Let's Learn Sinhalese in English 13

 We learned how to derive two forms of adjectives from a verb. You can derive a noun (a gerund) from a verb too. Let’s learn how to do that. There are two methods here.

     1.      You change remove “va:” from a “-nava:” verb and put “eka” after that. This method is very uniform and easy to make.

      karanava: -> karana eka (doing, to do)
      sellam karanava: -> sellam karana eka (playing, to play)
      call karanava: -> call karana eka (calling, to call)
      balanava: -> balana eka (looking/watching, to look/to watch)
      kanava: -> kana eka (eating, to eat)
      bonava: -> bona eka (drinking, to drink)
      innava: -> inna eka (being)
      sitinava: -> sitina eka (being, staying)

     2.      You remove “Xnava:” part from the verb, and suffix “-i:ma” or “-ae:ma” to it. In addition, the first syllable of the verb is modified. If the first syllable rhymes like “ba”, it is often changed to “bae”; try to understand how the first syllable changes by studying those words. There are some exceptions too.

      balanava: -> baeli:ma (looking/watching)
      thalanava: -> thaeli:ma (beating)
      natanava: -> naeti:ma (dancing)
      uyanava: -> (iyi:ma->) ivi:ma (cooking)
      pupuranava: -> pipiri:ma (blasting, exploding)
      karanava: -> kiri:ma (doing)
      sellam karanava: -> sellam kiri:ma (playing)
      call karanava: -> call kiri:ma (calling)
      thiyenava:/thibenava: -> thibi:ma (having)
      kanava: -> kae:ma (eating)
      bonava: -> bi:ma (drinking)
      yanava: -> yae:ma (going)
      naliyanava: -> naliyae:ma (squirming)
      enava: -> e:ma (coming)
      dhenava: -> dhi:ma (giving)
      gannava: -> gaeni:ma (taking)
      venava: -> vi:ma (being, becoming, happening)
      loku venava: -> loku vi:ma (growing, becoming large)
      innava: -> i’mdhi:ma (being)
      sitinava: -> siti:ma (being, staying)

You can construct this verbal noun with other tense verbs too. You use a similar method as described above.

Kanava: -> kamin/kaka: i’mdhi:ma/siti:ma
             -> kamin/kaka: inna eka
                 (being eating, to be eating)

karanava: -> karamin/kara kara i’mdhi:ma/siti:ma
                -> karamin/kara kara inna eka
                    (being doing, to be doing)

Kanava: -> ka:la: thibi:ma
             -> ka:la: thiyena eka
                 (having eaten, to have eaten)

Karanava: -> karala: thibi:ma
                -> karala: thiyena eka
                    (having done, to have done)

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You can also form the verbal noun that has the oppositve meaning too. You just have to prefix “no-” (this prefix is similar to “un-/dis-“ prefix in English) to the verbal noun that you constructed above. When the verbal noun consists of several parts, then you have to put this “no-“ to the last part.

Kiri:ma -> nokiri:ma (not doing)
karana eka -> nokarana eka (not doing)

Kae:ma -> nokae:ma (not eating)
kana eka -> nokana eka (not eating)

bi:ma -> nobi:ma (not drinking)
bona eka -> nobona eka (not drinking)

sellam kiri:ma -> sellam nokiri:ma (not playing)
sellam karana eka -> sellam nokarana eka (not playing)

call kiri:ma -> call nokiri:ma (not calling)
call karana eka -> call nokarana eka (not calling)

loku vi:ma -> loku novi:ma (not growing)
loku vena eka -> loku novena eka (not growing)

natamin/nata nata i’mdi:ma -> natamin/nata nata noim’dih:ma (not being dancing)
natamin/nata nata inna eka -> natamin/nata nata noinna eka (not being dancing)

natala: thibi:ma -> natala: nothibi:ma (not having danced)
natala: thiyena eka -> natala: nothiyena eka (not having danced)

You now know that a verb (in its any form, even in the gerund form) has the right to have an object (if possible), adverbs, and prepositional parts. Therefore, here in the gerund too, you can include one or several/all of them. You know that in Sinhala you put these (complementary) words before the verb form as follows.

