Sinhala

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Massimiliano B
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Re: Sinhala

Postby Massimiliano B » 2012-07-07, 13:38

Here are three verbs:

bonǝwa = drink

balǝnǝwa = look, observe, see

kǝrǝnǝwa = do, make

The emphatic ending -nne and the infinitive ending -nnǝ are added to the verb stem obtained by removing -nǝwa. The verb stem -ǝ becomes -a:

bonǝwa : the stem is bo-; the emphatic form is bonne; the infinitive form is bonnǝ.

balǝnǝwa : the stem balǝ-; the emphatic form is balanne; the infinitive form is balannǝ.

kǝrǝnǝwa : the stem is kǝrǝ-; the emphatic form is kǝranne; the infinitive form is kǝrannǝ.

The infinitive can be used as an imperative.


The verb kǝrǝnǝwa (do, make) is very important in Sinhalese: it is used often with nouns in order to express actions for which there is not an independent verb. For example, the verb "to use" is expressed by the noun paawicci (=the use/usage) and the verb kǝrǝnǝwa. 'I use' is thus 'mamǝ paawicci kǝrǝnǝwa' (= I make use).



The word laŋ̌gǝ means "near, with, by (location)". It is a postposition:

api laŋ̌gǝ = with us.

arǝ bas-ekǝ laŋ̌gǝ = near that bus.


laŋ̌gǝ together with tiyenǝwa (= there is) is equivalent to the English 'have':

api laŋ̌gǝ X tiyenǝwa (literally: by us X there is) = We have X.

Bye!
Last edited by Massimiliano B on 2012-12-09, 0:19, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: Sinhala

Postby Meera » 2012-07-08, 5:58

These are awesome! Many thanks :mrgreen:
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Re: Sinhala

Postby Massimiliano B » 2012-07-26, 20:22

The genitive case


Nouns of Class 1 have a genitive ending in -ekee in the definite and in -ekǝkǝ in the indefinite:

direct definite (=nominative): bas-ekǝ = the bus; genitive definite: bas-ekee = of the bus;

direct indefinite: bas-ekak = a bus; genitive indefinite: bas-ekǝkǝ = of a bus.

Nouns of class 2 have a genitive definite ending either in -ee or in -e (it depends on the word). The genitive indefinite ending is -ǝkǝ:

direct definite: rupiyǝlǝ = the rupee;genitive definite: rupiyǝlee = of the rupee;

direct indefinite: rupiyǝlak = a rupee; genitive indefinite: rupiyǝlǝkǝ = of a rupee.


Nouns of class 3 have a genitive definite in -ǝ, identical with the direct definite:

direct definite: kolǝm̌bǝ = (the) Colombo; genitive definite: kolǝm̌bǝ = of (the) Colombo.

In the book I'm studying (it's here: http://www.eric.ed.gov/ERICWebPortal/de ... o=ED025759) there are no indefinite words of this class in the first two lessons.

Nouns of class 4 have a genitive definite form identical with the direct definite:

direct definite: maatǝlee = (the) Matale (a city); genitive definite: maatǝlee = of (the) Matale.


Use of the genitive

1) A noun or pronoun followed by the postposition iňdǝla (=from) is always in the genitive case:

kalutǝrǝ iňdǝla = from Kalutara.

2) The genitive is an equivalent of the English -'s.

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Re: Sinhala

Postby Meera » 2012-07-29, 18:32

Thanks I really love reading these :mrgreen:
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Re: Sinhala

Postby Meera » 2012-07-29, 18:34

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Re: Sinhala

Postby Massimiliano B » 2012-08-08, 20:47

There is not a verb "to be" in Sinhala. So, how can I say "X is Y" in Sinhala?

Here's the answer:

1) Adjectives which end in a vowel add -y. Example:

mee keselgeDi rasay: (literally: "these bananas tasty": there's no verb "to be") = "These bananas are tasty". mee keselgeDi ("these bananas") is the subject and rasay ("tasty") is the predicative adjective (that is when an adjective refers to a subject). The adjective "rasa" (tasty) becomes "rasay" when it is predicative.


2) Nouns follow directly the subject. Example:

mee bas-ekǝ kolǝm̌bǝ bas ekak: (literally: "this bus a Colombo bus": there's no verb "to be"): "This bus is a Colombo bus". mee bas-ekǝ ("this bus") is the subject and kolǝm̌bǝ bas ekak ("Colombo bus") is the noun which follows directly the subject.

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Re: Sinhala

Postby Meera » 2012-08-10, 2:46

ඉස්තුති
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Re: Sinhala

Postby Massimiliano B » 2012-12-04, 1:32

Hi! :) I like the sound of the Sinhala language !!


Sinhala has a set of four demonstratives:

mee = this/these (near the speaker)
oyǝ = that/those (near the hearer)
arǝ = that/those (far from both the speaker and the hearer, but in sight)
ee = that/those (out of sight. It means also "that/those in question")

These demonstratives don't change form, regardeless of the case or number of the noun that follows them.


