A reasonable question you should be asking right now:
Why has Dilshan wasted his time (and more importantly, mine) by doing an entire post on giving out your phone number in Sinhala? We already covered numbers 0-9 in Part 1, didn’t we?
Allow me to explain… And also, don’t miss the fun assignment I’ve given you at the end. >>>
The reasons why I did this “phone” post (even if giving out your number is not an everyday occurrence):
- Unlike in English, in Sinhala you need to tweak the format of the digits you saw in Part 1 when giving out your number
- This same format is used for something more important (which I’ve mentioned below)
So, in the words of sneaky Kaa:
Let’s begin…
All You Need To Remember From Part 1
| zero – 0 | bin∙dhu∙wȧ | |
| one – 1 | é∙kȧ | |
| two – 2 | dhé∙kȧ | |
| three – 3 | thu∙nȧ | |
| four – 4 | ha∙thȧ∙rȧ | |
| five – 5 | pa∙ha | |
| six – 6 | ha∙yȧ | |
| seven – 7 | ha∙thȧ | |
| eight – 8 | a∙tȧ | |
| nine – 9 | na∙mȧ∙yȧ |
How To Convert To “Phone” Digits
Don’t get bogged down by this “mathematical” looking table. You’ll understand how to convert it naturally when you look at pronunciation tables right after.
Let’s see this in action below:
“Phone” Zero in Sinhala
A “Friendly”
| 0 | bin∙dhu∙wayi |
Lazy But Smart Infographic: “Phone” Zero in Sinhala
“Phone” 1-9 in Sinhala
(The “Repeaters”)
| 1 | é∙kayi | |
| 2 | dhé∙kayi | |
| 3 | thu∙nayi | |
| 4 | ha∙thȧ∙rayi | |
| 5 | pa∙hayi | |
| 6 | ha∙yayi | |
| 7 | ha∙thayi | |
| 8 | a∙tayi | |
| 9 | na∙mȧ∙yayi |
Lazy But Smart Infographic: “Phone” 0-9 in Sinhala
Flashcard Test
My advice: Keep going back and forth until you get all of them correct in one go. You’ll need it for the next post.
What You’ll See In The Next Post:
- How these “phone” numbers can be used to specify quantities.
- We’ll also start inserting what you know into basic sentences.
Fun Assignment: Call a friend and give them your number
- Call up that Sri Lankan person who’s the most impressed that you’re learning Sinhala.
- Tell them you want to practice your numbers in under a minute.
- Give your phone number in Sinhala using the infographics above (extra points for doing it without peeking)
- Ask them to repeat it in English to know if you got it right
- Comment below and tell me how it went.
(I got my wife to do this and the results were hilarious)
Leave all your comments below.
Ciao!
Hoi
I want tolk very fast? what van i do?
I honestly don’t know how to answer that question…
In the German language they also change a number when giving telephone numbers Tzwo instead of Zwei and that’s it whereas Sinhala is more logical.
Interesting, thanks. I didn’t know that.
In German there is no difference between the figure “zwei” and the phone number “zwei”.
“Tzwo” simply is a colloquial expression of “zwei” spoken in some part of Germany :)
Similar to differences in written and spoken Sinhala.
Understood, Regina. Thanks for your input.
How do you say “double seven” or something similar?
You’d say ‘ha∙thayi ha∙thȧ’ (lit. “seven and seven”). Hope you and Jessica are well. Been a while since I heard from you guys.
Hey there,
if you haven’t done a post about it already, woudl be nice if you
did a post on your favourite sri lankan foods !!!!!!!! :)
thanks !!! :)
Good suggestion. I did kind of touch on it in this one (albeit about food from a very specific time of the year):
I think you covered this in a post a few years ago (can’t remember now), but are there other times when the “ayi” ending is used? Why must the ending change (if used in other cases)?
Thanks!