Lingofly-කම, -ත්වය, -ශීලී: naming a character
A person's qualities are gathered with the same tails as a thing's. The only question is which tail goes where. For example: “කම්මැලිකම නිසා වැඩේ පරක්කු වුණා” (kammælikama nisā væḍē parakku vuṇā) — Because of laziness the job was delayed. A rule from the Sinhala course: worked out on examples, not memorized as a wording.
How it works
A person's qualities are gathered with the same tails as a thing's. The only question is which tail goes where.
-කම is the homely name of a quality: කම්මැලිකම (kammælikama) ("laziness"), මුරණ්ඩුකම (muraṇḍukama) ("stubbornness"), අවංකකම (avaṁkakama) ("decency"). That is how you speak of a child or a neighbour.
-ත්වය is the same thing for a newspaper or a report: ගරුත්වය (garutvaya) ("authority"), ස්ථාවරත්වය (sthāvaratvaya) ("stability"). Choosing between the tails is choosing whom you are speaking to. And -ශීලී makes a person's feature out of a noun: ලැජ්ජාශීලී (læjjāśīlī) ("shy").
Where no ready word exists, take ...න කෙනා (kenā) — "the person who": එයා ඉක්මනට හිත රිදෙන කෙනෙක් (eyā ikmanaṭa hita ridena kenek) is "he is touchy". That way remains the main one.
Table
| Tail | Register | From what | What came out |
|---|---|---|---|
| -කම | homely | කම්මැලි (kammæli) — lazy | කම්මැලිකම (kammælikama) — laziness |
| -කම | homely | අවංක (avaṁka) — honest | අවංකකම (avaṁkakama) — decency |
| -ත්වය | literary | ගරු (garu) — respected | ගරුත්වය (garutvaya) — authority |
| -ත්වය | literary | ස්ථාවර — steady | ස්ථාවරත්වය (sthāvaratvaya) — stability |
| -ශීලී | with a noun | ලැජ්ජා — shame | ලැජ්ජාශීලී (læjjāśīlī) — shy |
| -ශීලී | with a noun | උපාය — a trick | උපායශීලී — resourceful |
| -සුලු | with a verb | බිඳෙනවා — to break | බිඳෙනසුලු (bindenasulu) — fragile |
| ...න කෙනා (kenā) | colloquial | හිත (hita) රිදෙනවා (ridenavā) — the heart aches | ඉක්මනට හිත රිදෙන (ikmanaṭa hita ridena) කෙනෙක් (kenek) — touchy |
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
naming a character: how does it work in Sinhala?
A person's qualities are gathered with the same tails as a thing's. The only question is which tail goes where.
What does it look like in a Sinhala example sentence?
“කම්මැලිකම නිසා වැඩේ පරක්කු වුණා” (kammælikama nisā væḍē parakku vuṇā) — Because of laziness the job was delayed. A rule is easier to test on sentences like this than to memorize as a wording: what surfaces in conversation is the sentence.