Hello,
Since I will very soon be going to Sri Lanka, I thought it was the opportunity to get a taste of one of the languages spoken there: Sinhala.
The Sinhala languages is spoken by roughly 15 million persons around the world, and is the main language of Sri Lanka, along with Tamil.
Sinhala possesses its own alphabet which is composed of 36 consonants and 18 diacritic symbols for vowels, of which respectively 24 consonants and 12 vowels are commonly used.
Regarding the pronounciation of the Sinhala language in itself, it is not very difficult. The syllables are slightly detached and the voice is a bit rounded, like spoken from the back of the mouth.
For more on pronunciation, have a look here: https://en.wikivoyage.org/wiki/Sinhala_phrasebook
Int this article I will use the following conventions:
ə: like the starting a in aware
æ: like e in bed
◌̄: indicates a long vowel.
dh: soft d, somehow like th in there
And now let’s have a look at some basic vocabulary:
| Pronouns | Possessive | ||
| මම mamə |
I | මගේ magæ |
my, mine |
| ඔබ obə |
you (formal) | ඔබගේ obəgæ |
your, yours (formal) |
| ඔයා oyā |
you (informal) | ඔයාගේ oyāgæ |
your, yours (informal) |
| එයා æyā |
he, she | එයාගේ æyāgæ |
his, her, hers |
| අපි api |
we | අපේ apǣ |
our, ours |
| ඔබල obəla |
you (plural, formal) | ඔබලගේ obəlagæ |
your, yours (plural, formal) |
| ඔයාල oyāla |
you (plural, informal) | ඔයාලගේ oyālagæ |
your, yours (plural, informal) |
| එයාල æyāla |
they | එයාලගේ æyālagæ |
their, theirs |
| Greetings and everyday words | |||
| ආයුබෝවන් āyubōwan |
Hello/goodbye (formal) Litteraly: May your lifespan be long. |
||
| හලෝ halō |
Hello (informal) | ගිහින් එන්නම් gihin ennam |
Goodbye (informal) |
| කොහොමද kohomədhə |
How are you? | හොඳින් ඉන්නවා hoňdhin innəva |
To be fine |
| ඔවු ovu |
Yes | නැහැ næhæ |
No |
| කරැණාකරල kalunākərəla |
Please | ඉස්තුති isthūti |
Thank you |
Basic conversations
A: ඔයාගේ නම මොකක්ද
A: oyāgæ namə mokakdhə.
A Your name (is) what?
B: මගේ නම Stéphane.
B: magæ namə Stéphane.
B: My name (is) Stéphane.
B: ඔයා Kevin ක්ද.
B: oyā Kevin dhə.
B You (are) Kevin?
A: මම Kevin.
A: mamə Kevin.
A: I (am) Kevin.
ක්ද (dhə) indicates a question.
A: ඔයාගේ රට මොකක්ද.
A: oyāgæ ratə mokakdhə.
A Your country (is) what?
B: මගේ රට ප්රංශය.
B: magæ ratə pransayə.
B: My country (is) France.
Note: Depending on the country name, ය (yə) can be replaced by වෙ (və).
B: ඔබ කොහෙන්ද.
B: oyā kohændhə.
B You where?
A: මම ඇමරිකාවෙන්.
A: mamə æmarikāvæn.
A: I (am) from America.
Note: In the same manner, depending on the country name, වෙන් (væn) can be replaced by යෙන් (yæn)
A: ඔයාගේ වයස කියද.
A: oyāgæ vayəsə kīyədhə.
A Your age (is) how much?
B: මගේ වයස X.
B: magæ vayəsə X.
B: My age (is) X.
One really usefull verb to know is කරනවා (kərənəva) which means doing, as added to a noun, it transforms the noun into a verbal form, like studies + doing gives studying.
If you are interested, you can find some interesting lessons on Dilshan Jayasinha’s Youtube channel:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPzCEEvlnxovOcGe7wpXLaw
Also, two good vocabulary lists I found:
http://www.sinhala-online.com/sinhalese-dictionary.html?searchterm=
http://www.omniglot.com/language/phrases/sinhala.php
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