දිනපතා, නිතිපතා, ඉඳහිට: how Sinhala says “how often”
Unit fifty-five rests on four devices, and all of them are assembled from already familiar words. Twenty adverbs of time need not be memorized — it is enough to recognize the tail. For example: “බස් එක දිනපතා දුවනවා” — The bus runs daily. A rule from the Sinhala course: worked out on examples, not memorized as a wording.
How it works
Unit fifty-five rests on four devices, and all of them are assembled from already familiar words. Twenty adverbs of time need not be memorized — it is enough to recognize the tail.
-පතා — 'every'. It glues to a noun of a span: දිනපතා (daily), මාසපතා (monthly), නිතිපතා (regularly, from නිති 'constantly'). The form is literary: in an announcement and in a timetable stands දිනපතා, while in the yard one says හැම දවසෙම (hæma davasema).
Doubling — 'time after time'. The word repeats itself, and that means increase or repetition: නිතර නිතර (now and then), වැඩි වැඩියෙන් (more and more often), හෙමින් හෙමින් (smoothly, from u52), වෙන වෙනම (separately, from u50). One and the same device works both in time and in quantity.
-ට (-ṭa) on a span — 'so many times per span'. The span takes -ට, the number follows: අවුරුද්දට වතාවක් (once a year), මාසෙකට වතාවක් (once a month), සතියකට දෙපාරක් (twice a week). The order is the reverse of English: first the span, then the count.
-ෙන් and -දී on a span — 'when'. කලින් දවසේ (the day before), ඒ අතරේ (meanwhile), මිනිත්තු ගාණකින් (within a few minutes), අන්තිමේදී (in the end). The same tails as the places of u51, only applied to time.
And the commonest word of this unit is පාර (pāra), and it is not 'road'. මේ පාර (mē pāra) — this time, ගිය පාර (giya pāra) — last time, පාරක් (pārak) — once. The word has two meanings, and only the neighborhood tells them apart: මේ පාර about time, මේ පාරේ (mē pārē) about the road.
Table
| Device | Pattern | Analysis | Translation |
|---|---|---|---|
| -පතා | දිනපතා | day-every | daily |
| -පතා | නිතිපතා | constantly-every | regularly |
| doubling | නිතර නිතර | often-often | now and then |
| doubling | වැඩි වැඩියෙන් | more-more | more and more often |
| -ට + a number | අවුරුද්දකට වතාවක් | per year — one time | once a year |
| -ට + a number | වාරයක් හැරලා | having skipped one time | every other time |
| -ෙන් | මිනිත්තු ගාණකින් | by some minutes | within minutes |
| -ේ | අන්තිම ගාණේ | in the final count | in the end |
By example
- බස් එක දිනපතා දුවනවාbas eka dinapatā duvanavāThe bus runs daily
- නිතර නිතර කරන්ට් එක යනවාnitara nitara karanṭ eka yanavāNow and then the power is cut
- අවුරුද්දකට වතාවක් අපි ගමට යනවාavuruddakaṭa vatāvak api gamaṭa yanavāOnce a year we go to the village
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
how Sinhala says “how often”: how does it work in Sinhala?
Unit fifty-five rests on four devices, and all of them are assembled from already familiar words. Twenty adverbs of time need not be memorized — it is enough to recognize the tail.
What does it look like in an example sentence Sinhala?
“බස් එක දිනපතා දුවනවා” (bas eka dinapatā duvanavā) — The bus runs daily. A rule is easier to test on sentences like this than to memorize as a wording: what surfaces in conversation is the sentence.