“8 days a week… I loooove you, 8 days a week… Is not enough to show I care”
– The Beatles, 1964
This is the song that has been stuck in my head the entire week…
… Exactly from the moment I decided to do a post on the days of the week in Sinhala. So I felt that it was only fair that I name it after this song.
Howdy folks… (“Howdy?” When did I start saying “Howdy”?), here’s a blog post I should’ve done years ago but which I had overlooked.
This came about thanks to one of your emails that rudely interrupted my Sunday brunch last week…
You see, I was out with the family for lunch last Sunday. You know, at one of those all-you-can-stuff-your-fat-face-with type of buffets. I like doing that once in a way, especially when I’ve been careful with the carbs-intake during the week.
As a rule, I rarely check my phone in places like this. I like to be completely switched off. In doesn’t make sense to me to be surrounded by beautiful scenery, beautiful people, and not to mention, to spend a fair bit of money, and then bury my head in my phone like an Ostrich would do.
(In the ground I mean. I’ve so far not seen an ostrich with an iPhone)
I’ve read somewhere the words “Give them the gift of your undivided attention” and that’s what I intended on giving my companions.
But in the midst of typical foodie-like bahavior of taking pictures of each serving (isn’t that such a lousy thing to do), I unconsciously did the unthinkable…
I checked my email.
Dun dun duuuunnnn….
This *may* have been that exact moment when it happened. I don’t know, it’s tough to keep up with the paparazzi these days.
Photo Credits: Awesome Father
And there it was…
Subject line: “Quick Question”
(They always start with quick question, by the way. I’m no longer naive to believe subject lines anymore).
Message: “Hey Dilshan, quick question. How do you say Friday in Sinhala? I want to tell my girlfriend that I’m coming on Friday”.
Even before I finished reading it, I grunted with annoyance and was about to point him to the link of the post I did on days of the week in Sinhala when I realized…
“Woaaaaah Dilshan, you magnificent gift to all Sinhala learners in the world…” (my thoughts are very complimentary to my fat ego), “You’ve never done days of the week in Sinhala!!!”
So I decided that this is the topic I was going to tackle this week.. and as any ultra-motivated self-respecting blogger would do, I then immediately put away my phone and went to load my dessert plate with another kilo of sweet sweet watalappam.
What You’ll Get In This Post
In addition to just the 7 days (not 8 as the misleading title may have umm… “mislead” you), I’ve also added some related phrases you can immediately start using (And of course with audio. You know me…)
I’ve also thrown in a couple of surprises and have asked you at the end to make one specific suggestion.
But that’s later. For now, juts go ahead and dive right in…
Like an ostrich.
Table 1: Days Of The Week in Sinhala
| Monday | saňdhu∙dha | |
| Tuesday | aňgȧ∙ha∙ru∙waa∙dha | |
| Wednesday | ba∙dhaa∙dha | |
| Thursday | bra∙has∙pȧ∙thin∙dha | |
| Friday | si∙ku∙raa∙dha | |
| Saturday | sé∙nȧ∙su∙raa∙dha | |
| Sunday | i∙ri∙dha |
Table 2: Sample Phrases Using The Days Of The Week in Sinhala
Using “Monday” As An Example
| On Monday | saňdhu∙dha | |
| Before Monday | saňdhu∙dha∙tȧ ka∙lin | |
| After Monday | saňdhu∙dha∙tȧ pas∙sé |
| On which day is it? | ḗ∙kȧ thi∙yén∙né ka∙vȧ∙dha∙dhȧ? | |
| It is on Monday | ḗ∙kȧ saňdhu∙dha thi∙yé∙nȧ∙va | |
| It is before Monday | ḗ∙kȧ saňdhu∙dha∙tȧ ka∙lin thi∙yé∙nȧ∙va | |
| It is after Monday | ḗ∙kȧ saňdhu∙dha∙tȧ pas∙sé thi∙yé∙nȧ∙va |
| On which day was it? | ḗ∙kȧ thib∙bé ka∙vȧ∙dha∙dhȧ? | |
| It was on Monday | ḗ∙kȧ saňdhu∙dha thib∙ba | |
| It was before Monday | ḗ∙kȧ saňdhu∙dha∙tȧ ka∙lin thib∙ba | |
| It was after Monday | ḗ∙kȧ saňdhu∙dha∙tȧ pas∙sé thib∙ba |
| I’m coming on Monday | ma∙mȧ saňdhu∙dha é∙nȧ∙va | |
| I’m coming before Monday | ma∙mȧ saňdhu∙dha∙tȧ ka∙lin é∙nȧ∙va | |
| I’m coming after Monday | ma∙mȧ saňdhu∙dha∙tȧ pas∙sé é∙nȧ∙va |
