So, you really want to learn Sinhala?

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Many people would say why bother? After all, if you’re planning a trip to Sri Lanka and you speak English then you will have no problem getting around and seeing the sites. There are plenty of people in the main cities and in the tourist areas who will be able to communicate with you; Sri Lankans are a well-educated people.

So, why would anyone bother to learn a language like Sinhala that is spoken by only 13 million people worldwide? 1

Well, if you want to get off the predictable tourist route and talk with ordinary Sri Lankans then you will find a little bit of Sinhala goes a long, long way. The Sinhalese are, generally speaking, an extremely friendly bunch who will be thrilled by your attempts to speak their language – so few foreigners do. You’ll find yourself having a much richer experience than you would have had otherwise and if that is the kind of Sri Lankan travel experience you want then you’ve come to the best place on the Internet.

If, on the other hand, you are just looking for a little Sinhala to take with you on holiday then have a look at at our Quick Start Sinhala page it might be just what you are looking for.

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Five Free Sinhala Lessons

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The lessons in the ‘Free Lessons’ category will give you a good idea of what you can expect from the site.

You’ll find a lesson transcript with the Sinhala words written in Sinhala script alongside an English transcription. Ok, so you can’t read Sinhala script – yet. Each week however, you’ll find a new letter video with example words and a demonstration of how to write it. Little by little you’ll learn to read.

Each lesson is accompanied by a clear audio file with all Sinhala words modelled by a native Sinhala speaker. You can listen again and again until the words and phrases become second nature and you have a really excellent pronunciation.

Learning a language never happens over night. The key is consistency over time and regular reviews. If you seriously want to learn Sinhala then it’s perfectly possible.

Click here to go to the lessons 001 – 005

 

019 – Do you meet your friend at the bus stand? / ඔයා බස් ස්ටෑන්ඩ් එක ළඟදි ඔයාගේ යාළුවා හම්බවෙනවද?

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The following language is taught in audio lesson 019:

  • Review of Lessons 010 and 017
  • Practice with Yes / No questions
  • Practice with positive and negative answers using daily routine verbs

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State of play

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It’s not much of an over generalisation to say that all Sri Lankans are cricket-mad. Any time there is a match on everyone will know the state of play.

As far as our state of play goes, we’re getting close to the end of Unit 02. Lesson 018 is published and continues the work on using the simple present tense to talk about daily routines. Lessons 19 and 20 will continue on this theme but look at making negative sentences and questions, both yes / no and question words questions, while giving more practice in the verbs that we’ve studied.

I am going to have to take a couple of weeks over each of those lessons as we are horribly busy at the moment and once Unit 02 is finished I am planning a little break from the Audio Lessons to give myself time to catch up with the letters and update the grammar guide to reflect the content of all 20 lessons.

I hope to complete another unit of 10 lessons before we head to Sri Lanka for our summer holidays in June. In addition to relaxing on the beach I’ll use that time to get material for the next couple of units.

Anyway that’s where we stand now. How far we go really depends on how much interest there is in learning Sinhala. That said, if we start a unit of ten lessons you can rest assured it will be finished.

Nick

018 – I usually go to bed at half-past ten / සාමාන්‍යයෙන් මම රෑ දහයහමාරට නිදාගන්න යනවා

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The following language is taught in audio lesson 018:

  • Review of Lessons 009 and 016
  • Talking about daily routines part 02
  • Verbs: start, speak, listen, sleep
  • Other vocabulary: usually, sometimes, every day, every evening, lunch, three-wheeler, if not

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017 – I wake up early / මම උදේ පාන්දර අවදි වෙනවා

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The following language is taught in audio lesson 017:

  • Review of Lessons 008 and 015
  • Talking about daily routines part 01
  • Verbs: wake up, get up, wash face, brush teeth, meet
  • Other vocabulary: early morning, near to, bus stand, then, breakfast,
  • Telling the time – half past

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Writing 012 – ta-yanna : ත

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The letter for lesson 012 is  ත. The two intrinsic vowel sounds are /ta/ and /tǝ/. If the letter comes at the beginning of a word it will be pronounced /ta/ and elsewhere in the word it is most likely to be pronounced /tǝ/.1

We have two example words,  අත which means ‘hand’ and තද which means ‘tight’

If you have subscribed to Unit 02 : lessons 011 – 020 then follow the link below to see how to write and pronounce the letter and its example words.

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Independence Day / නිදහස් දිනය

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nidǝhas dinǝyǝ / නිදහස් දිනය means independence day in Sinhala and on February 4th 1948 Sri Lanka gained its independence from Great Britain. February 4th is also coincidently the day our first child was born.

We’d like to say congratulations to all Sri Lankans on their independence day and wish the country a happy 65th Birthday.

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Listen to how to say ‘independence day’

nidǝhas dinǝyǝ / නිදහස් දිනය
nidǝhas dinǝyǝ / නිදහස් දිනය

‘congratulations’

subǝ pætum / සුභ පැතුම්
subǝ pætum / සුභ පැතුම්

and ‘happy birthday’ in Sinhala

subǝ upan dinǝyak we:wa: / සුභ උපන් දිනයක් වේවා
subǝ upan dinǝyak we:wa: / සුභ උපන් දිනයක් වේවා

Flag_of_Sri_Lanka-1.svg

The lion represents the Sinhalese ethnicity and the bravery of the Sri Lankan nation while the four Bo leaves represent Buddhist elements. The orange stripe represents the Sri Lankan Tamils, the green stripe represents Sri Lankan Moors, and the maroon background represents the Sinhalese.1

 1 unknown, U. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flag_of_Sri_Lanka

016 – what time is it? / වෙලාව කීයද?

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The following language is taught in audio lesson 016:

  • Review of Lessons 007 and 014
  • Negative forms in equational sentences using nemeiy / නෙමෙයි
  • Vocabulary: nurse, manager, postman, shopkeeper, secretary, friend, Canada
  • Telling the time – o’clock
  • What time is it?
  • Numbers with -iy / යි ending

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015 – don’t come by car come by taxi / කාර් එකෙන් එන්න එපා ටැක්සි එකෙන් එන්න

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The following language is taught in audio lesson 015:

  • Review of Lessons 006 and 013
  • Imperative form of the verb – positive and negative sentences
  • By and from – instrumental noun case
  • Verbs: come, bring, buy, bathe
  • Nouns: bus. taxi, train, car, well, river, sarong, saree, hoppers, string hoppers
  • More definite, indefinite and plural noun forms
  • Don’t want
  • Numbers eleven to twenty

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Writing 011 – a:-yanna : ආ

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The letter for lesson 011 is  ආ. This is a long vowel sound and in the pronunciation guide you will find this letter written as  ’a:’. It’s pronounced like the ‘ar’ in the English words car or park.

We have one example word,  ආගම which means ‘religion’

If you have subscribed to Unit 02 : lessons 011 – 020 then follow the link below to see how to write and pronounce the letter and its example words.

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