LingoflyAt the pharmacy in Sinhala
At the pharmacy without a prescription in Sinhala. 6 phrases that the conversation is made of: «ආයුබෝවන් (āyubōvan). මට (maṭa) උණයි, ඔලුව රිදෙනවා» (oluva ridenavā) — Hello. I have a fever and a headache; «වට්ටෝරුවක් (vaṭṭōruvak) තියෙනවද (tiyenavada)?» — Do you have a prescription? Every line can be played right on the page. The conversation is predictable: few lines, and almost all of them repeat from one exchange to the next.
How the whole thing sounds
The situation: at the pharmacy without a prescription. The conversation is short and predictable — which is exactly what makes it good for a first try: few lines, and almost all of them repeat from one exchange to the next.
- ආයුබෝවන්. මට උණයි, ඔලුව රිදෙනවාāyubōvan. maṭa uṇayi, oluva ridenavāHello. I have a fever and a headache.
- වට්ටෝරුවක් තියෙනවද?vaṭṭōruvak tiyenavada?Do you have a prescription?
- නෑ. වට්ටෝරුවක් නැතුව බෙහෙතක් දෙන්න පුළුවන්ද?nǣ. vaṭṭōruvak nætuva behetak denna puḷuvanda?No. Can I get medicine without one?
- පුළුවන්. මේ පෙති දවසට දෙපාරක් ගන්නpuḷuvan. mē peti davasaṭa depārak gannaYes. Take these tablets twice a day.
- කෑමට පස්සේද?kǣmaṭa passēda?After meals?
- ov, kǣmaṭa passē. gāna rupiyal hārasiyayiYes, after meals. That's four hundred rupees.
Lines one by one
| Sinhala | Reading | Translation |
|---|---|---|
| ආයුබෝවන් (āyubōvan). මට (maṭa) උණයි, ඔලුව රිදෙනවා (oluva ridenavā) | āyubōvan. maṭa uṇayi, oluva ridenavā | Hello. I have a fever and a headache. |
| වට්ටෝරුවක් (vaṭṭōruvak) තියෙනවද (tiyenavada)? | vaṭṭōruvak tiyenavada? | Do you have a prescription? |
| නෑ. වට්ටෝරුවක් නැතුව (vaṭṭōruvak nætuva) බෙහෙතක් දෙන්න (denna) පුළුවන්ද (puḷuvanda)? | nǣ. vaṭṭōruvak nætuva behetak denna puḷuvanda? | No. Can I get medicine without one? |
| පුළුවන් (puḷuvan). මේ පෙති දවසට දෙපාරක් ගන්න (mē peti davasaṭa depārak ganna) | puḷuvan. mē peti davasaṭa depārak ganna | Yes. Take these tablets twice a day. |
| කෑමට (kǣmaṭa) පස්සේද? | kǣmaṭa passēda? | After meals? |
| ඔව් (ov), කෑමට පස්සේ (kǣmaṭa passē). ගාන (gāna) රුපියල් (rupiyal) හාරසියයි | ov, kǣmaṭa passē. gāna rupiyal hārasiyayi | Yes, after meals. That's four hundred rupees. |
How to prepare for a conversation like this
Memorizing the lines is not enough: the other person will say their own thing, not what is written. What helps more is catching the key words by ear and keeping three rescue phrases ready: “I don't understand”, “repeat, please”, “slower”.
And one more thing phrasebooks do not mention: awkwardness gets in the way more than not knowing the words.
- Fear of making mistakes gets in the way of learning a language, and noticeably so. The link turns up study after study, and together those studies cover almost twenty thousand people.checked many timesTeimouri, Goetze & Plonsky, 2019, Studies in Second Language Acquisition 41(2) · 19,933 participants from 23 countries; correlation with results r = −0.36.
- That fear can be dealt with — the methods have been tested and they work.checked many timesXiong et al., 2024, Journal of Language and Social Psychology · 37 studies, anxiety reduced by −0.61. Of the seven conditions examined, only age turned out to matter.
Frequently asked
How do you start a conversation in Sinhala in this situation?
“ආයුබෝවන් (āyubōvan). මට (maṭa) උණයි, ඔලුව රිදෙනවා” (oluva ridenavā) (āyubōvan. maṭa uṇayi, oluva ridenavā) — Hello. I have a fever and a headache. The first line in such a conversation is almost always the same, and that is the one worth learning: the other person will carry it from there.
What if you did not understand the reply?
Say “I don't understand” and “repeat, please” — both are in the rescue set. Admitting your language is still shaky almost always makes the other person more patient.
Should you memorize the dialogue?
No. It is more useful to catch the key words by ear: the other person will say their own thing, and a memorized line will not always fit their reply.