LingoflyWhere it lies: an ending instead of a preposition
Sinhala has no words for "in" and "on" — an ending does that work. Native words take -ේ: රෝහල (rōhala) → රෝහලේ (rōhalē) ("at the hospital"), කුස්සිය (kussiya) → කුස්සියේ (kussiyē) ("in the kitchen"). For example: “මම ඔෆිස් එකේ ඉන්නවා” (mama ofis ekē innavā) — I am at the office. A rule from the Sinhala course: worked out on examples, not memorized as a wording.
How it works
Sinhala has no words for "in" and "on" — an ending does that work. Native words take -ේ: රෝහල (rōhala) → රෝහලේ (rōhalē) ("at the hospital"), කුස්සිය (kussiya) → කුස්සියේ (kussiyē) ("in the kitchen").
Borrowed words that live with එක (eka) put the ending on එක (eka) itself: ඔෆිස් එක (ofis eka) → ඔෆිස් (ofis) එකේ (ekē) (ofis ekē), බස් එක (bas eka) → බස් (bas) එකේ (ekē) (bas ekē). One shape covers the whole crowd of them.
Beside that stands -ට (-ṭa), which means "to where". ගෙදර (gedara) is "at home", ගෙදරට (gedaraṭa) is "homewards"; රෝහලේ (rōhalē) is "at the hospital", රෝහලට (rōhalaṭa) is "to the hospital".
The trap: one English "to" covers both, Sinhala does not. Mix them and you say "I am walking at the hospital". And ගෙදර (gedara) already means "at home" — nothing is added to it.
Table
| Word | Where (-ේ) | To where (-ට) |
|---|---|---|
| රෝහල (rōhala) | රෝහලේ (rōhalē) — at the hospital | රෝහලට (rōhalaṭa) — to the hospital |
| කුස්සිය (kussiya) | කුස්සියේ (kussiyē) — in the kitchen | කුස්සියට — to the kitchen |
| ඔෆිස් එක (ofis eka) | ඔෆිස් (ofis) එකේ (ekē) — at the office | ඔෆිස් (ofis) එකට (ekaṭa) — to the office |
| ගෙදර (gedara) | ගෙදර (gedara) — at home | ගෙදරට (gedaraṭa) — home |
By example
How the rule settles in your head
A rule is not memorized from an explanation. It is memorized from an attempt to use it and a mistake — that is why the app delivers it mixed in with words, not as a separate lesson: it resurfaces exactly where you forgot it.
Frequently asked
Where it lies: how does it work in Sinhala?
Sinhala has no words for "in" and "on" — an ending does that work. Native words take -ේ: රෝහල (rōhala) → රෝහලේ (rōhalē) ("at the hospital"), කුස්සිය (kussiya) → කුස්සියේ (kussiyē) ("in the kitchen").
What does it look like in a Sinhala example sentence?
“මම ඔෆිස් එකේ ඉන්නවා” (mama ofis ekē innavā) — I am at the office. A rule is easier to test on sentences like this than to memorize as a wording: what surfaces in conversation is the sentence.