To me, to you, him: a pronoun with an ending
There are no separate words for 'to me', 'me', 'my' in Sinhala — there are three endings on one stem. Learn them once, and you hold every case of every pronoun; it is one of the rare spots where the language is simpler than English. For example: “මට ඒක දෙන්න” — Give me this. A rule from the Sinhala course: worked out on examples, not memorized as a wording.
How it works
There are no separate words for 'to me', 'me', 'my' in Sinhala — there are three endings on one stem. Learn them once, and you hold every case of every pronoun; it is one of the rare spots where the language is simpler than English.
The ending -ට (-ṭa) gives 'to me, to you, to him': මට (maṭa), ඔයාට (oyāṭa), එයාට (eyāṭa), අපිට (apiṭa). This form is the subject of half of the everyday phrases: මට ඕන ('I need', word for word 'to me is needed'), මට බඩගිනියි ('I am hungry', word for word 'to me is hungry'), මට තේරෙන්නේ නෑ ('I do not understand'). English says 'I' here, Sinhala says 'to me', and relearning this is worth doing before everything else.
The ending -ව gives the direct object of the animate: මාව ('me'), ඔයාව ('you'), එයාව ('him, her'). For things no ending is needed: මම පොත ගත්තා (mama pota gattā) — 'I took the book', but මම එයාව දැක්කා (mama eyāva dækkā) — 'I saw him'. Note the irregular form: not මමව but මාව.
The ending -ගේ (-gē) gives 'my, your, his': මගේ (magē), ඔයාගේ (oyāgē), එයාගේ (eyāgē). There is no separate word for 'his' at all — only 'of that person': එයාගේ ලගේජ් එක (eyāgē lagēj eka) — 'his luggage'. The order is rigid: the possessor always precedes the thing. And one exception met daily: 'our' is not අපිගේ but අපේ (apē).
Table
| Role | I | you | he / she | we |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| subject | මම | ඔයා | එයා | අපි |
| to me (-ට) | මට | ඔයාට | එයාට | අපිට |
| me (-ව) | මාව | ඔයාව | එයාව | අපිව |
| my (-ගේ) | මගේ | ඔයාගේ | එයාගේ | අපේ |
By example
- මට ඒක දෙන්නmaṭa ēka dennaGive me this
- එයා මාව දැක්කාeyā māva dækkāHe saw me
- මේක එයාගේ ලගේජ් එකmēka eyāgē lagēj ekaThis is his luggage
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
To me, to you, him: how does it work in Sinhala?
There are no separate words for 'to me', 'me', 'my' in Sinhala — there are three endings on one stem. Learn them once, and you hold every case of every pronoun; it is one of the rare spots where the language is simpler than English.
What does it look like in an example sentence Sinhala?
“මට ඒක දෙන්න” (maṭa ēka denna) — Give me this. A rule is easier to test on sentences like this than to memorize as a wording: what surfaces in conversation is the sentence.