| I came on Monday | ma∙mȧ saňdhu∙dha aa∙va | |
| I came before Monday | ma∙mȧ saňdhu∙dha∙tȧ ka∙lin aa∙va | |
| I came after Monday | ma∙mȧ saňdhu∙dha∙tȧ pas∙sé aa∙va |
Random trivia – Planet Names & The Days of The Week In Sinhala
- Moon in Sinhala: ‘saňdhȧ/haňdhȧ’
- Monday in Sinhala: ‘saňdhu∙dha’
- Mars in Sinhala: ‘aňgȧ∙ha∙ru’
- Tuesday in Sinhala: ‘aňgȧ∙ha∙ru∙waa∙dha’
- Mercury in Sinhala: ‘bu∙dhȧ’
- Wednesday in Sinhala: ‘ba∙dhaa∙dha’
- Jupiter in Sinhala: ‘bra∙has∙pȧ∙thi’
- Thursday in Sinhala: ‘bra∙has∙pȧ∙thin∙dha’
- Venus in Sinhala: ‘si∙ku∙ru’
- Friday in Sinhala: ‘si∙ku∙raa∙dha’
- Saturn in Sinhala: ‘sé∙nȧ∙su∙ru’
- Saturday in Sinhala: ‘sé∙nȧ∙su∙raa∙dha’
- Sun in Sinhala: ‘i∙rȧ’
- Sunday in Sinhala: ‘i∙ri∙dha’
Fascinating, right?
Now your turn…
1. Click on any of the social media buttons to share this with anyone who might find it useful
2. In the comments below, tell me other days of the week related phrases that you can think of. The more fun & useful it is, the more likely I’ll think about translating it for everyone.
Thanks, you beautiful people!
Want more “Lazy But Smart” Sinhala words & phrases like what you just saw?
Oh Dilshan,Tuesday is so difficult all the other days are much easier…thanks it’s so interesting and useful days of the week are part of many conversations.
Thanks hope you enjoy India,I did a tour any years ago…theTaj Mahal was amazing at day break and sunset.
Regards
Anthony
True, Tuesday is bit of a mouthful. I’ve been to the Taj earlier this year. In the morning but not at day break, which I can imagine must have been amazing.
Hi Dilshan, thank you so much for this blog post (and for all your posts, as they are very helpful for learning Sinhala)! If I want to say “Happy Sunday!”, would I say “Santhosayi Iridha!”? If that is not right, what is the correct way to say that? And, using the correct phrase, can I substitute each of the other days of the week in the same manner? (For example, if “Happy Sunday!” Is indeed “Santhosayi Iridha!” In Sinhala, would “Happy Tuesday!” be “Santhosayi Angaharuwaadha!”? Thanks in advance, and Santhosayi Iridha!
Hi Annie, to be honest, no one ever says anything that even remotely resembles “Happy Sunday”, at least not in day-to-day talk. If you twist my arm, I’d probably say it’s “Suba Iridha davasak vewa” but even re-reading what I just said makes it sound very odd to me. You might hear a tv/radio presenter wishing the listeners that but I would not say that to a friend of mine. Which is odd because while living in Monaco it was very common for me to end a conversation with “bon dimanche”, which obviously means “Happy Sunday”.
PS: santhosayi = “(am/are/is) happy”
So does this mean that “day” in Sinhala is “dha”? Yes, it’s fascinating that the days of the week were named after the planets! Thank you!
Sara
Hi Sara, you’ve stumbled on what I plan to do for the next blog post… Giving the Sinhala words for day, week, month, & year.
To answer your question…
In normal conversation “day” = ‘dha∙vȧ∙sȧ’
You’ll notice the word ‘dha’ in it. ‘dha’ is the word for “day” in proper/old Sinhala (if you understand what I mean). Although we wouldn’t use it when speaking, we do use derivatives of it. For example:
“That day” = é∙dhaa
“1st” (date of the month) = pa∙lȧ∙vé∙ni∙dha
See what I mean?
Yes, I think so. It seems most languages have an “old” version and are constantly being “updated”. Thank you for such thorough explanations!
Awesomesies. You’re welcome.
Awesome as usual!
I realized that the planets giving the names to the days of the week are the same as in Italian, bonus! Now I just have to remember which planet is which…
As for sentences…
“When are you leaving?” “I’m leaving on …”
“What day is it today? (I don’t know about you but I tend to lose track of time during the summer…)
Bye!
Laura
Hi again Laura,
“When are you leaving?” = ‘o∙yaa yan∙né ka∙vȧ∙dha∙dhȧ?’ (or replace ‘yan∙né’ with ‘pi∙tath vén∙né’)
“I’m leaving on …” = ‘ma∙mȧ yan∙né ka∙vȧ∙dha∙dhȧ?’