Film ekak baeli:ma/balana eka (watching a film)

Film ekak nobaeli:ma/nobalana eka (not watching a film)

Gahak kaepi:ma/kapana eka (cutting a tree)

Lassanata livi:ma/liyana eka (writing beautifully)

Ikamin yae:ma/yana eka (going quickly)

Gedharata e:ma/ena eka (coming to the house)

Gahak ikmanin kaepi:ma/kapana eka (cutting a tree quickly)

Udhe: bath kaema/kana eka (eating rice in the morning)

Ya:luvan ekka sathutin bath kaema/kana eka (eating rice happily with friends)

You can use gerunds as you use normal nouns in the sentence.

Kiyavi:ma minisa: sampu:rna karanava:. (Reading makes a man perfect.)

Dhaeki:ma visva:sa kiri:mayi. (Seeing is believing.)

Viba:gaye:dhi sindhu ki:ma/kiyana eka ho’mdha naehae. (Singing in the exam is not good.)

Mama udhe: TV bala bala inna ekata a:sa naehae. (I do not like watching TV in the morning.)

Mama aeththa nokiyana ekata a:sa naehae. (I do not like not telling the truth.)

Note:
In English, after the verbs such as love, like, give, hate do not have “to” when there is a noun, but have “to” when there is a verb (that is, infinitive verb form). For example,

I like tea.
I like to read.

However, in Sinhala for both cases, you put “-ta” (equivalent to English “to”). And you know there are three possible forms of Sinhala infinitive form too. For example,

Mama malata kamathiy. (I like the flower.)

Mama kiyavannata/kanna/kanda kamathiy. (I like to read.)

Note:
There are some special verbs that don’t end with “-nava:”. Actually you can convert these verbs into the usual “-nava:” form too. Let’s see those verbs most popular among native speakers. These verbs end with “-yi”. To make the negative statement, you remove the “-yi” suffix and put “naehae” after that. To make the positive question, append “-dha” to the verb. To make the negative question, remove “-yi” and put “naedhdha” after the verb.

A:dhareyi (love) (“nava:” form is “a:dharaya karanava:”)

Kaemathiyi, a:sai (like) (“kaemathi venava:”, “a:sa karanava:”)

Akamaethiyi (don’t like, dislike) (“akamaethi venava:”)

Apriyayi (hate/abhor) (“apriya karanava:”)

Bayayi (is afraid to/of) (“baya venava:”)

Let’s see how to make sentences with these verb forms.

Mama oya:ta a:dhareyi. (I love you.)
Mama oya:ta a:dhare naehae. (I do not love you.)
Mama oya:ta a:dhareyidha? (Do I love you?)
Mama oya:ta a:dhare naedhdha? (Do I not love you?)

Mama ballanta kaemathiyi. (I like dogs.)
Mama ballanta kaemathi naehae. (I do not like dogs.)
Mama ballanta kaemathiyidha? (Do I like dogs?)
Mama ballanta kaemathi naedhdha? (Do I not like dogs?)

Sinhala has equivalent adverbs to “very” or “so”. That is “itha:” or “boho:” or “godak” (this "godak" is popular but should be disused). You put one of these adverbs in front of the adjective or adverb.

Eya: boho:/itha:/godak lassanai. (She/He is very beautiful.)

Peter boho:/itha:/godak loku pothak kiyavanava: . (Peter reads a very big book.)

Ya:luva: boho:/itha:/godak lassanata liyanava: . (The friend writes very beautifully.)

These same adverbs make Sinhala adjectives and adverbs comparative too. Optionally there is another adverb “vada:” for this.

Boho:/itha:/godak/vada: lassana  (more beautiful)
boho:/itha:/godak/vada: loku (larger)
boho:/itha:/godak/vada: lassanata (more beautifully)
boho:/itha:/godak/vada: lokuvata (more largely)

Let’s make a few sentences with comparative adjectives and adverbs.

Mama vada: loku potha gannam. (I shall take the larger book.)

Eya vada: ikmanin kanava: . (He/She eats more quickly.)

Sherin vada: lassanai. (Sherin is more beautiful.)

