One of my readers, who already has a good basic knowledge of Sinhala, recently asked me how to say “I need” instead of “I want”.
At first, the answer seemed quite straightforward to me: We use the same expression.
But just when I was about to send him my short reply, I understood that there is, in fact, a tricky nuance between the two expressions, which I completely missed!
It all depended on whether the thing we “want” or “need” is an OBJECT or an ACTION.
I realized that because I know the language, I personally don’t have to think twice before distinguishing the differences between the two. However, for someone who’s just starting to learn Sinhala, this could create some unnecessary head-scratching.
So, I thought I’d explain it in a very simplified way in this post, which is more or less an extract of the answer I sent.
“I want” in Sinhala
First let’s look at the expression “I want”
“I want”
ma∙tȧ ō∙né
(ma∙tȧ = “For me”; ō∙né = “want”)
Using “I want” and “I need” with an OBJECT
Let’s take the object “water” as an example and learn how to say “I want water” and “I need water” in Sinhala.
The Sinhala word for “water” is va∙thu∙rȧ
“I want water”
ma∙tȧ va∙thu∙rȧ ō∙né
(ma∙tȧ ō∙né = “I want”; va∙thu∙rȧ = “water”)
Notice that we placed the desired object between ma∙tȧ and ō∙né.
The good news…
ma∙tȧ va∙thu∙rȧ ō∙né can ALSO BE INTERPRETED as “I need water”
GRAMMAR RULE
When we want to say “I want” and “I need” with an OBJECT we would use the following sentence structure:
ma∙tȧ + [desired object] + ō∙né
Easy right?
The bad news (or let’s say, the “less good” news)…
This rule is slightly different when we replace the object with an ACTION…
Let’ me show you what I mean.
Using “I want” and “I need” with an ACTION
Let’s take the verb “go” as an example and learn how to say “I want to go” in Sinhala.
The infinitive of the desired action “go” is yan∙nȧ (which means “to go”)
“I want to go”
ma∙tȧ yan∙nȧ ō∙né
(ma∙tȧ ō∙né = “I want”; yan∙nȧ = “to go”)
Once again, notice that we placed the infinitive of the action between ma∙tȧ and ō∙né exactly like before. No changes there.
GRAMMAR RULE
When we want to say “I want” with an ACTION we would use the following sentence structure:
ma∙tȧ + [infinitive of the desired action] + ō∙né
(same structure as before)
But now let’s look at “I need to go” in Sinhala:
“I need to go”
ma∙mȧ yan∙nȧ ō∙né
(ma∙mȧ = “I”; yan∙nȧ = “to go”; ō∙né = in this case, “need”)
Notice that we still kept the word ō∙né but we replaced the word ma∙tȧ (which means “for me”) with ma∙mȧ (which means “I”)
ma∙mȧ yan∙nȧ ō∙né can be interpreted as either:
- “I need to go”; or
- “I have to go”; or
- “I must go”; or even
- “I should go”
Only the given context will indicate the intended meaning.
Some of you may look at it and go “oh no…” and see this as a bad thing.
Call me lazy but I tend to think it’s awesome because by learning just one phrase, you’re covering 4 different expressions. Leverage, baby, leverage!
Just remember the following rule and you’ll be fine:
GRAMMAR RULE
When we want to say “I need” with an ACTION we would use the following sentence structure:
ma∙mȧ + [infinitive of the desired action] + ō∙né
Summary:
After all this explanation, when it comes to “I want” and “I need” in spoken Sinhala, this is ALL you need to remember.
ma∙tȧ + [desired object] + ō∙né
ma∙tȧ + [infinitive of the desired action] + ō∙né
ma∙mȧ + [infinitive of the desired action] + ō∙né
(This can also be interpreted as “I have to go”, “I must go”, or “I should go”)
And that’s it.
Any questions? You know what to do…. Comment below, submit, expect answer…
i don’t really understand
You’re gonna have to be a tad bit more descriptive.. Tell me exactly what part you don’t understand and I’ll be happy to help.
To borrow a line from Jerry Maguire, “Help me help you”.
THx. i am a new student
Welcome Thaya! Happy that you joined.
Trying to learn Sinhala as my other half is Sri Lankan, and have find that there are so few resources available!
I’m really enjoying learning with you, it’s really fun and is actually sticking in my head! I just wish I wasn’t keeping it a surprise, as I need to practice with someone!
Thanks again
Hi Rebecca, that’s going to be an awesome surprise! True, the practicing would help the speed the learning process for sure. Thanks so much for the nice words about my material too. So glad to hear that it’s sticking to memory since that was something I focused on intensely (i.e. to make it easy to remember). Talk to you again sometime, please do keep me updated on your progress (and of course, the grand surprise).
