Here’s one more of those world famous* Lazy But Smart Summaries of Part 1 & Part 2 of Ma∙mȧ vs Ma∙tȧ, which Oprah Winfrey included in her “Top 10 things to do before you die” list.
Enjoy!
*Legal disclaimer: It’s not world famous, Oprah has never heard of me, and there are a million better things to do before you die than read a Summary of 2 Sinhala posts – but read it anyway.
Ma∙mȧ vs Ma∙tȧ – Part 1
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Ma∙mȧ vs Ma∙tȧ – Part 2
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If you want to hear the pronunciation of the words, head over to the original blog posts here: Part 1 & Part 2
Also…
…if anything is not clear – and I mean ANYYYYTHIIING – leave your question below.
(If not, I’ll just assume that I did another perfect summary that has no room for any improvement).
Prove me wrong.
Great post!
Thanks Daniel. Please check out Part 3 too.
I’m very happy that you’re back ;i was really wondering what happened to you ;you’re really great and what i like most (as much as the courses !!) is your sens of humour
just CHANGE nothing ; continue the same way .
one of your fan !!
Clarisse
Aw, how sweet. Thank you Clarisse. Please also check out Part 3 too.
Hallo, කොතොමද Dilshan? Where does ” I am hungry fit in?” Because “mater badakini” would be more like saying for me hungry or to me hungry.
One question, if dhil means heart in Hindi (hadawa in Sinhala), then what does Shan mean? Like in Dilshan ?
බොතොම isthoothi
That’s actually going to be an entire separate pose in this series, especially because, as you quite rightly pointed out, its English translation doesn’t make immediate sense. It will be bunched in with expressions of other states such as “I’m cold”, “I’m hot”, etc.
Can you hang on till then?
it was nice to hear from you after a period of absence.
Regards
Max
hello Dilshan
It was nice to hear from you after the period of absence.
Are you thinking of writing a book on conversational sinhalese
Thanks, it has been a while, indeed.
I keep getting this question, believe it or not. Please tell me what more what this would look like (what type of phrases, which scenarios, ideally how would it be presented, etc.), it’ll help me understand better what you want.
ah yeah – I am also still interested about your upcoming book, Dilshan!
Haha, ok. Noted. :)
Hi Dilshan,
I’m having difficulty following the logic of the part 2 compound verb definitions side using dhe.na.va relating to ma.ma and ma.ta. Or is it ma.ma sa.maa.va dhe.na.va ( I am forgiving ) and ma.ta sa.maa.va dhe.na.va ( you are forgiving )
“Or is it ma.ma sa.maa.va dhe.na.va ( I am forgiving )” – yes, it is.
“OYAA ma.ta sa.maa.va dhe.na.va ( you are forgiving )” – YOU are forgiving ME
Al you need to remember is that the same ‘mama & mata’ related rule for the verb dhenava will be the same for any compound verb that has the stem ‘dheneva’ (such as samaava dhenava)
I’ve explained this in Part 2.
Did I understand your question correctly, Eddie?
i seems i missed the links to the original blog posts, which of course helps. I only saw the summary parts 1&2,
Phew… My confidence in my ability to explain things has been restored.
Hi, good to hear from you again, your regular updates makes it easier to keep up with my Sinhalese.
So mata can mean ‘to me ‘ And ‘for me’? Whereas in English, to and for mean very different things, so does the meaning depend on context?
Yes Faye, always on context.
Thanks for the nice welcome too. Nice to be back with some new posts and read all these comments.
great post, Dilshan,
so happy about it!
Thanks Julie
I think your doing a excellent job in teaching everyone who wishes to learn Sinhala. Keep going, you got this without a doubt.
Thank you so much, Kristen! I appreciate the encouragement.
Hi Dilshan,
In your Part 1 summary you give two definitions of maṭa: ‘to me’ and ‘for me’. To illustrate the first you use the sentence ‘You are giving to me’, which is fine. But for the second you use the sentence ‘You are talking to me’, which is another example of ‘to me’, not ‘for me’. What would be a good example of a verb that takes the dative in Sinhala but translates to ‘for me’ in English?
Perhaps “I’ll buy you a beer” (i.e. “I’ll buy a beer *for* you”)?
Yes, that’s exactly right.
I’m buying a beer for you = mama oyaata “beer” ekak gannava.
Also, here’s a screenshot of table in Lesson 8 of the intro course you did when you joined:
Did I answer your question?
Yes, thanks. I was aware of the table in Lesson 8, but it doesn’t contain any verbs, so I was looking for a better example than “You are talking to me”. Especially since English also lets you say “You are talking *for* me” — which of course means something different.
Anyway, thanks for the reply. Glad to see these blog posts are still being monitored.
I’m hoping to get to Sri Lanka in January (Covid permitting). If so, මම ඔයාට බීර එකක් ගන්නම්… (Is that correct?)
Cheers,
Steve
Almost. Beer = බියර් so it would be මම ඔයාට බියර් එකක් ගන්නම්