LingoflyThe past tense: the verb finally changes
The present takes a minute to learn: one form in -නවා for every person. The past is where the work is — there is no single pattern, and frequent verbs are learned in pairs. For example: “ඊයේ (īyē) මම (mama) වෙළඳපොළට (veḷandapoḷaṭa) ගියා” (giyā) — Yesterday I went to the market. A rule from the Sinhala course: worked out on examples, not memorized as a wording.
How it works
The present takes a minute to learn: one form in -නවා for every person. The past is where the work is — there is no single pattern, and frequent verbs are learned in pairs.
The rough guide: -නවා goes, the stem shifts, and -ා lands at the end. කරනවා (karanavā) → කළා (kaḷā) ("did"), කනවා (kanavā) → කෑවා (kǣvā) ("ate"), යනවා (yanavā) → ගියා (giyā) ("went"), එනවා (enavā) → ආවා (āvā) ("came"). Person makes no difference again: මම (mama) කළා (kaḷā) (mama kaḷā), අපි (api) කළා (kaḷā) (api kaḷā).
Negation works differently here: the verb takes the tail -ේ and නෑ (nǣ) comes last. මම (mama) ගියේ (giyē) නෑ (mama giyē nǣ) is "I did not go", and a question wants the same form: ඔයා (oyā) කොහෙද (koheda) ගියේ (giyē) (oyā koheda giyē)?
The animate split holds in the past too: තියෙනවා (tiyenavā) → තිබුණා (tibuṇā) (tibuṇā) for things, ඉන්නවා (innavā) → හිටියා (hiṭiyā) (hiṭiyā) for people.
Table
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
The past tense: how does it work in Sinhala?
The present takes a minute to learn: one form in -නවා for every person. The past is where the work is — there is no single pattern, and frequent verbs are learned in pairs.
What does it look like in a Sinhala example sentence?
“ඊයේ (īyē) මම (mama) වෙළඳපොළට (veḷandapoḷaṭa) ගියා” (giyā) (īyē mama veḷandapoḷaṭa giyā) — Yesterday I went to the market. A rule is easier to test on sentences like this than to memorize as a wording: what surfaces in conversation is the sentence.