ච — cha-yanna
«cha-yanna» is a consonant of Sinhala, the “the Sinhala script” script, read as “cha”. The syllable “cha” as in “church”. The Sinhala alphabet has 76 letters in total, and this character can be played right here. It appears, for example, in the word “පදිංචි වීමේ බලපත්රය” — residence permit.
In short
| Character | ච |
| Name | cha-yanna |
| Sound | cha |
| What it is | a consonant |
In our course the character comes 25th of 76: the order here is not alphabetical but from familiar to unfamiliar, its neighbours in the course are ඟ and ඡ, appears in 110 words of this site.
How it sounds
The syllable “cha” as in “church”
The character in the “twenty consonants of “pure sinhala”” group
Shuddha sinhaala is what native words are written with. Having learned these twenty, you read almost any sign: everything else in the script is needed for Sanskrit and Pali borrowings.
Words with this character
- පදිංචි වීමේ බලපත්රයpadiṁci vīmē balapatrayaresidence permit
- රුචියruciyaappetite
- චෙක් ඉන් එකcek in ekacheck-in
- චෙක් ඉන් වීමcek in vīmachecking in
- ආචාරශීලීācāraśīlīpolite
- බෝංචිbōṁcibeans
- තැච්චියtæcciyafrying pan
- චාජර් එකcājar ekacharger
- සර්ච් එකsarc ekasearch
- චැට් එකcæṭ ekachat
- චෙක් එකcek ekabank cheque
- කොච්චර වෙලා යයිද?koccara velā yayida?how long will it take?
How to remember this character
A single letter is the hardest thing to remember: memory has nothing to hold on to — a character has no meaning. A three-step loop works: see the character, try to recall the sound, see the right answer.
And come back to it the next day, not in an hour: a check a day or two later beats a check the same day. Nobody holds the whole alphabet — 76 letters — at once.
- It is better to test yourself the next day than at the end of the same session. That is why a word comes back to you tomorrow.checked many timesAdesope, Trevisan & Sundararajan, 2017, Review of Educational Research 87(3) · g = 0.82 when tested a day or two later, against 0.56 on the same day.
- Studying a little every day gets more into your head than spending the same total time in one sitting.checked many timesDonovan & Radosevich, 1999, Journal of Applied Psychology 84(5) · 63 studies compared, difference d = 0.46 — a sizeable figure for a learning effect.
Frequently asked
How does the Sinhala character ච read?
As “cha” — it is a consonant of the “the Sinhala script” script. The syllable “cha” as in “church”.
What is the letter ච called?
Cha-yanna. A character's name and its sound are different things in the Sinhala script: it is called “cha-yanna” and reads as “cha”. Learn the second one: the name only helps when the alphabet is recited aloud.