For something or someone to move towards the speaker.
Now let’s learn the present, past, and future tense of “come” in Sinhala >>>
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Present Tense
Simple Present
(i.e. Verbs that express a habit or fact. Something that you’d regularly do)
come
é∙nȧ∙va
don’t/doesn’t come
én∙né nǣ
Sample Phrases:
I come often = ma∙mȧ ni∙thȧ∙rȧ∙mȧ é∙nȧ∙va
I don’t come often = ma∙mȧ ni∙thȧ∙rȧ∙mȧ én∙né nǣ
Present Continuous
(i.e. Verbs that express the action you’re doing at that specific moment)
coming
é∙nȧ∙va1
not coming
én∙né nǣ1
Notes:
1 In Sinhala, the Present Continuous Verb is IDENTICAL to the Simple Present Tense Verb
Sample Phrases:
I am coming now = ma∙mȧ dhæn é∙nȧ∙va
I am not coming now = ma∙mȧ dhæn én∙né nǣ
–
Past Tense
Simple Past
came
aa∙va
didn’t come
aa∙vé nǣ
Sample Phrases:
I came last week = ma∙mȧ gi∙yȧ sa∙thi∙yé aa∙va
I didn’t come last week = ma∙mȧ gi∙yȧ sa∙thi∙yé aa∙vé nǣ
Future Tense
Future Using Present Continuous
coming(FUT)
é∙nȧ∙va 2
not coming(FUT)
én∙né nǣ 2
Notes:
2 In Sinhala, we often use the Present Continuous Verb to express a future action. It is the context (e.g. “later”, “tomorrow”, “next week”) that will indicate that it’s in the future.
Sample Phrases:
I am coming(FUT) next week = ma∙mȧ é∙nȧ sa∙thi∙yé é∙nȧ∙va
I am not coming(FUT) next week = ma∙mȧ é∙nȧ sa∙thi∙yé én∙né nǣ
And that’s all folks! Now wasn’t that easy?
Here’s a Lazy But Smart summary for you:
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All You Need To Remember:
In spoken Sinhala, the Simple Present, Present Continuous, and Future Tense are IDENTICAL
“come”, “coming”, and “coming(FUT)” = é∙nȧ∙va
“don’t/doesn’t come”, “not coming”, and “not coming(FUT)” = én∙né nǣ
The Past Tense of “Come” in Sinhala is:
“came” = aa∙va
“didn’t come” = aa∙vé nǣ
The verb form in Sinhala doesn’t change based on who is doing the action! (You’ll see this in the quiz below):
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Quiz Time! Now You Try It…
(Try to answer each of the 8 questions by yourself before you “Click to View the Answer”, ok?)
Present Tense
1. If “father” is ‘thaath∙tha’, then how would you say…
“Father comes often”?
Click to View the Answer
Click to View the Question
thaath∙tha ni∙thȧ∙rȧ∙mȧ é∙nȧ∙va
Present Tense
2. If “my father” is ‘ma∙gé thaath∙tha’, then how would you say…
“My father doesn’t come often”?
Click to View the Answer
Click to View the Question
ma∙gé thaath∙tha ni∙thȧ∙rȧ∙mȧ én∙né nǣ
Present Tense
3. If “right away” is ‘dhæn∙mȧ∙mȧ’, then how would you say…
“My father is coming right away”?
Click to View the Answer
Click to View the Question
ma∙gé thaath∙tha dhæn∙mȧ∙mȧ é∙nȧ∙va
Present Tense
4. If “My mother” is ‘ma∙gé am∙ma’, then how would you say…
“My mother is not coming right away”?
Click to View the Answer
Click to View the Question
ma∙gé am∙ma dhæn∙mȧ∙mȧ én∙né nǣ
Past Tense
5. If “last month” is ‘gi∙yȧ maa∙sȧ∙yé’, then how would you say…
“My mother came last month”?
Click to View the Answer
Click to View the Question
ma∙gé am∙ma gi∙yȧ maa∙sȧ∙yé aa∙va
Past Tense
6. If “my son” is ‘ma∙gé pu∙thaa’, then how would you say…
“My son didn’t come last month”?
Click to View the Answer
Click to View the Question
ma∙gé pu∙thaa gi∙yȧ maa∙sȧ∙yé aa∙vé nǣ
Future Tense
7. If “next month” is ‘é∙nȧ maa∙sȧ∙yé’, then how would you say…
“My son is coming(FUT) next month”?
