ohuṭa (O-hu-tuh) he-DAT sohoyuriyak (SO-ho-yu-ri-yak) sister-INDEF siṭiyāya (SI-ti-yaa-yuh) exist.ANIM-PAST.3SG.FEM
2.27a සොහොයුරියට to-the-sister පොතක් a-book නොතිබුණි was-not
2.27b sohoyuriyaṭa (SO-ho-yu-ri-yuh-tuh) sister-DEF.DAT potak (POH-tak) book-INDEF notibuṇi (NO-ti-bu-ni) NEG-exist-PAST.INAN
2.28a සුනිල් Sunil තම own පොත the-book ඇයට to-her කියවන්නට to-read දුන්නේය gave
2.28b sunil (SU-nil) Sunil tama (TA-muh) own pota (POH-tuh) book.DEF æyaṭa (A-yuh-tuh) she-DAT kiyavannaṭa (KI-yuh-van-nuh-tuh) read-INF.DAT dunnēya (DUN-nay-yuh) give-PAST.3SG.MASC
2.29a සොහොයුරිය the-sister ඉතා very සතුටු happy වූවාය became
2.29b sohoyuriya (SO-ho-yu-ri-yuh) sister.DEF itā (I-taa) very satuṭu (SA-tu-tu) happy vūvāya (VOO-waa-yuh) become-PAST.3SG.FEM
2.30a ඔවුන් they දෙදෙනා both එක් one පොතක් a-book කියවමින් reading සිටියහ were
2.30b ovun (O-wun) they dedenā (DE-de-naa) two-DEF ek (EK) one potak (POH-tak) book-INDEF kiyavamin (KI-yuh-wuh-min) read-while siṭiyaha (SI-ti-yuh-huh) exist.ANIM-PAST.3PL
2.16 එක් ගමක සුනිල් නම් ළමයෙක් සිටියේය. (ek gamaka sunil nam ḷamayek siṭiyēya.) "In a certain village there was a child named Sunil." 2.17 ඔහුට අලුත් පොතක් තිබුණි. (ohuṭa alut potak tibuṇi.) "He had a new book." 2.18 එම පොත ඉතා ලස්සන විය. (ema pota itā lassana viya.) "The book was very beautiful." 2.19 දිනක් සුනිල් පාසලට ගියේය. (dinak sunil pāsalaṭa giyēya.) "One day Sunil went to school." 2.20 පාසලේ ඔහුගේ පොත නැති විය. (pāsalē ohugē pota næti viya.) "At school his book was lost." 2.21 ඔහු බොහෝ වේලාවක් සොයා බැලුවේය. (ohu bohō vēlāvak soyā bæluvēya.) "He searched for a long time." 2.22 "මාගේ පොත කොහි තිබේද?" යි ඔහු ගුරුවරයාගෙන් ඇසුවේය. ("māgē pota kohi tibēda?" yi ohu guruvarayāgen æsuvēya.) "'Where is my book?' he asked the teacher." 2.23 "ඔබේ පොත මෙහි ඇත" යි ගුරුවරයා කීවේය. ("obē pota mehi æta" yi guruvarayā kīvēya.) "'Your book is here,' the teacher said." 2.24 සුනිල් ඉතා සතුටු වූයේය. (sunil itā satuṭu vūyēya.) "Sunil was very glad." 2.25 දැන් පොත ඔහුගේ අතේ තිබුණි. (dæn pota ohugē atē tibuṇi.) "Now the book was in his hand." 2.26 ඔහුට සොහොයුරියක් සිටියාය. (ohuṭa sohoyuriyak siṭiyāya.) "He had a sister." 2.27 සොහොයුරියට පොතක් නොතිබුණි. (sohoyuriyaṭa potak notibuṇi.) "The sister had no book." 2.28 සුනිල් තම පොත ඇයට කියවන්නට දුන්නේය. (sunil tama pota æyaṭa kiyavannaṭa dunnēya.) "Sunil gave her his book to read." 2.29 සොහොයුරිය ඉතා සතුටු වූවාය. (sohoyuriya itā satuṭu vūvāya.) "The sister was very glad." 2.30 ඔවුන් දෙදෙනා එක් පොතක් කියවමින් සිටියහ. (ovun dedenā ek potak kiyavamin siṭiyaha.) "The two of them were reading one book."