The sinhala grammar is exactly same as that of my mother tongue malayalam, provincial language tamil and national language Hindi. Thanks Dilshan you have been a way better than a teacher.
Thank you Shiju. Very kind of you to say.
hi Dilshan,
How can we use other pronoun oyaa eyaa api
Hi Abrar,
Wherever there is ‘ma∙mȧ’, replace it with ‘o∙yaa’, ‘é∙yaa’, ‘a∙pi’…
Wherever there is ‘ma∙tȧ’, replace it with ‘o∙yaa∙tȧ’, ‘é∙yaa∙tȧ’, ‘a∙pi∙tȧ’.
Hope that helps.
Thanks alot for your helping to learn Sinhala
How would you say I would like, instead of I want, or is it acceptable (not rude) to say I want when ordering drinks or meals at restaurants ? Thank you.
Hi Adam,
I honestly can’t think of an equivalent for “I would like”.
Instead (and ff we take the same example of asking for water), you could say the equivalent of “Would you give me (some) water?” which is “ma∙tȧ va∙thu∙rȧ (pod∙dak) dhé∙nȧ∙va∙dhȧ?” . This might sound more polite but rest assured that using “I want” is also acceptable.
Hope that helps.
so easy to understand..i think it would be a bit more helpful if can hav a small bit of exercise after every part to help us revise our understanding just like we had in the adjective part 1…
thanks
Hi again Nargis, ok understood. Shall keep that in mind for future posts. Thanks for suggesting it.
Hi Dilshan
Thanks for letting us know about this slight deviation in sentence structure. This will definitely came in handy as these sentences are used extensively in daily communication.
Thanks
You’re welcome, Troy.
HI Dilshan sir….I understood this lesson…thank u…..
Hi Sonali, happy that you understood. Good luck with the rest.
this kind of grammars are really useful . the formula that you have used shows that learning sinhala is much easy.
Thank you.
Thank you Shafna :)
Hi there, firstly, thank you very much! Your site is always extremely helpful and well organized. I was wondering if one wants to turn it into a question, is it done just by adding -dha to “one”.
For example..”Do you want to go? -> oyaata yanna onedha?”.
Would that be correct?
Hi Lexi, yes that’s correct.
“You want to go” = o∙yaa∙tȧ yan∙nȧ ō∙né
“Do you want to go?” = o∙yaa∙tȧ yan∙nȧ ō∙né∙dhȧ?
Hope that helps?
Dilshaaaaaaannnn!!
I love it! You make it so simple and easy :D
Music to my ears :)
Dilshan,
Please explain these:
Questions:
Do you want / need water?
Do you want / need to go?
Negatives:
I do not want/ need water, etc.
Tenses:
I wanted / needed water, etc.
I did not want/need water, etc.
Here’s your late reply :)
Do you want / need water?
o∙yaa∙tȧ va∙thu∙rȧ ō∙né∙dhȧ?
Do you want / need to go?
o∙yaa∙tȧ yan∙nȧ ō∙né∙dhȧ?
Negatives:
I do not want/ need water, etc.
ma∙tȧ va∙thu∙rȧ ō∙né nǣ
Tenses:
I wanted / needed water, etc.
ma∙tȧ va∙thu∙rȧ ō∙nȧ vu∙naa
I did not want/need water, etc.
ma∙tȧ va∙thu∙rȧ ō∙nȧ vu∙né nǣ
Hi Dilshan,
In the above sentence, is there any difference in spoken Sinhala between ‘Do you want to go?’ and ‘Do you need to go?’.
Generally, you could use ‘ō∙né∙dhȧ?’ for both “want?” & “need?”.
However, you could use the following phrases to specifically mean “need”:
Do you need water?
o∙yaa∙tȧ va∙thu∙rȧ a∙vash∙yȧ∙dhȧ?
Do you need to go?
o∙yaa∙tȧ yan∙nȧ a∙vash∙yȧ∙dhȧ?
Negatives:
I do not need water, etc.
ma∙tȧ va∙thu∙rȧ a∙vash∙yȧ nǣ
Tenses:
I needed water, etc.
ma∙tȧ va∙thu∙rȧ a∙vash∙yȧ vu∙naa
I did not need water, etc.
ma∙tȧ va∙thu∙rȧ a∙vash∙yȧ vu∙né nǣ
Thank you! I really needed (not wanted) to know about this. I ask my friends in Sri Lanka and they didn’t understood my question.
I want to say thank you also for your blog, in general. I think is really nice what you do and you do it very well.
I’m in love with SriLanka and I hope someday I can speak good enough Sinhala. My friends teach me a lot, but with your blog I’m understanding many things, it is very helpful. I love it.
Thank you so much, Dilshan.
Glad to hear that Claudia, you’re welcome. Thanks for your comment. Good luck.