Examples:

mee bas-ekǝ = this bus
arǝ bas-ekǝTǝ = to that bus (far from both the speaker and the hearer)
ee bas = those bus (out of sight)




For Meera: should I open a new thread for my posts?

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Re: Sinhala

Postby Meera » 2012-12-04, 20:10

Thanks soo much for your lessons, if you would like to open a new thread you can but i think either way is good :mrgreen:
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Re: Sinhala

Postby Meera » 2012-12-04, 20:17

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oRpOGwtBdHk
This is my favorite Sinhala song
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Re: Sinhala

Postby Massimiliano B » 2012-12-09, 0:03

Meera wrote:Thanks soo much for your lessons, if you would like to open a new thread you can but i think either way is good :mrgreen:


Thanks! I will post in this thread!

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Re: Sinhala

Postby Massimiliano B » 2012-12-12, 0:04

Here you can type the Sinhala language and also many other languages!

http://www.lexilogos.com/clavier/sinhala.htm


I can read the letters when I type them in that site, but not when I copy them here on Unilang :(


VOWELS

අ = a (as in 'father').
ආ = aa (long a).
ඇ = æ (as in English 'hat').
ඈ = ææ (that is a long æ)
ඉ = i (as in 'see' but shorter)
ඊ = ii (long i)
උ = u ( as in 'too')
ඌ = uu (long u)

These letters appear only alone. When they are added to a consonant, they have a different form

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Re: Sinhala

Postby Meera » 2012-12-13, 3:56

Massimiliano B wrote:Here you can type the Sinhala language and also many other languages!

http://www.lexilogos.com/clavier/sinhala.htm


I can read the letters when I type them in that site, but not when I copy them here on Unilang :(


VOWELS

අ = a (as in 'father').
ආ = aa (long a).
ඇ = æ (as in English 'hat').
ඈ = ææ (that is a long æ)
ඉ = i (as in 'see' but shorter)
ඊ = ii (long i)
උ = u ( as in 'too')
ඌ = uu (long u)

These letters appear only alone. When they are added to a consonant, they have a different form


This is very useful! Thanks so much.
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Re: Sinhala

Postby Massimiliano B » 2012-12-30, 1:17

Here is the complete list of the isolated vowels. They are not used with consonants. When a vowel follows a consonant, it has a different form, which will be shown later. (Unfortunately I cannot see the Sinhala letters here in unilang! I hope you can read them):

අ = a (as in 'father').
ආ = aa (long a).
ඇ = æ (as in English 'hat').
ඈ = ææ (that is a long æ)
ඉ = i (as in 'see' but shorter)
ඊ = ii (long i)
උ = u ( as in 'too')
ඌ = uu (long u)
එ = e (as in 'bed')
ඒ = ee (long e, like a double 'e' of 'bed')
ඔ = o (short 'o', as in 'hot')
ඕ = oo (long 'o')

Let's see how consonants and vowels are written together. Each consonant has an inherent vowel which is 'ǝ' or 'a' (it depends upon position of the consonant in the word). For example, the letter ක is the sound "kǝ' or 'ka'. If I want to write the syllable 'kaa', I cannot use the vowel ආ and write කආ, but I have to use a form of the vowel 'aa' which is different from the isolated form shown above. Here is the complete list of this different set of vowels. I use now the letter ක (ka/kǝ), but the form of the vowels are the same for each consonant:

ක = ka (or kǝ)
කා =kaa
කැ = kæ
කෑ = kææ
කි = ki
කී = kii
කු = ku
කූ = kuu
කෙ = ke
කේ = kee
කො = ko
කෝ = koo

(correct my English!!)

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Re: Sinhala

Postby OCD. OCD. OC.. D. » 2013-08-08, 9:42

Just found a book for Sinhala on Amazon! (Colloquial + Written)
Unfortunately it's in German and EXPENSIVE! :evil:


http://books.google.de/books?id=IojqSPA ... &q&f=false


http://www.amazon.de/Singhalesisch-Eine ... z+Lehrbuch
Last edited by OCD. OCD. OC.. D. on 2013-08-08, 10:17, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: Sinhala

Postby OCD. OCD. OC.. D. » 2013-08-08, 9:53

Last edited by OCD. OCD. OC.. D. on 2013-08-08, 15:19, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: Sinhala

Postby OCD. OCD. OC.. D. » 2013-08-08, 10:08

Here's a cheapo phrasebook++ with a cd:

http://www.amazon.de/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_i_0 ... ghalesisch

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Re: Sinhala

Postby Meera » 2013-08-09, 4:48

Thanks for sharing these!
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Re: Sinhala

Postby OCD. OCD. OC.. D. » 2013-08-11, 15:30

Meera wrote:Thanks for sharing these!

:) no problem

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Re: Sinhala

Postby Massimiliano B » 2013-09-14, 23:47

Lazybutsmartsinhala is an interesting youtube channel with Sinhala lessons:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5V38k-uA ... -nK7LYR2LP


There's also a blog:

http://www.lazybutsmartsinhala.com/


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