The name of an action: -ීම, “...න එක” and the literary -නය
The unit about society is almost entirely assembled from names behind each of which stands a verb: දූෂණය is 'they pollute', ගෙවීම — 'they pay', රීසයිකල් කරන එක — 'they recycle'. Sinhala turns a verb into a name in three ways, and they are not interchangeable. For example: “කසළ රීසයිකල් කරන එක අපේ ගමේ පටන් ගත්තා” — Recycling garbage was started in our village. A rule from the Sinhala course: worked out on examples…
How it works
The unit about society is almost entirely assembled from names behind each of which stands a verb: දූෂණය (dūṣaṇaya) is 'they pollute', ගෙවීම (gevīma) — 'they pay', රීසයිකල් කරන එක (rīsayikal karana eka) — 'they recycle'. Sinhala turns a verb into a name in three ways, and they are not interchangeable.
The colloquial way — '...න එක'. The -න form is taken and එක (eka) added: රීසයිකල් කරනවා (rīsayikal karanavā) → රීසයිකල් කරන එක (recycling), බොනවා (bonavā) → බොන එක (drinking), වැඩ කරන එක (work). Word for word — 'that very thing that gets done'. This is how one always speaks when the action in general is meant: කසළ රීසයිකල් කරන එක වැදගත් (kasaḷa rīsayikal karana eka vædagat) — recycling garbage is important.
The middle way — -ීම. The verb loses -නවා and takes -ීම: ගෙවනවා (gevanavā) → ගෙවීම (a payment), බඳිනවා (bandinavā) → බැඳීම (an obligation), හඟිනවා → හැඟීම (an impression), අදිනවා (adinavā) → ඇදීම (a strain). Note: the stem vowel often changes color in the process (බ → බැ, හ → හැ, අ → ඇ). The -ීම form stands midway between speech and writing: it is said, but written more often.
The literary way — a ready name in -නය, -ණය (-ṇaya), -ය. නිෂ්පාදනය (production), දූෂණය (pollution), පරීක්ෂණය (an investigation), ප්රදර්ශනය (an exhibition), ප්රසංගය (a performance). These words arrived ready-made from Pali and Sanskrit and need not be taken apart. What is useful to know is different: they are always about an action or its result, and the verb to them is made through කරනවා (karanavā) — නිෂ්පාදනය කරනවා (niṣpādanaya karanavā), පරිත්යාග කරනවා (parityāga karanavā).
And the most productive seam: කිරීම (kirīma). For any compound verb with කරනවා the name of the action is made through කිරීම: පරිත්යාග කරනවා → පරිත්යාග කිරීම (a donation), පරීක්ෂා කරනවා (parīkṣā karanavā) → පරීක්ෂා කිරීම (a check), රීසයිකල් කරනවා → රීසයිකල් කිරීම (rīsayikal kirīma). This seam takes anything, including English, and therefore it appears in announcements more often than any other.
How to choose. In speech — '...න එක', in an application — -ීම, in a newspaper and on a notice — the literary name. One and the same thing is said in all three ways: සල්ලි එකතු කරන එක (salli ekatu karana eka) / මුදල් එකතු කිරීම (mudal ekatu kirīma) / මුදල් රැස්කිරීම — 'collecting money'. The difference is not in the sense but in who says it.
Table
| Way | Where it sounds | From the verb | The name |
|---|---|---|---|
| ...න එක | speech | රීසයිකල් කරනවා | රීසයිකල් කරන එක — recycling |
| ...න එක | speech | බොනවා | බොන එක — drinking |
| -ීම | an application, an announcement | ගෙවනවා | ගෙවීම — a payment |
| -ීම | an application, an announcement | බඳිනවා | බැඳීම — an obligation |
| -ීම | an application, an announcement | අදිනවා | ඇදීම — a strain |
| කිරීම | any verb with කරනවා | පරිත්යාග කරනවා | පරිත්යාග කිරීම — a donation |
| -නය, -ණය | a newspaper, a notice | a ready literary name | නිෂ්පාදනය — production |
| -නය, -ණය | a newspaper, a notice | a ready literary name | දූෂණය — pollution |
By example
- කසළ රීසයිකල් කරන එක අපේ ගමේ පටන් ගත්තාkasaḷa rīsayikal karana eka apē gamē paṭan gattāRecycling garbage was started in our village
- ගෙවීම මාසෙ අන්තිමට, බැඳීම ලිඛිතවgevīma māse antimaṭa, bændīma likhitavaThe payment at the end of the month, the obligation in writing
- පරිසර දූෂණය අඩු කරන එක ලේසි නෑparisara dūṣaṇaya aḍu karana eka lēsi nǣReducing the pollution of the environment is not easy
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
The name of an action: how does it work in Sinhala?
The unit about society is almost entirely assembled from names behind each of which stands a verb: දූෂණය is 'they pollute', ගෙවීම — 'they pay', රීසයිකල් කරන එක — 'they recycle'. Sinhala turns a verb into a name in three ways, and they are not interchangeable.
What does it look like in an example sentence Sinhala?
“කසළ රීසයිකල් කරන එක අපේ ගමේ පටන් ගත්තා” (kasaḷa rīsayikal karana eka apē gamē paṭan gattā) — Recycling garbage was started in our village. A rule is easier to test on sentences like this than to memorize as a wording: what surfaces in conversation is the sentence.