Let's Learn Sinhalese in English 16

Let’s learn how to work with numbers now. First memorize the following Sinhala words/sounds for numbers. There are nice and easy patterns just like in English. Only “eka siyaya” is slightly different because instead of “ek-“, it has “eka” (but still “ek-“ in prefix form is as same as “eka” both having the meaning of “one”).
 

1 - eka	2 - dheka	3 - thuna
4 - hathara	5 - paha	6 - haya
7 - hatha	8 - ata	9 – navaya/namaya
10 - dhahaya	11 - ekolaha	12 - dholaha
13 - dhahathuna	14 - dhahahathara	15 - pahalava
16 - dhahasaya	17 - dhahahatha	18 – dhaha-ata
19 - dhahanavaya	20 – vissa        (“visi-”)	21 – visi-eka
22 – visi-dheka	23 – visi-thuna	24 – visi-hathara
25 – visi-paha	26 – visi-haya	27 – visi-hatha
28 – visi-ata	29 – visi-navaya	30 – thiha          (“this-“)
31 – this-eka	32 – this-dheka	33 – this-thuna      etc
40 – hathaliha (“hathalis-“)	41 – hathalis-eka	42 – hathalis-dheka     etc
50 – panaha     (“panas-“)	60 – haeta      (“haeta-“)	70 – haeththae:va  (“haeththae:-”)
80 – asu:va     (“asu:-”)	90 – anu:va     (“anu:-“)	100 – eka siyaya     (“eka siya-“)
101 – eka siya eka	110 – eka siya dhahaya	162 – eka siya haeta dheka
200 – dhesiyaya  (“dhesiya-“)	300 – thunsiyaya (“thunsiya-“)	400 – ha:rasiyaya  (“ha:rasiya-“)
500 - pansiyaya	600 – hayasiyaya	700 – hathsiyaya
800 – atasiyaya	900 - navasiyaya	1000 – ekdhaha     (“ekdhahas-“)
1001 – ekdhahas eka	1031 – ekdhahas this-eka	1421 – ekdhahas ha:rasiya visi-eka
2000 – dhedhaha (“dhedhahas-“)	3000 – thundhaha  (“thundhahas-“)	4000 – ha:radhaha
5000 - pandhaha	6000 - hayadhaha	7000 - hathdhaha
8000 - atadhaha	9000 - navadhaha	10,000 – dhasadhaha/dhahadhaha
11,000 – ekolosdhaha	12,000 - dholosdhaha	13,000 - dhahathundhaha
14,000 - dhahahatharadhaha	15,000 - pahalosdhaha	16,000 - dhahasayadhaha
17,000 - dhahahathdhaha	18,000 – dhaha-atadhaha	19,000 - dhahanavayadhaha
20,000 - visidhaha	30,000 – thisdhaha    etc	85,126 – asu:pandhahas ekasiya visi-haya
100,000 – eklakshaya (“eklaksha-“)	100,001 – eklaksha eka	100,088 – eklaksha asu:ata
100,312 – eklaksha thunsiya dholaha	104,000 – eklaksha ha:radhaha	151,658 – eklaksha panas ekdhahas hayasiya panas ata
200,000 - dhelakshaya	300,000 - thunlakshaya	400,000 – ha:ralakshaya     etc
10,00,000 – dhasalakshaya	10,02,155 – dhasalaksha dhedhahas ekasiya panas paha	20,00,000 – visilakshaya    etc
100,00,000 – ekko:tiya (“ekko:ti-“)	10,000,000,000 – siya ko:tiya	0 - bindhuva

In Sinhala, dhasalaksaya is not a special number that has its own unique name, but in English it gets its own special name “million”. Therefore, if you like, you can use “miliyanaya” (the Sinhalized version of “million”). Likewise you may use “biliyanaya” instead of “siyako:tiya”. I don’t know any Sinhala words for numbers higher than that, so you may use English numbers like trillion (“triliyanaya”) for higher values.

As you have noticed, each number has a prefix form too. You can understand it from the above table, but I will list them below for further clarity.

ek- (1, like uni- in English)	dhe- (2)	thun- (3)
hathara- (4)	pas- (5)	haya- (6)
hath- (7)	ata- (8)	nava- (9)
Dhasa- , dhaha (10)	Ekolos- (11)	Dholos- (12)
Dhahathun- (13)	Dhahahathara- (14)	Pahalos- (15)
Dhahasaya- (16)	Dhahath- (17)	Dhaha-ata- (18)
Dhahanava-  (19)	Visi- (20)	Visi-ek- (21)
Visi-dhe- (22)	Visi-hath- (27)    etc	This- (30)          etc
Eksiya- (100)	Eksiya panas-thun- (153)     etc	Dhesiya- (200)       etc
Ekdhahas- (1000)	Ekdhahas thunsiya panas- (1350)     etc	Hathdhahas- (7000)     etc
Eklaksha- (100,000)    etc	Thunko:ti- (300,00,000)

 

You can use numbers in Sinhala as nouns or adjectives. After a plural inanimate noun you may put a number. Automatically, it would be a definite noun. If you want to make the noun indefinite you must append “-ak” (“-k”) suffix to the number (not to the noun).

