Much, 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 ("a little"), කීපයක් ("several"), ගොඩක් ("a lot"), ඔක්කොම ("all"), මදි ("not enough"). For example: “මේ මාසේ වියදම රුපියල් ලක්ෂයක් විතර” — 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 ("a little"), කීපයක් ("several"), ගොඩක් ("a lot"), ඔක්කොම ("all"), මදි ("not enough").
ගොඩක් and ටිකක් serve both the amount and the strength of a quality. ගොඩක් වියදම් (goḍak viyadam) is "many expenses", ගොඩක් ලොකුයි (goḍak lokuyi) is "very big". English keeps two words for that, Sinhala one.
මදි is not a negation. සල්ලි නෑ (salli nǣ) means there is no money at all, while මට සල්ලි ටිකක් මදි (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 දාහක් විතර (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 | a little | සල්ලි ටිකක් — a little money |
| ගොඩක් | much; very | ගොඩක් වියදම් — many expenses |
| මදි | little, not enough | සල්ලි මදි — there is not enough money |
| කීපයක් | several | දවස් කීපයක් — several days |
| ඔක්කොම | everything, everyone | ඔක්කොම ගෙව්වා — paid everything |
| හැම … ම | each, every | හැම මාසෙම — every month |
| … විතර | about, approximately | රුපියල් දාහක් විතර — about a thousand rupees |
| … විතරයි | only, just | රුපියල් දාහක් විතරයි — only a thousand rupees |
By example
- මේ මාසේ වියදම රුපියල් ලක්ෂයක් විතරmē māsē viyadama rupiyal lakṣayak vitaraThis month’s expenses are about one hundred thousand rupees
- මට සල්ලි ටිකක් මදිmaṭa salli ṭikak madiI am a little short of money
- ඔක්කොම බිල් ගෙව්වාokkoma bil gevvāAll the bills are paid
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 ("a little"), කීපයක් ("several"), ගොඩක් ("a lot"), ඔක්කොම ("all"), මදි ("not enough").
What does it look like in an example sentence Sinhala?
“මේ මාසේ වියදම රුපියල් ලක්ෂයක් විතර” (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.