VCE Sinhala flashcards

32 cards. Read the term and the definition here. The deck at the top of this page is optional.

mama

First-person singular pronoun meaning 'I'. Used as the subject of a sentence, e.g., mama gedara yanawa 'I go home'. The verb agrees with it in person and number.

api

First-person plural pronoun meaning 'we'. It can include or exclude the listener depending on context, and takes plural verb agreement in both spoken and literary Sinhala.

thiyenawa vs innawa

Thiyenawa expresses existence or possession of inanimate things ('there is', 'have'); innawa expresses the location or existence of people and animals. Choosing the wrong one is a common learner error.

aiya and akka

Kinship terms for elder brother (aiya) and elder sister (akka). Sinhala marks relative age in sibling terms, so a younger sibling uses nangi or malli instead.

Dative possession pattern

Sinhala expresses 'I have X' with the dative pronoun plus thiyenawa: mama-ta pothak thiyenawa 'a book is to me'. The possessed noun takes an indefinite -ak suffix.

Daily routine verbs

Core verbs for describing a day: nagitinawa (get up), nahanawa (bathe), kanawa (eat), bonawa (drink), yanawa (go), enawa (come), nidagannawa (sleep).

Time words

Ida (today), heta (tomorrow), iye (yesterday), dan (now), passe (later), ude (morning), hawasa (evening). These adverbs normally precede the verb in a Sinhala sentence.

Numbers one to five

Eka (1), deka (2), thuna (3), hathara (4), paha (5). When counting nouns, a classifier such as -ka attaches: poth deka means 'two books'.

Indo-Aryan affiliation

Sinhala is an Indo-Aryan language of the Indo-European family, spoken mainly in Sri Lanka. Its nearest widely cited relative is Dhivehi, spoken in the Maldives.

Diglossia in Sinhala

Sinhala shows diglossia: literary Sinhala (grantha) is used in formal writing and differs markedly in verb endings and vocabulary from colloquial spoken Sinhala (katha).

Elu vocabulary layer

Elu or Hela is the native Sinhala word stock, contrasted with Sanskrit and Pali loans. Example: native asun versus Sanskritic akshi for 'eye'.

Sinhala script features

Sinhala uses a Brahmic abugida written left to right, with circular letter shapes, independent vowels, consonants carrying inherent /a/, and vowel-sign diacritics called pili.

Prenasalised consonants

Sinhala has prenasalised consonant letters such as ඳ and ඬ, pronounced with a nasal before the stop (/nd/, /ng/). These sounds are unusual among Indo-Aryan languages.

Official language status

Sinhala is an official language of Sri Lanka alongside Tamil. It is the majority language and is used in administration, education and national media.

Place-name suffixes

Common Sinhala place-name endings include -gama (village) and -pura (city), as in Gamapaha and Anuradhapura. Recognising them helps decode unfamiliar place names.

Buddhist loan vocabulary

Theravada Buddhism brought Pali and Sanskrit terms into Sinhala, e.g., pirith (protective chanting), dagoba (stupa), bhikkhu (monk). These words carry cultural as well as religious meaning.

English loanword nativisation

Spoken Sinhala adapts English nouns with Sinhala grammar, often adding -eka: bas eka (the bus), phone eka. The verb in the sentence stays Sinhala.

Technology verbs

Everyday digital actions use Sinhala verbs with borrowed nouns: yawanawa (send), balanawa (look at), liyanawa (write), kiyanawa (say). Example: email ekak yawanawa 'send an email'.

Environment vocabulary

Key terms: parisara (environment), wana (forest), jalaya (water), aalaya (waste), wenas (change). Climate topics often borrow English phrases such as 'global warming' directly.

Comparison of change

Wæḍiya (more) and aḍuwa (less) combine with wenawa (become) to describe change: eka wæḍiya wenawa 'it becomes more'. The dative case marks the affected item.

Causative verb formation

Causatives are formed by adding -wa- to a verb stem: karannawa (do) becomes karawanawa (cause to do). Wenawa (become) contrasts with karannawa (make).

-ena passive participle

The -ena participle with wenawa gives a passive-like sense: liyawenawa 'it is written', kærewenawa 'it gets done'. This pattern is frequent in news and formal writing.

Urbanisation terms

Nagaraya (city), gamgama (village), pattanaya (town), and migration verbs yanawa (go) and palayanawa (flee) support discussion of rural-to-urban movement and its effects.

Intention with -nna inne

The infinitive in -nna plus inne expresses immediate intention: mama kanna inne 'I am about to eat'. With wenawa it expresses obligation: yanna wenawa 'must go'.

Ayubowan greeting

Ayubowan means 'may you live long' and is the traditional Sinhala greeting, said with palms together. It is more formal and culturally marked than a casual hello.

Honorific address

Respect toward elders, monks and strangers uses honorific nouns and verbs, e.g., vahansē and wædārenne. Plain imperatives directed at such people are socially inappropriate.

Second-person pronouns

Oya and oba are familiar 'you' forms; plural oyala addresses a group. Respectful distance is shown by honorific forms rather than by a single dedicated pronoun.

Sandesa kavya

Sandesa kavya is a classical Sinhala message-poem genre in which a bird carries a message. It is a key reference point for traditional literary form and imagery.

Kavi folk verse

Kavi are recited folk verses used at work and ceremonies, typically four lines with end rhyme. They preserve rhythm, alliteration and village imagery in oral tradition.

Aluth Avurudda

Aluth Avurudda is the Sinhala New Year celebrated in April, with its own vocabulary such as aurudu kudu (New Year games) and kiri ithirikāwa (milk boiling).

Vowel length contrast

Sinhala distinguishes short and long vowels (a/ā, i/ī), and the contrast is phonemic, changing word meaning. It also matters for poetic metre and correct spelling.

Proverbs as cultural norms

Kæhæti kathā (proverbs) encode cultural values, often drawing on the jak tree, paddy farming and village life. They are used to advise, criticise or summarise a situation.