LingoflyAt the clinic in Sinhala
At the clinic: the doctor asks about symptoms and prescribes treatment in Sinhala. 8 phrases that the conversation is made of: «දොස්තර (dostara) මහත්තයෝ, මට (maṭa) දවස් (davas) තුනක් (tunak) තිස්සේ (tissē) උණයි» — Doctor, I have had a fever for three days; «තව (tava) මොනවද (monavada) දැනෙන්නේ? උගුරේ (ugurē) රිදෙනවද?» — What else do you feel? Does your throat hurt? Every line can be played right on the page.
How the whole thing sounds
The situation: at the clinic: the doctor asks about symptoms and prescribes treatment. First the whole conversation, then each line on its own, with a translation.
- තව මොනවද දැනෙන්නේ? උගුරේ රිදෙනවද?tava monavada dænennē? ugurē ridenavada?What else do you feel? Does your throat hurt?
- ov, ugurē ridenavā, kivisum yanavāYes, my throat hurts and I sneeze.
- මේක ෆ්ලූ එකක් වගේ. ලේ පරීක්ෂාවක් කරමුmēka flū ekak vagē. lē parīkṣāvak karamuIt looks like flu. We will do a blood test.
Lines one by one
| Sinhala | Reading | Translation |
|---|---|---|
| දොස්තර (dostara) මහත්තයෝ, මට (maṭa) දවස් (davas) තුනක් (tunak) තිස්සේ (tissē) උණයි | dostara mahattayō, maṭa davas tunak tissē uṇayi | Doctor, I have had a fever for three days. |
| තව (tava) මොනවද (monavada) දැනෙන්නේ? උගුරේ (ugurē) රිදෙනවද? | tava monavada dænennē? ugurē ridenavada? | What else do you feel? Does your throat hurt? |
| ඔව් (ov), උගුරේ රිදෙනවා (ugurē ridenavā), කිවිසුම් යනවා (kivisum yanavā) | ov, ugurē ridenavā, kivisum yanavā | Yes, my throat hurts and I sneeze. |
| ඇඟේ රතු පැල්ලම් (ængē ratu pællam) තියෙනවද (tiyenavada)? | ængē ratu pællam tiyenavada? | Are there red spots on the body? |
| නෑ. හැබැයි (hæbæyi) ඇඟේ (ængē) ශක්තියක් නෑ | nǣ. hæbæyi ængē śaktiyak nǣ | No. But the body feels weak. |
| මේක (mēka) ෆ්ලූ (flū) එකක් (ekak) වගේ (vagē). ලේ පරීක්ෂාවක් (parīkṣāvak) කරමු (karamu) | mēka flū ekak vagē. lē parīkṣāvak karamu | It looks like flu. We will do a blood test. |
| බෙහෙත් (behet) වට්ටෝරුවක් (vaṭṭōruvak) ලියලා (liyalā) දෙනවද? | behet vaṭṭōruvak liyalā denavada? | Will you prescribe medicine? |
| ඔව් (ov). දවස් (davas) තුනකින් (tunakin) සනීප (sanīpa) නෑ නම් (nam), ආයේ (āyē) එන්න (enna) | ov. davas tunakin sanīpa nǣ nam, āyē enna | Yes. If it is not easier in three days, come again. |
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?
“දොස්තර (dostara) මහත්තයෝ, මට (maṭa) දවස් (davas) තුනක් (tunak) තිස්සේ (tissē) උණයි” (dostara mahattayō, maṭa davas tunak tissē uṇayi) — Doctor, I have had a fever for three days. 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.