Click to View the Answer
Click to View the Question
ma∙gé pu∙thaa é∙nȧ maa∙sȧ∙yé é∙nȧ∙va
Future Tense
8. If “my daughter” is ‘ma∙gé dhu∙wȧ’, then how would you say…
“My daughter is not coming(FUT) next month”?
Click to View the Answer
Click to View the Question
ma∙gé dhu∙wȧ é∙nȧ maa∙sȧ∙yé én∙né nǣ
And voila! You now know the basics of the verb “come” in Sinhala.
Wesley, as usual, you’ve raised some great points (I still remember your advice to remove the Bill Cosby quote I had on my About Page which I had forgotten was there, haha).
Funnily enough, ‘é∙nȧ’ means “the coming” (as an adjective). Put it another way, “the one that is coming”. In the context of the blog post, it means “the week that is coming” or “next week”.
Dilshan, I like the quiz format very much, thank you. And I would REALLY REALLY like it if the practice sentences were available on audio (to make sure I am pronouncing the new vocabulary correctly: You can’t fool me, I know how tricky Sinhala is with its stresses on the “wrong” syllables!) But there must be a reason that you didn’t include that…like, maybe, you have a life away from LBSS. So…does the sooper-dooper buy-it-now phrasebook include audio of each word/phrase? I live in Sri Lanka so I could find someone to be my walking dictionary but how nice if I were able to work alone all through the night seven days a week to try to master (at a beginner’s level) this lingo….
Tell me something, Jeffrey. If I did set aside some time for this and recorded the “bonus” audio in a neat little package and made it available for sale at a fair price, would you (or anyone reading this) be interested in buying it? What else could/should I add to this package that’ll sweeten the offer? I’m thinking out loud here and am just trying to gauge the level of interest.
Thanks for this really clear summary. In the quiz had you thought of asking some questions the other way round as well i.e. from Sinhala to English? I find I need to do both to get the new words to really stick, and for good listening comprehension.
Great job on the new quiz format, me likey very much :-)
I thought nitereme meant “always”, guess I learned it wrong?
Btw, I was confused for a split second by the word “next” (ene), which looks a lot like the verb :-)
Wesley, as usual, you’ve raised some great points (I still remember your advice to remove the Bill Cosby quote I had on my About Page which I had forgotten was there, haha).
ni∙thȧ∙rȧ∙mȧ = often/frequently
hæ∙mȧ∙this∙sé∙mȧ = always
Funnily enough, ‘é∙nȧ’ means “the coming” (as an adjective). Put it another way, “the one that is coming”. In the context of the blog post, it means “the week that is coming” or “next week”.
Does that make it more clear?
love the quiz! Thanks
Awesome, Renee.
How many did you answer correctly? No shame in telling me the truth. If you didn’t get them right, it means I didn’t explain it well enough, right?
Dilshan, I did well in the quiz. Some friends ask my how I learned. I shall gladly recommend your name. Thank you.
Thanks Jose, I love hearing that.
Dilshan, I like the quiz format very much, thank you. And I would REALLY REALLY like it if the practice sentences were available on audio (to make sure I am pronouncing the new vocabulary correctly: You can’t fool me, I know how tricky Sinhala is with its stresses on the “wrong” syllables!) But there must be a reason that you didn’t include that…like, maybe, you have a life away from LBSS. So…does the sooper-dooper buy-it-now phrasebook include audio of each word/phrase? I live in Sri Lanka so I could find someone to be my walking dictionary but how nice if I were able to work alone all through the night seven days a week to try to master (at a beginner’s level) this lingo….
“…maybe, you have a life away from LBSS”…
Nail. Hit. On the head :)
Tell me something, Jeffrey. If I did set aside some time for this and recorded the “bonus” audio in a neat little package and made it available for sale at a fair price, would you (or anyone reading this) be interested in buying it? What else could/should I add to this package that’ll sweeten the offer? I’m thinking out loud here and am just trying to gauge the level of interest.
Mr. dilahan
such a simple way of teaching sir. i never experienced such interesting way of learning any language
Thanks Shashikala, glad you like it.
Thanks for this really clear summary. In the quiz had you thought of asking some questions the other way round as well i.e. from Sinhala to English? I find I need to do both to get the new words to really stick, and for good listening comprehension.