“What day is it today? = ‘a∙dhȧ dha∙vȧ∙sȧ mo∙kak∙dhȧ?’ (Lit. “Today day what?”) or ‘a∙dhȧ koyi dha∙vȧ∙sȧ∙dhȧ?’ (lit. “today which day?”)
Cool?
Hey Dilshan aiya,
Hate to be picky, but I think there may be a slight error in your message above…! Hint: it’s in this sentence:
“I’m leaving on …” = ‘ma∙mȧ yan∙né ka∙vȧ∙dha∙dhȧ?’
Surely, ‘ma∙mȧ yan∙né ka∙vȧ∙dha∙dhȧ?’ means ‘what day am I leaving?’, and for ‘I’m leaving on…’ you’d say ‘‘ma∙mȧ yan∙né…’
Other than that, a very useful post as usual!
Many thanks and greetings from the rainy UK,
Michelle
Hello Dilshan!
Welcome to India – hope you will touch south India this time!
I am coming to Sri Lanka in the third week of November-
so seriously started my Sinhala lessons, Ostrich-style!
Great topic – but there are many more relevant expressions I wish to learn.
Shall write a separate mail to you on that.
Cheerio!
Thanks Uma, good luck with the preparations for the trip.
When you are doing the months of the year will you also be telling us about pita days as well. I’m interested to find out more about them and why they are celebrated (other than being a day off work).
“Pita days”? As in days dedicated to celebrating the Mediterranean bread that is delicious with hummus?…
I’m just teasing you. I believe you meant to say “Poya” days, right?
That is actually not a bad idea to have a small trivia box about each Poya day (they each have a special name and as someone who studied Buddhism as a kid, I can still name all 12 of them).
Thanks for the suggestion. That’s great.
Very good, almost perfect :)
“Almost”?
Hi can you tell me how to say
by wednesday (for example can you do it by wednesday? or is it just kalin again?
Also:
Every wednesday
every week
every other wednesday
next wednesday
twice a week (etc)
Thanks!
Great posts!
Charlotte
Hi Charlotte, excellent questions. Here goes:
“by wednesday” = yes, you can still use ‘ka∙lin’ again, if the meaning of “by” in this context is indeed “before”. If “by” instead means something like “I’ll feel better by Wednesday”, you’ll say ‘ba∙dhaa∙dha vé∙nȧ∙ko∙tȧ’
“Every Wednesday” = ‘hæ∙mȧ ba∙dhaa∙dha’ or ‘hæ∙mȧ ba∙dhaa∙dha∙mȧ’
“every week” = ‘hæ∙mȧ sa∙thi∙yȧ’ or ‘hæ∙mȧ sa∙thi∙yȧ∙mȧ’
“every other Wednesday” = I honestly don’t know. Will check.
“next Wednesday” = ‘é∙nȧ ba∙dhaa∙dha’
“twice a week” (etc) = ‘sa∙thi∙yȧ∙kȧ∙tȧ dhé∙paa∙rak’ or ‘sa∙thi∙yȧ∙kȧ∙tȧ dhé∙sæ∙rȧ∙yak’
Does that make sense?
Dilshan… I appreciate your dedicated work on this. It is so helpful for beginners to catch the correct pronunciation as well as meaning. It seems that availability of sinhala learning sites is somewhat less but u r filling that gap very well i guess.
Thanks a lot ?
Thanks Mehatheepan. I appreciate your comment.
Thank you. That’s very kind of you to say.
Hi Dilshan,
hehe… actually you have never posted names of the week. BTW your posts have become rarely :-o. you should take your time in India to write a couple of new outraging posts.
Very cool is the “random trivia”. Its amazingly transparent in Sinhala.
In the danger to be the ugly bigmouth who wants to tell you old news … waaahh… are you aware that it is very similar in English as well as in French? It is only mixed up with some germanic or greek gods, e.g. Wednesday – the day of the god “Wodan”, thursday = the day of God Thor and so on…
Hi Julie, I know, shame on me, it’s been a while since I posted…. But you’re one of the few people who could guess why.. (it relates to something I sent to you for your review, remember?). Been busy with that. Soooooo busy. But it’s going to be released soon. After that, I’ll take a one week nap.
About the trivia, I didn’t know about them being named after gods so this is not old news. I actually never thought about it, so thanks. I see the link now.
;-) actually I can guess why ur posts are that rarely – and I am waiting unpatiently for the ready gorgious masterpiece of masterpieces. Seriously :-)
To be honest I was wondering if I should better ask u about your progress (as a big kick to you… ) – or waiting humbly and exercising unbelievable restraint.
Hehe, but now u started with this issue – soooooo: WHEN ??????