Optionally you can put another noun to compare with (as in “than somebody/something” in English). In Sinhala, you just put the other noun before the “vada:”(you may change “vada:” to “vadiya” too). Here “vada:” part has two functions – one is to denote “more”, and the other is to function as “than”. In addition, “-ta” suffix is appened to this additional noun.

Sherin Ritata vada:/vadiya lassanai. (Sherin is more beautiful than Rita.)

Shane Johnta vada:/vadiya ikmanin liyanava:. (Shane writes more quickly than John.)

To make an adjective or an adverb superlative, you just append “-ma” suffix to it.

Lassana -> lassanama (the most beautiful)
loku -> lokuma (the biggest)
ikmanin -> ikmaninma (the most quickly)

Now let’s make a few sentences with superlative adjectives and adverbs.

Sherin panthiye: lassanama lamaya: . (Sherin is the most beautiful child in the class.)

Eya: lokuma potha gaththa: . (He took the biggest book.)

This same “-ma” is used in Sinhala to emphasize (or make the meaning stronger) words just as it did to adjectives and adverbs as shown above. Specially this technique is used with prepositions (and with conjuctions as you will learn in a moment) as well. In English, therefore, it is somewhat similar to “just” (to emphasize).

Uda -> udama (just on)
yata -> yatama (just under)
sa’mdhaha -> sa’mdahama (just for)
thulin -> thulinma (just through)

Let’s see a few examples using these.

Potha me:saya udama thiyanna. (Put the book just on the table.)

Api ka:maraya athule:ma innava: . (We stay just inside/in the room.)

You can append this same “-ma” suffix to a noun. Then it makes the noun reflexive as follows.

Mama -> mamama/manma (I myself)
Api -> apima (we ourselves)
Eya: -> eya:ma (she herself or he himself)
oya: -> oya:ma (you yourself)
oya:la: -> oya:la:ma (you yourselves)
u: -> u:ma (it itself – with animals)
e:ka -> e:kama (it itself – with inanimate things)
un -> unma (they themselves – with animals)
e:va: -> e:va:ma (they themselves – with inanimate things)
John -> Johnma (John himself)
lamaya: -> lamaya:ma (the child himself/herself)

We will see a few examples.

Mamama e:ka karannam. (I myself shall do it.)

Eya:ma sellam karanna o:na. (He himself/She herself must play.)

You know some Sinhala prepositions are suffixed to the noun itself. In that case, you append “-ma” even after that prepositional suffix.

Eya: magenma e:ka ahanava: . (He asks it from me myself.)

Oya: gedharatama yanna o:na. (You must go to the house itself.)

You can append “-ma” to a tense verb too; but now it is slightly modified to “-mayi”. As in all the above cases, the action denoted by the verb is emphasized (“definitely/of course”). However, because “definitely” part is not included as an adverb in the original Sinhala sentence, I have struck it out.

Mama e:ka karanava:mayi. (I will do it definitely.)

Eya: kivva:mayi. (He said it definitely.)

Lamaya: potha kiyavamin/kiyava kiyava innavamayi. (The child is definitely reading the book.)

Amma: e:ka kiyala: thiyenava:mayi. (The mother has definitely said it.)

Optionally you may append “-va” suffix to the object (the object must be a living/animate thing). Actually native speakers use that so often. When you append it to “mama”, it becomes “ma:va”.

Mama oya:/oya:va daekka: . (I saw you.)

Oya: ma:va/mama dhannavadha? (Do you know me?)

Eya: sherinva/Sherin dhanne: naedhdha? (Does she/he not know Sherin?)

Kavudha balla:va/balla: maeruve: ? (Who killed the dog?)

In Sinhala there is an interesting way of expression that you cannot find in English directly. For that a special word “thamai” or “thama:” is used, and it makes the word it is used with stronger/emphasized. There is no negative statement or negative question forms for this pattern, and instead use the normal sentence pattern for that. Actually, depending on the way the sentence is pronounced, it may convey a formidable/threatening kind of meaning or a lenient/naïve/agreeing kind of meaning (So, practice listening to both ways of pronunciation to get the feeling). Because this usage is very popular among native speakers, I will describe it in detail in four sections.

