LingoflyTo me, me, my: one stem and three endings
Sinhala has no separate words for "to me", "me" and "my" — three endings on one stem cover all of it. Learn them once and every pronoun is ready. For example: “මට (maṭa) ඒක (ēka) දෙන්න” (denna) — Give me this. A rule from the Sinhala course: worked out on examples, not memorized as a wording.
How it works
Sinhala has no separate words for "to me", "me" and "my" — three endings on one stem cover all of it. Learn them once and every pronoun is ready.
The ending -ට (-ṭa) gives "to me, to you, to him": මට (maṭa), ඔයාට (oyāṭa), එයාට (eyāṭa). Half of everyday speech begins there: මට (maṭa) ඕන (ōna) ("I need"), මට තේරෙන්නේ නෑ (maṭa tērennē nǣ) ("I don't understand"). English says "I" here, Sinhala says "to me".
The ending -ව marks the one the action lands on, and only with the animate: මාව (māva), ඔයාව (oyāva), එයාව (eyāva). එයා (eyā) මාව (māva) දැක්කා (dækkā) (eyā māva dækkā) is "he saw me". Things add nothing. The trap: not මමව but මාව (māva).
The ending -ගේ (-gē) gives "my, your, his": මගේ (magē), ඔයාගේ (oyāgē), එයාගේ (eyāgē). The owner always stands before the thing: මේක (mēka) එයාගේ (eyāgē) ලගේජ් එක (lagēj eka) (mēka eyāgē lagēj eka). One exception — "our" is අපේ (apē).
Table
By example
- මට ඒක දෙන්නmaṭa ēka dennaGive me this
- එයා මාව දැක්කාeyā māva dækkāHe saw me
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
To me, me, my: how does it work in Sinhala?
Sinhala has no separate words for "to me", "me" and "my" — three endings on one stem cover all of it. Learn them once and every pronoun is ready.
What does it look like in a Sinhala example sentence?
“මට (maṭa) ඒක (ēka) දෙන්න” (denna) (maṭa ēka denna) — Give me this. A rule is easier to test on sentences like this than to memorize as a wording: what surfaces in conversation is the sentence.