Weather with nobody doing it: වහිනවා, අව්වයි, රස්නෙයි
English weather needs somebody to hold it up: "it is raining", "it is cold". Sinhala does without, and it has three ways. For example: “අද උදේ ඉඳන් වහිනවා” — It has been raining since this morning. A rule from the Sinhala course: worked out on examples, not memorized as a wording.
How it works
English weather needs somebody to hold it up: "it is raining", "it is cold". Sinhala does without, and it has three ways.
A bare verb: වහිනවා ("it rains"), වහින්නේ නෑ ("no rain"). No word for rain stands in the sentence; the verb alone carries it.
A quality with -යි: අව්වයි ("sunny"), රස්නෙයි ("hot"), සීතලයි ("cold"). The negative goes as with any quality — නෑ (nǣ) after the bare shape: අද අව්ව නෑ (ada avva nǣ).
"There is no such thing": කාමරේ හුළං නෑ (kāmarē huḷaṁ nǣ) — "the room is stuffy", word for word "no air". The trap sits here: stuffiness is a shortage, not a quality. A forecast uses the present: හෙට වහිනවා (heṭa vahinavā).
Table
| Way | Example | Translation | Negation |
|---|---|---|---|
| a bare verb | වහිනවා | it rains | වහින්නේ නෑ |
| a feature with -යි | අව්වයි | it is sunny | අව්ව නෑ |
| a feature with -යි | රස්නෙයි | it is hot | රස්නෙ නෑ |
| “no something” | හුළං නෑ | it is stuffy | — |
| the -ලා state | වලාකුළින් වැහිලා | overcast | වලාකුළු නෑ |
| a forecast with -වි | හෙට වහියි | tomorrow, probably, rain | හෙට වහින්නේ නෑ |
By example
- අද උදේ ඉඳන් වහිනවාada udē indan vahinavāIt has been raining since this morning
- හෙට අව්වයි කියලා කිව්වාheṭa avvayi kiyalā kivvāThey said tomorrow will be sunny
- කාමරේ හුළං නෑkāmarē huḷaṁ nǣThe room is stuffy
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
Weather with nobody doing it: how does it work in Sinhala?
English weather needs somebody to hold it up: "it is raining", "it is cold". Sinhala does without, and it has three ways.
What does it look like in an example sentence Sinhala?
“අද උදේ ඉඳන් වහිනවා” (ada udē indan vahinavā) — It has been raining since this morning. A rule is easier to test on sentences like this than to memorize as a wording: what surfaces in conversation is the sentence.