ගොරෝසු, බිඳෙනසුලු, බරකම: five tails for describing a thing
Unit fifty is the first in the course wholly about the property of an object. Before it the course could say 'big', 'new' and 'expensive', and there the vocabulary of the thing ended. A hundred new adjectives need not be memorized: Sinhala makes them from already known words with five tails, and knowing the tail, one reads an unfamiliar word straight off the page. For example: “මේ බඩු බිඳෙනසුලුයි, පරිස්සමෙන් අරන්…
How it works
Unit fifty is the first in the course wholly about the property of an object. Before it the course could say 'big', 'new' and 'expensive', and there the vocabulary of the thing ended. A hundred new adjectives need not be memorized: Sinhala makes them from already known words with five tails, and knowing the tail, one reads an unfamiliar word straight off the page.
-සුලු — 'prone to what the verb does'. The verb’s non-finite form is taken, -නවා is cut off, -සුලු is glued on: බිඳෙනවා (to break) → බිඳෙනසුලු (fragile), ඇලෙනවා (to stick) → ඇලෙනසුලු (sticky), ඒත්තු ගන්නවා (to convince) → ඒත්තු ගන්නසුලු (convincing). On a box of dishes it says exactly බිඳෙනසුලුයි (bindenasuluyi).
-සහිත (-sahita) — 'with what is named'. It is glued to a noun: තෙතමනය (moisture) → තෙතමනය සහිත (damp), දූවිලි (dust) → දූවිලි සහිත (dusty), සැක (doubt) → සැක සහිත (doubtful). The negative counterpart is රහිත: ජලය රහිත — waterless.
-කම — the name of a property. From a feature it makes a noun: බර (heavy) → බරකම (weight), ඝන (dense) → ඝනකම (density, thickness), කම්මැලි (lazy) → කම්මැලිකම (laziness). The same tail sits in the familiar ලස්සනකම.
A participle in -න instead of an adjective. Where English has one word, Sinhala often puts a verb as the modifier: දිලිසෙන (shiny — 'that shines'), විනිවිද පෙනෙන (transparent — 'through which one sees'), ඉඩ තියෙන (spacious — 'in which there is room'). This is not a poor substitute but the language’s normal build.
A participle in -ු / -ිය from the past — 'already turned thus'. ගෙවෙනවා → ගෙවිලා ගිය (worn out), රැලි වැටෙනවා (ræli væṭenavā) → රැලි වැටුණු (crumpled), පාට යනවා (pāṭa yanavā) → පාට ගිය (faded). The English past participle fits here one to one.
As a predicate any of them takes the link -යි: මේක ගොරෝසුයි (mēka gorōsuyi), රෙද්ද සිනිඳුයි (redda sininduyi). As a modifier the link drops away: සිනිඳු රෙද්දක් (sinindu reddak).
Table
| Tail | What it does | From what | What came out |
|---|---|---|---|
| -සුලු | prone to the action | බිඳෙනවා — to break | බිඳෙනසුලු — fragile |
| -සහිත | with what is named | දූවිලි — dust | දූවිලි සහිත — dusty |
| -රහිත | without what is named | ජලය — water | ජල රහිත — waterless |
| -කම | the name of a property | බර — heavy | බරකම — weight |
| -න | a participle as a feature | දිලිසෙනවා — to shine | දිලිසෙන — shiny |
| -ුණු / -ිය | already turned thus | රැලි වැටෙනවා — to crumple | රැලි වැටුණු — crumpled |
| -යි | the link at the predicate | ගොරෝසු — rough | ගොරෝසුයි — it is rough |
By example
- මේ බඩු බිඳෙනසුලුයි, පරිස්සමෙන් අරන් යන්නmē baḍu bindenasuluyi, parissamen aran yannaThese things are fragile, carry them carefully
- රාක්කය දූවිලි සහිතයිrākkaya dūvili sahitayiThe shelf is dusty
- මේ පෙට්ටියේ බරකම දැනෙනවාmē peṭṭiyē barakama dænenavāThe weight of this box is felt
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
five tails for describing a thing: how does it work in Sinhala?
Unit fifty is the first in the course wholly about the property of an object. Before it the course could say 'big', 'new' and 'expensive', and there the vocabulary of the thing ended. A hundred new adjectives need not be memorized: Sinhala makes them from already known words with five tails, and…
What does it look like in an example sentence Sinhala?
“මේ බඩු බිඳෙනසුලුයි, පරිස්සමෙන් අරන් යන්න” (mē baḍu bindenasuluyi, parissamen aran yanna) — These things are fragile, carry them carefully. A rule is easier to test on sentences like this than to memorize as a wording: what surfaces in conversation is the sentence.