LingoflyHow many children? in Sinhala
Neighbors getting acquainted in the yard in Sinhala. 8 phrases that the conversation is made of: «මේ මගේ (magē) පවුල (pavula). මේ මගේ (magē) දුව» (duva) — This is my family. And this is my daughter; «හරි (hari) ලස්සනයි (lassanayi). ඔයාට (oyāṭa) ළමයි (ḷamayi) කීදෙනෙක් ඉන්නවද?» — How pretty. How many children do you have? Every line can be played right on the page.
How the whole thing sounds
The situation: neighbors getting acquainted in the yard. First the whole conversation, then each line on its own, with a translation.
- දෙන්නෙක්. පිරිමි ළමයෙක් සහ ගැහැණු ළමයෙක්dennek. pirimi ḷamayek saha gæhæṇu ḷamayekTwo. A boy and a girl.
- nǣ, eyālā gamē. hæma avuruddakama api eheṭa yanavāNo, they are in the village. We go there every year.
Lines one by one
| Sinhala | Reading | Translation |
|---|---|---|
| මේ මගේ (magē) පවුල (pavula). මේ මගේ (magē) දුව (duva) | mē magē pavula. mē magē duva | This is my family. And this is my daughter. |
| හරි (hari) ලස්සනයි (lassanayi). ඔයාට (oyāṭa) ළමයි (ḷamayi) කීදෙනෙක් ඉන්නවද? | hari lassanayi. oyāṭa ḷamayi kīdenek innavada? | How pretty. How many children do you have? |
| දෙන්නෙක් (dennek). පිරිමි (pirimi) ළමයෙක් (ḷamayek) සහ (saha) ගැහැණු (gæhæṇu) ළමයෙක් (ḷamayek) | dennek. pirimi ḷamayek saha gæhæṇu ḷamayek | Two. A boy and a girl. |
| පිරිමි (pirimi) ළමයාට (ḷamayāṭa) වයස (vayasa) කීයද? (kīyada) | pirimi ḷamayāṭa vayasa kīyada? | How old is the boy? |
| එයාට (eyāṭa) අවුරුදු (avurudu) දහයයි (dahayayi). දුව (duva) තාම (tāma) බබෙක් | eyāṭa avurudu dahayayi. duva tāma babek | He is ten. And the daughter is still a baby. |
| ඔයාගේ (oyāgē) දෙමව්පියෝ (demavpiyō) මෙතන (metana) ඉන්නවද? | oyāgē demavpiyō metana innavada? | Do your parents live here? |
| නෑ, එයාලා (eyālā) ගමේ (gamē). හැම අවුරුද්දකම (hæma avuruddakama) අපි (api) එහෙට යනවා (yanavā) | nǣ, eyālā gamē. hæma avuruddakama api eheṭa yanavā | No, they are in the village. We go there every year. |
| ලස්සනයි (lassanayi). මගේ (magē) ආච්චිත් ගමේ (gamē) ඉන්නවා (innavā) | lassanayi. magē āccīt gamē innavā | Nice. My grandmother is in the village too. |
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 මගේ (magē) පවුල (pavula). මේ මගේ (magē) දුව” (duva) (mē magē pavula. mē magē duva) — This is my family. And this is my daughter. 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.