Very, a little, probably: degree and appraisal
Degree in Sinhala is carried by a word placed before the feature, and there are exactly as many of them as a person needs in a day. From the bottom up: ටිකක් 'a little', හරි 'very' (spoken), ගොඩක් 'very, a lot', ඉතාම 'extremely' (literary). All of them stand before what they intensify: ටිකක් සීතලයි 'it is a bit cold', හරි රසවත් 'very interesting', ගොඩක් ලස්සනයි 'very beautiful'. For example: “මේ පොත හරි රසවත්”…
How it works
Degree in Sinhala is carried by a word placed before the feature, and there are exactly as many of them as a person needs in a day. From the bottom up: ටිකක් (ṭikak) 'a little', හරි (hari) 'very' (spoken), ගොඩක් (goḍak) 'very, a lot', ඉතාම 'extremely' (literary). All of them stand before what they intensify: ටිකක් සීතලයි (ṭikak sītalayi) 'it is a bit cold', හරි රසවත් (hari rasavat) 'very interesting', ගොඩක් ලස්සනයි (goḍak lassanayi) 'very beautiful'.
ගොඩක් is the same word as 'much' about quantity: ගොඩක් ට්රැෆික් (goḍak ṭræfik) — 'much traffic', that is, a big jam. And 'too' has no word of its own: one says ගොඩක් වැඩියි (goḍak væḍiyi) — word for word 'too much'. The familiar ගොඩක් ලොකුයි (goḍak lokuyi) 'too big' is built exactly the same way.
The second half of the topic is appraising what is said, that is, how sure the speaker is. Sinhala puts such a word at the start of the phrase or right after the subject: අනිවාර්යයෙන් මම එන්නම් (anivāryayen mama ennam) 'I will certainly come', වෙන්න පුළුවන් වැස්ස එයි (venna puḷuvan væssa eyi) 'it may rain', මට හිතෙන්නේ එයා ගෙදර (maṭa hitennē eyā gedara) 'it seems to me he is at home', ඇත්තටම ඒක ලාභයි (ættaṭama ēka lābhayi) 'in fact it is cheap'.
Note the tie with the future: uncertainty is expressed both by the word වෙන්න පුළුවන් (venna puḷuvan) and by the ending -යි on the verb (වැස්ස එයි (væssa eyi)). Using both at once is not a mistake but ordinary speech — English 'it will probably come' is built the same way.
And one warning: හරි is not only an intensifier. On its own it means 'right, OK': හරි, කරමු (karamu) — 'OK, let us do it'. Position tells them apart: before a feature it is 'very', on its own it is 'fine'.
Table
| Word | Strength | Example |
|---|---|---|
| ටිකක් | a little | ටිකක් සීතලයි — a bit cold |
| හරි | very (spoken) | හරි රසවත් — very interesting |
| ගොඩක් | very, a lot | ගොඩක් ලස්සනයි — very beautiful |
| ගොඩක් වැඩියි | too | ට්රැෆික් එක ගොඩක් වැඩියි — the jam is too big |
| ඉතාම | extremely (literary) | ඉතාම වැදගත් — extremely important |
| අනිවාර්යයෙන් | with certainty: certainly | අනිවාර්යයෙන් එනවා — I will certainly come |
| වෙන්න පුළුවන් | assumption: maybe | වෙන්න පුළුවන් වැස්ස එයි — it may rain |
By example
- මේ පොත හරි රසවත්mē pota hari rasavatThis book is very interesting
- අද ට්රැෆික් එක ගොඩක් වැඩියිada ṭræfik eka goḍak væḍiyiToday the traffic jam is too big
- මම අනිවාර්යයෙන් කෝල් කරන්නම්mama anivāryayen kōl karannamI will certainly call
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
Very, a little, probably: how does it work in Sinhala?
Degree in Sinhala is carried by a word placed before the feature, and there are exactly as many of them as a person needs in a day. From the bottom up: ටිකක් 'a little', හරි 'very' (spoken), ගොඩක් 'very, a lot', ඉතාම 'extremely' (literary). All of them stand before what they intensify: ටිකක් සීතලයි…
What does it look like in an example sentence Sinhala?
“මේ පොත හරි රසවත්” (mē pota hari rasavat) — This book is very interesting. A rule is easier to test on sentences like this than to memorize as a wording: what surfaces in conversation is the sentence.