The above photo was taken at my wedding reception…
You see, I got the help of my brother and my oldest school friend and did this romantic thingy with a couple of banners that had some cheesy but cute messages for my wife.
And in the last banner, I asked her if we could have our first dance as husband & wife…
[Pause for thousands of simultaneous “awwws” from the Tribesters]
One of the banners, which promised “Today, Tomorrow, and Always”… [pause for another yet this time shorter “aw”] … became the inspiration for this blog post.
So let’s put aside the romantic bla bla and start by learning how to say “today” in Sinhala > > >
How I’ve Organized This Post
- “Yesterday, Today, & Tomorrow”: The Sinhala words for these as well as 2 others
- Using them in the phrases: I’ll use “today” as an example in a few sample phrases
- Quick quiz: A quick 3-minute quiz to help you internalize what you learned
1. Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow
| Today | a∙dhȧ | |
| Yesterday | ee∙yé | |
| Tomorrow | hé∙tȧ |
| Day-before-yesterday | pé∙rḗ∙dha | |
| Day-after-tomorrow | a∙nidh∙dha |
2. Using them in sentences (with “today” as an example”)
General
| (It is) today | a∙dhȧ 1 | |
| (It is) not today | a∙dhȧ né∙méyi 1 |
Notes:
1 You could also say it with the word ‘ḗ∙kȧ’ (“it”). For example, “(It is) today = ‘ḗ∙kȧ a∙dhȧ’; “(It is) not today” = ‘ḗ∙kȧ a∙dhȧ né∙méyi”.
Specific Event (Present Tense)
| It is (taking place) today | ḗ∙kȧ a∙dhȧ thi∙yé∙nȧ∙va | |
| It is not (taking place) today | ḗ∙kȧ a∙dhȧ nǣ |
Specific Event (Past Tense)
| It was (taking place) today | ḗ∙kȧ a∙dhȧ thib∙ba | |
| It was not (taking place) today | ḗ∙kȧ a∙dhȧ thib∙bé nǣ |
With A Verb (Present Tense)
| I’m coming today | ma∙mȧ a∙dhȧ é∙nȧ∙va | |
| I’m not coming today | ma∙mȧ a∙dhȧ én∙né nǣ |
With A Verb (Past Tense)
| I came today | ma∙mȧ a∙dhȧ aa∙va | |
| I didn’t come today | ma∙mȧ a∙dhȧ aa∙vé nǣ |
With A Verb (Future Tense)
| I will come today | ma∙mȧ a∙dhȧ é∙nȧ∙va2 3 |
|
| I will not come today | ma∙mȧ a∙dhȧ én∙né nǣ |
Notes:
2 Notice that the phrases are identical to what we used in the present tense above. In spoken Sinhala, it’s time-descriptive words (like “today”, “later”, “next week”) that give context and make it future-tense
3 Also note that only for ‘ma∙mȧ’ you can alternatively say én∙nam instead of é∙nȧ∙va. Don’t worry about it for now. I plan to explain this in future blog posts when I start deconstructing Sinhala verbs soon. I promise!
3. Quick Quiz In Under 3 Minutes
Difficulty Level: Easy (“So easy that I almost want to unsubscribe from this blog”)
1. How would you say the following in Sinhala?:
a. “(It is) tomorrow” [general]
b. “(It is) not tomorrow” [general]
2. Translate the following into English?:
a. “ḗ∙kȧ hé∙tȧ thi∙yé∙nȧ∙va”
b. “ḗ∙kȧ hé∙tȧ nǣ”
3. How would you say the following in Sinhala?:
a. “It was (taking place) yesterday”
b. “It was not (taking place) yesterday”
Difficulty Level: Medium (“Hurts when I do it, but an ice pack afterwards should do the trick”)
4. If “going” = ‘ya∙nȧ∙va’ and “not going” = ‘yan∙né nǣ’, then how would you say the following?:
a. “I’m going today”
b. “I’m not going today”
5. If “worked” = ‘væ∙dȧ kȧ∙laa’ and “didn’t work” = ‘væ∙dȧ kȧ∙lḗ nǣ’, then translate the following:
a. “I worked the day-before-yesterday”
b. “I didn’t work the day-before-yesterday”
Difficulty Level: Hard (“I’ve had root canals that were more joyful”)
6. If “will cook” = ‘u∙yȧ∙nȧ∙va’ and “will not cook” = ‘u∙yan∙né nǣ’, then how would you say the following?:
a. “I will cook the day-after-tomorrow”
b. “I will not the day-after-tomorrow”
***
Give me your answers in the comments. Please try to get all 6 correct? Please?