     1.      You can put this word after a noun in the sentence. In English, you can use the pattern “It is <somebody/something> who/that/which <…>” to nearly get this meaning. The verb must be in the “-nne:” form (for the present time), and “-ve:” form (for the past time). To make the context clearer, I have used additional English expression (struck through) in the first example to let you feel the real meaning of the Sinhala sentence.

      Mama thamai e:ka karanne: .
      (It is me who does it. So what?) (threatening)
      (Well, it is me who does it.) (naïve)

      Mama thamaidha e:ka karanne: ? (Is it me who does it?)

      Bill thamai boru kiyanne: . (It’s Bill who lies.)

      Bill thamaidha boru kiyanne: ? (Is it Bill who lies?)

The above two examples emphasize the subject of the sentence. You can emphasize the object of the sentence as in the following examples. In this case, to make it clearer, you would better use the object with “-va” suffix.

      Man Rita/Ritava thamai i:ye daekke: .
      (It is/was Rita that I saw yesterday. Who dare deny it?) (threatening)
      (Well, it is/was Rita that I saw yesterday.) (naïve)

      Man Ritava thamaidha i:ye daekke: ? (Is/Was it Rita that I saw yesterday?)

      E: ballava thamai maeruve: . (It was/is that dog that was killed.)

      E: ballava thamaidha maeruve: ? (Was/Is that dog that was killed?)

     2.      You can put it after a tense verb. To make the context clearer, I have used additional English expression (struck through) in the first example to let you feel the real meaning of the Sinhala sentence.

      Mama eya:va dhannava: thamai.
      (I know him/her. So what?) (threatening)
      (Well, I know him/her.) (naïve)

      Eya: e:ka kala: thamai. (She/He did it.)

      Mama sindhu kiyala thiyenava: thamai. (I have sung.)

      Api sellam karamin/kara kara hitiya: thamai. (We were playing.)

     3.      You can put it after a preposition too (giving the same two meanings as described in the two above sections (threatening or naïve). The verb takes the “-nne:” or “-ve:” form.

      Mama me:saya uda thamai hi’mda ganne: .
      (I am sitting on the table. So what?) (threatening)
      (Well, I am sitting on the table.) (naïve)

      Api ahasa yata thamai inne: . (We are under the sky.)

4. This style is so interesting and popular. Always used with phrases (phrases are a set of words, but not a complete sentence) - most probably just with a single word (verb, noun, adjective, adverb, or preposition). This usage has the same two meanings (threatening, or naïve), and additionally it conveys an ironic meaning. Let’s see a few examples of this usage within a simple context (I will write the sentence showing the context in English). Without knowing the context, you cannot understand it properly because there is no complete sentence here.

With a noun:

      “Are you sure you met Mr. John?”
      Ow, Ow… John thamai. (yeah, yeah… I told you thousand times… It is John that I met.) (kind of nagging/naive)

      “Who stole the pen?”
      John thamai. (It was John. Who else?) (threatening)

      “Who ate my piece of cake?”
      hahaha… John thamai. (John ate. Hahaha) (usually you say it as a joke and with a laughter, and everybody knows that John did not eat it; it’s ironic)

With a verb:

      “Did you go to see the girlfriend, Son?”
      ow, ow… giya: thamai. (yeah, yeah… I went.) (kind of nagging)

      “Did you go to see her even after I have told you not to go?”
      ow… giya: thamai. (yes, I went. You can’t stop me.) (threatening)

      “Hey Son, did you really go to see your aunt? I told you yesterday to go there.”
      haha… giya: thamai. (I went. Hahaha) (really he has not gone.)

With an adjective:

      “She is really a beautiful girl.”
      lassanai thamai. (yeah, really she is beautiful.) (agreeing and naïve)

      “Who says you are smart?”
      smart thamai. (why not? I am certainly smart.) (threatening)

      “His boyfriend is handsome.”
      hahaha… handsome thamai. (hahaha… he is handsome.) (ironic and it really says “no he is not”)

Sometimes, when you want to convey this ironic meaning with an adjective or adverb, you can simply say “bambuva thamai” or “redhdha thamai”.

      “His boyfriend is handsome.”
      hahaha… bambuva/redhdha thamai.

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