Believe me, there is no one more impatient (and frustrated) that it is not released yet than I am… Even now, I was working on it and took a break to check my blog comments. Just FYI, the final book is now at 360 pages without the appendix (and 465 pages with it)! Also the structure has changed so much since you last saw it. And yes, I did remove “Religion” from the section “Interest & Hobbies”, haha.
Thank you for the kind encouraging words. If not for my travels this week, I would’ve finished it but I guess now it’ll be delayed by an additional week.
Hey there, me again!
(I’m a woman on a mission, and since yours is the only Sinhala resource that I actually trust, I’m afraid you’re stuck with me!)
How about the distinction between weekday and weekend? Are there terms for the day after tomorrow/day before yesterday?
In terms of frequency, what if you wanted to say ‘every day’, or ‘always’? I seem to remember ‘haemadhaama’ and ‘haemathissima’ – are those right?
I’m looking forward to whatever cryptic secret project you’re working on, as discussed with Julie in comments above, with great anticipation.
Thanks, as always!
Michelle
Hi Michelle, sorry about not getting back to you earlier. Been busy traveling and haven’t had much to respond to messages and comments. Will look into it soon and get back to you. Also thanks for pointing out a possible error on the post in a separate comment you posted. I haven’t been able to verify it yet but I’m taking your word for it. Keep up the enthusiasm. I love it!
Coucou Dilshan,
Tu connais l’expression familière en français : “Mais qu’est-ce que tu mijotes ?”. Tout cela me semble bien mystérieux…
Mais permets-moi de te souhaiter bonne chance pour ton projet, quel qu’il soit. Moi, j’ai ma petite idée… serait-ce un livre ? Bon, je sais, tu n’en diras pas plus ici, mais j’espère que tu nous tiendras informés, nous tes fidèles lecteurs de LBSS.
Si tu n’as pas le temps de répondre, tout va bien. Et encore merci pour ton dernier post.
Amicalement.
Elisabeth
Salut Elisabeth, desolé I didn’t see your comment before. Yes yes, the big fat secret project was my 1500 words & phrases ebook, which I released just a few days before my other secret “project”, which was my wedding…
Sorry again for not responding before.
DEAR SIR,
THANK YOU SO MUCH SIHALESE LESSON SHARE TO ME IT WAS REALLY HELPFUL FOR PART OF MY LIFE AND BEGINNER TO TILL NOW ALL ARE INTERESTING TO LEARNING SIR
RESPECTFULLY
CAROLINE.
You’re very welcome
Dilshan,
Your blog posts, lessons, and global perspective are always welcomed. I only wish I had more time to study Sinhala than I do, but I keep plugging away at it.
BTW, a local Sri Lankan friend told me two days ago, when I introduced him to your sites, that the name, Jayasinha, translates to “jaya” as “winning” or “victory” in English and “sinha” as “lion”. Is that your understanding as well? If so, would that make you “Lion King”? :-)
Thank you for shedding light on one of the lesser known languages of our world.
Bill
Hi Bill, thanks for the feedback. I particularly liked “global perspective”. Made me feel like 007…
Yes, I used to love to show off to my foreign friends that my name means “Victorious Lion”. I’m quite sure I mentioned something about it in this post:
And yes, I am the Lion King. Officially.
Thanks for the comment, Bill.
Hi Dilshan,
Thank you sooo much for your best lessons. you’ve done a great job. this blog site and your each and every lessons are really helpful to improve my pronunciation and get meaning.
really awesome…..well structured lessons.
Thank you so much.
Regards,
Jesny
Thanks Jesny!
How to say
Today
Yesterday
tomorrow
Day before yesterday/tomorrow
Hello Dilshan, these are great! You’ve really broken down Sinhala quite well. I never knew that other stuff about the days corresponding with names of planets. Thanks for your hard work my fiancé Brydon is learning and I’m somewhat ok at Sinhala, I get more fluent when I visit Sri Lanka but lose it when I get back home :( worst. Anywho thanks a bunch! Have a good one :)
That’s awesome, thanks Tabitha. Let’s hope that Brydon doesn’t overtake you in the Sinhala learning department, right? ;-)
hi dilshan aiya. when you mentioned ‘on which day is it’, is it wrong to place innava instead of thi∙yé∙nȧ∙va ?
Yes buddy, the correct word would be ‘thiyénné’ not ‘inné’ since we’re referring to an inanimate thing (which in this case is ‘ḗ∙kȧ’ which means “it”).
For example, if you want to say “He lives in Sri Lanka”, then you’d say ‘é∙yaa in∙né Sri Lankaa∙vé’ since we’re referring to a living being (in this case ‘é∙yaa’ which means “he”).
Does that make sense?