 

Bo:la paha – the five balls (definite)
Bo:la pahak – five balls (indefinite)

Pae:n thuna – the three pens
Pae:n thunak – three pens

Poth dhesiyaya – the 200 books
Poth dhesiyayak – 200 books

 

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After a plural animate noun, you usually use the related numeral prefix as described and shown in the above table with “dhena:” (if definite) or with “dhenek” (if indefinite). Sometimes, you may use the same method that you use for inanimate nouns for animate nouns too (especially for animals).

 

Lamayin pas dhena: (the five children)
Lamayin pas dhenek (five children)

Ballo: thun dhena: (the three dogs)
Ballo: thun dhenek (three dogs)

Driverla dhesiya dhena: (the 200 drivers)
Driverla dhesiya dhenek (200 drivers)

Pu:san atak (eight cats)

 

Let’s learn how to say fractions and decimal numbers in Sinhala. It’s as easy as in English. The number above is called the “numerator” and the number below is the “denominator” of a fraction (for example, in ¾, 3 is numerator and 4 is denominator). We first say the denominator and then say the numerator. And also, you append “-en” suffix (which means “from”) to the denominator too.

 

¼ - hatharen eka (or “ka:la”)
¾ - hatharen thuna (or “thunka:la”)
½ - dheken eka (or “ba:gaya”)
1/8 – aten eka (or “harikka:la”)
2/3 –thunen dheka

 

Let’s put these fractions in context now.

 

Vathura thunen dheka (the two-thirds of water)
Vathura thunen dhekak (two-thirds of water)

Pa:n hatharen eka (or ka:la)  (the one-fourth of bread)
Pa:n hatharen ekak (or ka:lak) (a one-fourth of bread)

 

How to pronounce a decimal number? You first say the whole number part, and then say “dhasama”, and finally say each digit in the decimal part. And also you append “-yi” to the whole number and and each digit.

 

12.346 – dholahayi dhasama thunayi hatharayi hayayi
461.1270 – ha:rasiya haeta ekayi dhasama ekai dhekai hathayi bindhuvayi.

 

You must also learn how to say numbers in the style of “first”, “second”, “third”, “fourth”, etc (ordinal numbers). It’s very easy to make them by adding “vaeni” after a prefix form number. “first” is an exception; it has its own name/sound.

 

Palavaeni, palamuvaeni – 1st	Dhevaeni – 2nd	Thunvaeni – 3rd
Hatharavaeni – 4th	Pasvaeni – 5th	Hayavaeni – 6th
Hathvaeni – 7th	Atavaeni – 8th	Navavaeni – 9th
Dhahavaeni , dhasavaeni – 10th	Ekolosvaeni – 11th       etc	Visivaeni – 20th      etc
Ekasiyavaeni – 100th	Ekasiya ekvaeni – 101st	Dhesiya panas thunvaeni – 253rd
Ekdhahasvaeni – 1000th    etc	Panlakshayavaeni – 500,000th	Ko:tiyavaeni – 100,00,000th

These ordinal numbers are used as normal adjectives with nouns.

 

Thunvaeni potha ge:nna. (Bring the third book.)
Mama ekasiya atavaeni namata kaemathiy. (I like the 108^th name.)

 

You can also make an adverb with numeral prefixes too. Just prefix them to “pa:rak” or “saerayak”. In English you do this with “times”.

 

Ekpa:rak, eksaerayak – one time (once)
dhepa:rak, dhesaerayak – two times (twice)
thunpa:rak, thunsaerayak – three times
siyapa:rak, siyasaerayak – hundred times

 

Man eya:ta passaerayak call kala: . (I called him five times.)

 

Now let’s see some miscellaneous Sinhala usages to finish this series of lessons.

In English, you use “you” as an impersonal pronoun when you want to say something impersonally. For example:

 

You should not kill animals.

 

Even if “you” is there as the subject, it in fact means “anyone”. Sometimes “one” is used instead in English of course. We had to use “you” or “one” because there is no specific subject there but it is mandatory to use a subject in English sentences. However, Sinhala is much simpler here because spoken Sinhala does not require a subject (or even an object) to construct a sentence. Therefore, you can express this type of sentences in Sinhala one of two ways.

 

One way is to say it as a command (this is exactly when you use “you” in English too). Usually, the English helping verbs in negative form - shouldn’t, mustn’t, shan’t, oughtn’t to, are treated as “epa: (don’t)” or “ho’mda naehae (not good)”.

