1. Live or wait!

You may have noticed in the dialogue that the word used for live is inne / iN@n but It is also used to mean wait.

T1.4k

Don’t worry about the slightly different sounding endings on the verb at this point. In Unit Two we will start to look at verb tenses beginning with the simple present tense.

2. Demonstrative adjectives and demonstrative pronouns

This, that, these and those, if followed by a noun, are called demonstrative adjectives. In English we think of things in terms of singular and plural and relative distance from the speaker.

This is singular and near to me that is singular and away from me. These is the plural of this and those the plural of that.

Things are viewed a bit differently in Sri Lanka. In Sinhala there is no distinction between plural and singular when using demonstrative adjectives so:

T1.4l

So far so good, that seems a bit easier than the English but, unfortunately, when using the Sinhala equivalent of that and those things are complicated because the Sinhalese differentiate between things that are:

1. away from you but can’t be seen
2. away from you but can be seen
3. away from you but near to the person who you are speaking to

In this lesson we will look only at the Sinhala for the first two. If you are referring to something that you can’t see use e: / E and if you are referring to something away from you that you can see use ar~ / ar.

For example:

When standing alone and not followed by a noun, this, that, these and those are called demonstrative pronouns. This time there is a distinction made between singular and plural so:

T1.4m

3. Possessive adjectives (continued)

In lessons 1 and 2 we looked at the singular forms of possessive adjectives my, your, his, her and subject pronouns I, you, he, she.

In Lesson four’s dialogue you can see two examples of plural forms.

T1.4n

Above you can see the Sinhala word for their. Notice the ge / @G ending which we find on all possessive adjectives. Here are the other plural forms:

4. Subject Pronouns

T1.4o

Here, with the plural subject pronouns, notice the l~ / l ending with you and they. This is quite a common ending for making plurals. You can see it in many of the family words. Here are the other plural forms.

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