LingoflyVery, a little, too much: the strength of a quality
Sinhala puts the strength of a quality in a word in front of it. From the bottom up: ටිකක් (ṭikak) ("a little"), හරි (hari) ("very", in speech), ගොඩක් (goḍak) ("very, a lot"), ඉතාම ("extremely", bookish). For example: “මේ පොත හරි රසවත්” (mē pota hari rasavat) — This book is very interesting. A rule from the Sinhala course: worked out on examples, not memorized as a wording.
How it works
Sinhala puts the strength of a quality in a word in front of it. From the bottom up: ටිකක් (ṭikak) ("a little"), හරි (hari) ("very", in speech), ගොඩක් (goḍak) ("very, a lot"), ඉතාම ("extremely", bookish).
ටිකක් (ṭikak) සීතලයි (sītalayi) (ṭikak sītalayi) is "a bit cold". හරි (hari) රසවත් (rasavat) (hari rasavat) is "very interesting". ගොඩක් (goḍak) ලස්සනයි (lassanayi) (goḍak lassanayi) is "very beautiful". There is no separate word for "too much": ගොඩක් (goḍak) වැඩියි (væḍiyi) (goḍak væḍiyi) takes that work.
Certainty is shown the same way, by a word in front: අනිවාර්යයෙන් (anivāryayen) ("certainly"), වෙන්න පුළුවන් (venna puḷuvan) ("maybe"). අනිවාර්යයෙන් මම එන්නම් (anivāryayen mama ennam) — "I will certainly come".
The trap: හරි (hari) strengthens only when it stands before a quality. Alone it means "fine, right": හරි (hari), කරමු (karamu) — "fine, let's do it".
Table
| Word | Strength | Example |
|---|---|---|
| ටිකක් (ṭikak) | a little | ටිකක් (ṭikak) සීතලයි (sītalayi) — a bit cold |
| හරි (hari) | very (spoken) | හරි (hari) රසවත් (rasavat) — very interesting |
| ගොඩක් (goḍak) | very, a lot | ගොඩක් (goḍak) ලස්සනයි (lassanayi) — very beautiful |
| ගොඩක් (goḍak) වැඩියි (væḍiyi) | too | ට්‍රැෆික් එක (ṭræfik eka) ගොඩක් (goḍak) වැඩියි (væḍiyi) — the jam is too big |
| ඉතාම | extremely (literary) | ඉතාම වැදගත් (vædagat) — extremely important |
| අනිවාර්යයෙන් (anivāryayen) | with certainty: certainly | අනිවාර්යයෙන් (anivāryayen) එනවා (enavā) — I will certainly come |
| වෙන්න පුළුවන් (venna puḷuvan) | assumption: maybe | වෙන්න පුළුවන් (venna puḷuvan) වැස්ස (væssa) එයි (eyi) — it may rain |
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
Very, a little, too much: how does it work in Sinhala?
Sinhala puts the strength of a quality in a word in front of it. From the bottom up: ටිකක් (ṭikak) ("a little"), හරි (hari) ("very", in speech), ගොඩක් (goḍak) ("very, a lot"), ඉතාම ("extremely", bookish).
What does it look like in a Sinhala example sentence?
“මේ පොත හරි රසවත්” (mē pota hari rasavat) — This book is very interesting. A rule is easier to test on sentences like this than to memorize as a wording: what surfaces in conversation is the sentence.