 

Sathun maranna epa: . (You don’t kill animals.)

 

Sathun maeriya yuthu naehae.
Sathun maranna ho’mdha naehae.
(You shouldn’t kill animals.)

 

The other way which is more interesting is to express it as a normal sentence without a subject (this is when you use “one” in English).

 

Me: ka:le job ekak laba:ganna puluvan. (These days one can get a job.)
E:ka kanna puluvan. (You/One can eat it.)

 

How to say this following type of sentence in Sinhala?

 

“hey Bob, what are you doing?”
“I am just reading.”

 

Here Bob is doing the act of “reading” because he has nothing important to do at the moment. In Sinhala, we use the adverb “nikan” or “ohe:” like we used “just” in English.

 

Man nikan kiyavanavamin innava: . (I am just reading.)

Api ohe: katha: kara kara hitiya: . (We were just talking.)

 

You may put “ma:ra” as an adverb in front of an adjective or another adverb, and it has the meaning of “very”.

 

Eya: ma:ra lassanai. (She is so/very beautiful.)
Eya: ma:ra lassanata liyanava. (She writes so/very beautifully.)

 

Let’s see how to greet in Sinhala. In some occasions, English phrases are used too. You can wish (for anything) by putting “suba” (happy) in front of the occasion/day like “suba upandhiyanak (happy birthday)”, “suba naththalak (happy Christmas)”, etc.

 

Thank you, thanks, sthu:thiy, bohoma sthuthiy (thank you)

 

Good morning, suba udhae:sanak (good morning)

 

Good night, suba ra:thriyak (good night)

 

Good evening/afternoon, suba sandhae:vak (good evening/afternoon)

 

Sorry, excuse me, sama: venna (sorry, excuse me)

 

Hello (over the phone; same as in English)

 

Bye (over the phone; same as in English)

 

Passe hamuvemu, gihin ennam, see you (see you)

 

Hello, Hi (hello)

 

Kohomadha, kohomadha ithin, kohomadha saepa sani:pa (how are you doing)

 

Suba upandhiyanak, suba upandhinayak ve:va: (happy birthday)

 

Suba aluth avurudhdhak, suba aluth avurudhdhak ve:va: (happy new year)

 

Ese:ma ve:va (the same to you)

 

Congratulations, suba paethum (congratulations)

 

Suba pathanava: , good luck, all the best (Wish you good luck/success/etc, all the best)

"...va" mathak kala: kiyanna. (give my regards to "...")
Sherinva mathak kala: kiyanna. (give my regards to Sherin.)

 

Just as in any other language, Sinhala language too has a lot of idiomatic expressions (such expressions that has entirely different meaning than its literal meaning), and figures of speech. After you learn the basics of grammar and obtain a good working vocabulary, you can learn them slowly. I am showing some of them.

 

Amma: palla:, deviyan/deyyan palla: (cross my heart) (a swear word)
Amma: palla:, mama e:ka kivve: naehae. (Cross my heart; I did not say it.)

 

Ammata siri, appata siri (oh no, oh boy) (a surprise)
Ammata siri, oya: e:ka kala:dha? (oh no, did you do it?)

 

Dheyyane:, amme:, appe: (oh my god) (sad suprise)
Deyyane:, balla: seethale: maerila: . (Oh my god, the dog has died of coldness.)

 

Pissu, vika:ra, mala vika:ra, payiththiyan – bullshit, nonsense
Vika:ra, man ehema kivve: naehae. (Nonsense, I did not say so.)

 

Sha:, niyamai, sha: niyamai, maru, sha: maru (great, fantastic, excellent) (excitement)

 

Chik, shik, shit (shit) (anger or contempt)

 

i:ya: (say when you feel disgusting)

 

hena gahapiya, hena gahapan, maka bae:viyan (go to hell)

 

mala vadhe:, va:thayak/va:the:, mala dha:ne (pain in the butt)

 

magula, thuk, thuk vitharak (damn it)

kamak/avlak/prasnayak naehae (no problem)

"...ta" kamak naehae. (it doesn't matter to "...")
Mata kamak naehae eya: aeththa kivva:ta. (It doesn't matter to me if he told the truth).

Usually you put a simple sentence that ends with a verb in the form "kivva:ta" (in the past time) or "kiyanava:ta" (in the present time).

karume:, mage: karume: (just my luck)

 

This is the end of this series of lessons. I tried to teach spoken Sinhala with grammar. Lots of books teaching Spoken Sinhala out there lack solid grammatical underpinning and foundation. They just list thousands of phrases. You are supposed to memorize them like how a parrot does. I personally can’t imagine how you can express your own creative ideas then. Read, Analyse (patterns), Learn, and Memorize the material in the given order because later lessons are based on the previous ones. Good Luck!

 

I will show you the Sinhala alphabet. I recommend you to learn it too.