Great post even though it’s short… and I knew the words but love the putting it in a sentence bit. So helpful! Let’s give this a shot!
1. Heta…. heta nemeyi
2. It is taking place tomorrow…it is not taking place tomorrow
3. Eka eeya thibba. .. eka eeya thibba nae
4. Mama adha yanava. .. mama adha yanne nae
5. Mama peredha vaeda kalaa…mama peredha vaeda kale nae
6. Mama anidhdha uyanava…mama anidhdha uyanne nae…
Thanks for the post! Still love the quiz idea so hope I got it right! And super cute idea at your wedding.
Hi Clarissa, that was quick! Let me get back to you about your answer in some time. Don’t want to give it away already but I think you already know how well you did.
Mage head going for a spin!!! whats all bout this?
Huh???
Hi again, you’ve got only one wrong. That’s in question 3. There are 2 important spelling errors you’ve made in your answers for a) & b). Care to try again? The rest is absolutely correct, well done.
Hi Dilshan,
Not long to go now until Christmas day. Never seems the same when it’s hot. Having a party tomorrow for some of my podi lamayi students.
I hope these are correct:
1 a. Heta.
b. Heta nemeyi.
2 a. It’s taking place tomorrow.
b. It’s not taking place tomorrow.
3 a. Eka eeya thibba.
b. Eka eeya thibba nae.
4 a. Mama adha yanava.
b. Mama adha yanne nae.
5 a. Mama peredha vaedakalaa.
b. Mama peredha vaedakale nae.
6 a. Mama anidhdha uyanava.
b. Mama anidhdha uyanne nae.
I hope they are round the right way this time.
Thank you. Patty
Hush! I hope I’ve done these correct.big thanks Sir Dilshan for this quiz!
1) a. heta
b. heta nemeyi
2) a. It is taking place tomorrow.
b. It is not taking place tomorrow.
3) a. eka eeye thibba
b. eka eeye thibbe nae
4) a. Mama adha yanava.
b. Mama adha yanne nae.
5) a. Mama peredha vaedakalaa.
b. Mama peredha vaedakale nae.
6) a. Mama anidh dha uyanava.
b. Mama anidh dha uyanne nae.
Well done, Juvy! All correct. Go on, do the happy dance.
hehe I will, Sir Dilshan.
Hi Patty, almost 100%. You see there’s are 2 important spelling errors you’ve made in your answer no. 3. Can you figure out what it is? For the rest, all correct, well done.
1. heta
heta nemeyi
2. eka heta thiyenava
eka heta nae
3. eka eeya thiyenava
eka eeya nae
4, mama adha yanava
mama adha yane nae
5, mama peredha vaeda kalae
mama peredha vaeda kalae
6. mama anidhdha uyanava
mama anidhdha uyanné nae
Hi Tracey, let’s start with what you got right. Your answers for 1, 4, 6 are correct. Well done.
No. 2: You’ve not translated it into English
No. 3: Please try again, thiyenava is present tense. You’ve also mis-spelled the word for “yesterday” (I won’t give you the answer, I’ll let you check it by yourself).
No. 5: Check the correct spellings of the sinhala word for “worked”.
I await your new answers.
Oops sorry about that. crazy time of year here and I rushed through without checking my work. Detention for me I think. (and me a teacher to)
2. It is (taking place) tomorrow.
it is not taking place tomorrow.
3. eka eeye thiyenava.
eka eeye nae.
5. mama peredha vaeda kalaa
mama peredha vaeda kalaa
hopefully these are correct.
Tsk tsk… Still a couple of errors.
2: correct
3: see what I said about present and past tense in my previous comment to you
5: a & b both have the same answer? Hmm…
I won’t immediately send you to detention. I’ll give you another chance.
