LingoflySorry in Sinhala
Two friends making up after a quarrel in Sinhala. 7 phrases that the conversation is made of: «ඊයේ (īyē) අපි (api) රණ්ඩු (raṇḍu) වුණා (vuṇā). මට (maṭa) දුකයි» (dukayi) — We quarreled yesterday. I feel sad; «මමත් (mamat) තරහයි (tarahayi). ඒත් (ēt) දැන් (dæn) හරි» (hari) — I'm angry too. But now everything is fine. Every line can be played right on the page.
How the whole thing sounds
The situation: two friends making up after a quarrel. First the whole conversation, then each line on its own, with a translation.
- mama dænagena kaḷē nǣ. ēka magē væræddaI didn't mean it. It's my fault.
Lines one by one
| Sinhala | Reading | Translation |
|---|---|---|
| ඊයේ (īyē) අපි (api) රණ්ඩු (raṇḍu) වුණා (vuṇā). මට (maṭa) දුකයි (dukayi) | īyē api raṇḍu vuṇā. maṭa dukayi | We quarreled yesterday. I feel sad. |
| මමත් (mamat) තරහයි (tarahayi). ඒත් (ēt) දැන් (dæn) හරි (hari) | mamat tarahayi. ēt dæn hari | I'm angry too. But now everything is fine. |
| මම දැනගෙන කළේ නෑ (mama dænagena kaḷē nǣ). ඒක මගේ වැරැද්ද (ēka magē værædda) | mama dænagena kaḷē nǣ. ēka magē værædda | I didn't mean it. It's my fault. |
| ප්රශ්නයක් නෑ (praśnayak nǣ). කරදර වෙන්න එපා (karadara venna epā) | praśnayak nǣ. karadara venna epā | No harm done. Do not worry. |
| ඔයා (oyā) හොඳ (honda) ගතියක් තියෙන (tiyena) කෙනෙක් (kenek) | oyā honda gatiyak tiyena kenek | You have a good character. |
| ඔයාත් එහෙමයි. හෙට (heṭa) හම්බවෙමුද? | oyāt ehemayi. heṭa hambavemuda? | So do you. Shall we meet tomorrow? |
| අනිවාර්යයෙන් (anivāryayen). මම (mama) එන්නම් (ennam) | anivāryayen. mama ennam | Of course. I'll come. |
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?
“ඊයේ (īyē) අපි (api) රණ්ඩු (raṇḍu) වුණා (vuṇā). මට (maṭa) දුකයි” (dukayi) (īyē api raṇḍu vuṇā. maṭa dukayi) — We quarreled yesterday. I feel sad. 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.