2.16 එක් ගමක සුනිල් නම් ළමයෙක් සිටියේය. 2.17 ඔහුට අලුත් පොතක් තිබුණි. 2.18 එම පොත ඉතා ලස්සන විය. 2.19 දිනක් සුනිල් පාසලට ගියේය. 2.20 පාසලේ ඔහුගේ පොත නැති විය. 2.21 ඔහු බොහෝ වේලාවක් සොයා බැලුවේය. 2.22 "මාගේ පොත කොහි තිබේද?" යි ඔහු ගුරුවරයාගෙන් ඇසුවේය. 2.23 "ඔබේ පොත මෙහි ඇත" යි ගුරුවරයා කීවේය. 2.24 සුනිල් ඉතා සතුටු වූයේය. 2.25 දැන් පොත ඔහුගේ අතේ තිබුණි. 2.26 ඔහුට සොහොයුරියක් සිටියාය. 2.27 සොහොයුරියට පොතක් නොතිබුණි. 2.28 සුනිල් තම පොත ඇයට කියවන්නට දුන්නේය. 2.29 සොහොයුරිය ඉතා සතුටු වූවාය. 2.30 ඔවුන් දෙදෙනා එක් පොතක් කියවමින් සිටියහ.
Three ways of "was" (2.16, 2.17, 2.18). The tale begins with the child, who is a person: සිටියේය (2.16). The book he had is a thing: තිබුණි (2.17). When the book is described, the written past uses the verb of becoming: ලස්සන විය (2.18). The first two say that someone or something was there; the third says what it was like.
Having, in the past (2.17, 2.26, 2.27). The owner is in the dative, as in the present: ඔහුට (to him). A thing "had" takes තිබුණි and a person "had" takes සිටියාය; the sister is a woman, so the verb ends in -ආය. The negative of තිබුණි is නොතිබුණි (2.27), with the prefix joined.
Gender in the verb. The verbs of a man end in -ඒය: සිටියේය, ගියේය, වූයේය, ඇසුවේය, කීවේය, දුන්නේය. The verbs of a woman end in -ආය: සිටියාය, වූවාය. Compare සතුටු වූයේය (Sunil became glad, 2.24) with සතුටු වූවාය (the sister became glad, 2.29). A plural subject takes -හ: සිටියහ (2.30).
Lost: නැති විය (2.20). The ordinary way to say that a thing is lost is "became not-existing". The participle නැති (næti) is the negative of ඇති (Section D), and the past of "become" is විය.
Quoting and asking (2.22, 2.23). As in Lesson 1, යි closes a quotation before the verb of saying: "…" යි ගුරුවරයා කීවේය. The question ends in -ද, here added to තිබේ: තිබේද (2.22). The thing asked about, මාගේ පොත, comes first and කොහි, "where", comes before the verb. The teacher's answer has ඇත, not තිබේ (2.23): both are correct, and ඇත is the more general of the two.
From a person: -ගෙන් (2.22). To ask a person, Sinhala says "from the teacher": ගුරුවරයාගෙන්. The ablative of a person is -ගෙන් where the ablative of a thing is -එන් (Lesson 1).
"His own": තම (2.28). තම (tama) is "own". It points back to the subject of the sentence: Sunil gave her his own book.
A purpose: කියවන්නට (2.28). The ending -න්නට (-nnaṭa) on a verb stem means "in order to": කියවන්නට is "to read" or "for reading".
Continuing: -මින් + සිටී (2.30). The form in -මින් (-min), "while doing", plus a form of සිටී says that someone was in the middle of an action: කියවමින් සිටියහ, "were reading".
✾ ❦ ✾ ❦ ✾ ✾ ❦ ✾ ❦ ✾ ✾ ❦ ✾ ❦ ✾
The romanisation and the respellings are explained in Lesson 1. The words that matter in this lesson:
ඇත (æta) — IPA: /ætə/ — The ඇ is /æ/, the vowel of English "cat". The final -ත is dental, with the tongue against the teeth, and its vowel is the short neutral /ə/, like the a in "about". නැත (næta) — IPA: /nætə/ — The same vowel and the same ending. Only the first sound differs from ඇත. තිබුණි (tibuṇi) — IPA: /tibuni/ — The ණ is written but said as a plain n, as in Lesson 1. The stress falls on the first syllable. සිටී (siṭī) — IPA: /siʈiː/ — The ට is retroflex, with the tip of the tongue curled back, and the final ී is a long ee. වේ (vē) — IPA: /ʋeː/ — A long, pure e, as in "café" held longer. The ව is between English v and w, with the lips lightly touching. විය (viya) — IPA: /ʋijə/ — The two syllables are light; the second is the neutral /ə/. ඇති (æti) — IPA: /æti/ — Not to be confused with ඇත: the vowel at the end is "ee", short. ජලය (jalaya) — IPA: /dʒaləjə/ — The ජ is as English j in "jar". The first a is full and the next two are reduced. ඇත්නම් (ætnam) — IPA: /ætnam/ — The ත is followed at once by න; there is no vowel between them, so the word has two syllables. පැමිණ (pæmiṇa) — IPA: /pæmiɳə/ — Written ණ, said as in Lesson 1 as a plain n.
✾ ❦ ✾ ❦ ✾ ✾ ❦ ✾ ❦ ✾ ✾ ❦ ✾ ❦ ✾
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