Hi Dilshan
Thanks for allocating your time to teach us Sinhala.
Please my replies below.
Kind reds
Yaso
a. “(It is) tomorrow” [general]- eka heta.
b. “(It is) not tomorrow” [general]- eka heta nemei.
a. “ḗ∙kȧ hé∙tȧ thi∙yé∙nȧ∙va”
It’s happening tomorrow.
b. “ḗ∙kȧ hé∙tȧ nǣ”
It’s not happening tomorrow.
a. “It was (taking place) yesterday
Eka eeya thibba
It was not (taking place) yesterday. ḗ∙kȧ Eeya thib∙bé nǣ –
I’m going today ma∙mȧ a∙dhȧ Yannawa.
b. “I’m not going today”- mama adha yanne
a. “I worked the day-before-yesterday”
Mama ‘paredha vadȧ kȧ∙laa’
mama paredha ‘væ∙dȧ kȧ∙lḗ nǣ
a. “I will cook the day-after-tomorrow”
6) a. Mama anidh dha uyanava.
b. Mama anidh dha uyanne nae. –
Hi Yaso, Here you go:
1: Correct
2: Correct
3: You’ve mis-spelled the word for “yesterday”. The rest is correct.
4: In b) you’re missing one word.
5: You’ve mis-spelled the words for “day-before-yesterday’. The rest is correct.
6: Correct.
Let me know if you figured out your minor mistakes?
Hi Dilshan,
I think 3b should have been thibbe not thibba. Can’t find the other mistake. Perhaps I’m a bit thick!
You’ve also mis-spelled the word for “yesterday”. Once you get this right, you’re golden :)
Think I’ve found it.
eeye not eeya.
Haha, you beat me to it! Well done.
1a ḗ∙kȧ hé∙tȧ
b ḗ∙kȧ hé∙tȧ né∙méyi
2a It is (taking place) tomorrow.
b It is not (taking place) tomorrow.
3a ḗ∙kȧ ee∙yé thib∙ba
b ḗ∙kȧ ee∙yé thib∙bé nǣ
4a ma∙mȧ a∙dhȧ ya∙nȧ∙va
b ma∙mȧ a∙dhȧ yan∙né nǣ
5a ma∙mȧ pé∙rḗ∙dha væ∙dȧ kȧ∙laa
b ma∙mȧ pé∙rḗ∙dha væ∙dȧ kȧ∙lḗ nǣ
6a ma∙mȧ a∙nidh∙dha u∙yȧ∙nȧ∙va
b ma∙mȧ a∙nidh∙dha u∙yan∙né nǣ
Shintaro
This time I paid attention to the word order.
Well done, Shintaro. All correct, even the word order. Great stuff.
Hey Dilshan,
Would just like to give a massive thank you for the blog and the youtube videos you have put together. They are easy to follow and the phonetic spelling is very helpful as some of these sounds are hard to pronounce when English is your only language!!
I will be heading off to Sri Lanka very soon to do some volunteer work and was keen to learn some Sinhala to help me along as well as really immerse myself in Sri Lanka and the culture!
Keep up the amazing work, looking forward to many more blogs and videos to come, as well as hearing about your adventures!
Congratulations on the wedding as well :)
Bohoma isuti
Tijana
Thanks Tijana, very kind of you to say so. All the best with your volunteer work in SL. What kind of work will you be doing?
We will be working in orphanages helping kids out with english and playing games with them :)
Awesome work, very admirable. Have fun.
Hello Dilshan,
Thank for this post. Here are my answer. I didn’t read
the other comments before.
1. a) Heta.
b) Heta nemeyi.
2. a) It will be tomorrow. (Ce sera demain.)
b) It will not be tomorrow. (Ce ne sera pas demain.)
3. a) Eka eeye thibba.
b) Eha eeye thibbé nae.
4. a) Mama adha yanava.
b) Mama adha yanné nae.
5. a) Mama peredha vaeda kalaa.
b) Mama peredha vaeda kalé nae.
6. a) Mama anidhdha uyanava.
b) Mama anidhdha uyané nae.
Thanks again ;-)