LingoflyMuch, little, all, about: exactly how much
Quantity is shown by a word in front of the noun, and the noun itself changes nothing. From the bottom up: ටිකක් (ṭikak) ("a little"), කීපයක් (kīpayak) ("several"), ගොඩක් (goḍak) ("a lot"), ඔක්කොම (okkoma) ("all"), මදි (madi) ("not enough"). For example: “මේ මාසේ (māsē) වියදම (viyadama) රුපියල් (rupiyal) ලක්ෂයක් විතර” (vitara) — This month’s expenses are about one hundred thousand rupees. A rule from the Sinhala course: worked out on examples, not memorized as a wording.
How it works
Quantity is shown by a word in front of the noun, and the noun itself changes nothing. From the bottom up: ටිකක් (ṭikak) ("a little"), කීපයක් (kīpayak) ("several"), ගොඩක් (goḍak) ("a lot"), ඔක්කොම (okkoma) ("all"), මදි (madi) ("not enough").
ගොඩක් (goḍak) and ටිකක් (ṭikak) serve both the amount and the strength of a quality. ගොඩක් (goḍak) වියදම් (viyadam) (goḍak viyadam) is "many expenses", ගොඩක් ලොකුයි (goḍak lokuyi) is "very big". English keeps two words for that, Sinhala one.
මදි (madi) is not a negation. සල්ලි (salli) නෑ (salli nǣ) means there is no money at all, while මට (maṭa) සල්ලි (salli) ටිකක් (ṭikak) මදි (madi) (maṭa salli ṭikak madi) means "I am a little short". Where money is concerned, that difference costs.
"About, roughly" is විතර (vitara) after the number: රුපියල් (rupiyal) දාහක් (dāhak) විතර (vitara) (rupiyal dāhak vitara) — "about a thousand rupees". The trap next door: විතරයි (vitarayi), with the -යි tail, means "only".
Table
| Word | What it means | Example |
|---|---|---|
| ටිකක් (ṭikak) | a little | සල්ලි (salli) ටිකක් (ṭikak) — a little money |
| ගොඩක් (goḍak) | much; very | ගොඩක් (goḍak) වියදම් (viyadam) — many expenses |
| මදි (madi) | little, not enough | සල්ලි මදි (salli madi) — there is not enough money |
| කීපයක් (kīpayak) | several | දවස් (davas) කීපයක් (kīpayak) — several days |
| ඔක්කොම (okkoma) | everything, everyone | ඔක්කොම (okkoma) ගෙව්වා (gevvā) — paid everything |
| හැම (hæma) … ම | each, every | හැම (hæma) මාසෙම (māsema) — every month |
| … විතර (vitara) | about, approximately | රුපියල් (rupiyal) දාහක් (dāhak) විතර (vitara) — about a thousand rupees |
| … විතරයි (vitarayi) | only, just | රුපියල් (rupiyal) දාහක් (dāhak) විතරයි (vitarayi) — only a thousand rupees |
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
Much, little, all, about: how does it work in Sinhala?
Quantity is shown by a word in front of the noun, and the noun itself changes nothing. From the bottom up: ටිකක් (ṭikak) ("a little"), කීපයක් (kīpayak) ("several"), ගොඩක් (goḍak) ("a lot"), ඔක්කොම (okkoma) ("all"), මදි (madi) ("not enough").
What does it look like in a Sinhala example sentence?
“මේ මාසේ (māsē) වියදම (viyadama) රුපියල් (rupiyal) ලක්ෂයක් විතර” (vitara) (mē māsē viyadama rupiyal lakṣayak vitara) — This month’s expenses are about one hundred thousand rupees. A rule is easier to test on sentences like this than to memorize as a wording: what surfaces in conversation is the sentence.