LingoflyAt the clothes shop in Sinhala
At a clothing store: size and color in Sinhala. 7 phrases that the conversation is made of: «මේ කමිසය (kamisaya) අඳලා (andalā) බලන්න (balanna) පුළුවන්ද (puḷuvanda)?» — May I try on this shirt?; «පුළුවන් (puḷuvan). ෆිටින් රූම් එක (fiṭin rūm eka) අතන» (atana) — You may. The fitting room is over there. Every line can be played right on the page.
How the whole thing sounds
The situation: at a clothing store: size and color. First the whole conversation, then each line on its own, with a translation.
- mēka goḍak poḍiyi. loku ekak tiyenavada?It's too small. Do you have a bigger one?
- lā nil tiyenavā. mē sayis eka hariLight blue is in stock. This size fits you.
Lines one by one
| Sinhala | Reading | Translation |
|---|---|---|
| මේ කමිසය (kamisaya) අඳලා (andalā) බලන්න (balanna) පුළුවන්ද (puḷuvanda)? | mē kamisaya andalā balanna puḷuvanda? | May I try on this shirt? |
| පුළුවන් (puḷuvan). ෆිටින් රූම් එක (fiṭin rūm eka) අතන (atana) | puḷuvan. fiṭin rūm eka atana | You may. The fitting room is over there. |
| මේක ගොඩක් පොඩියි (mēka goḍak poḍiyi). ලොකු (loku) එකක් (ekak) තියෙනවද (tiyenavada)? | mēka goḍak poḍiyi. loku ekak tiyenavada? | It's too small. Do you have a bigger one? |
| තියෙනවා (tiyenavā). මොන (mona) පාටද (pāṭada) ඕන (ōna)? | tiyenavā. mona pāṭada ōna? | I do. What color do you need? |
| ලා නිල් (nil) හරි (hari), කළු (kaḷu) හරි (hari) | lā nil hari, kaḷu hari | Light blue or black. |
| ලා නිල් (nil) තියෙනවා (tiyenavā). මේ සයිස් එක හරි (sayis eka hari) | lā nil tiyenavā. mē sayis eka hari | Light blue is in stock. This size fits you. |
| හොඳයි (hondayi), මම (mama) මේක (mēka) අඳිනවා (andinavā). කීයද? (kīyada) | hondayi, mama mēka andinavā. kīyada? | OK, I'll take it. How much? |
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?
“මේ කමිසය (kamisaya) අඳලා (andalā) බලන්න (balanna) පුළුවන්ද (puḷuvanda)?” (mē kamisaya andalā balanna puḷuvanda?) — May I try on this shirt? 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.