LingoflyGoing to see the house in Sinhala
Viewing a rental apartment: the broker shows the place, the tenant asks about the fee and the meter in Sinhala. 8 phrases that the conversation is made of: «මේ තමයි (tamayi) ගෙදර (gedara). කාමර (kāmara) දෙකයි (dekayi), කුස්සියයි» — Here is the house. Two rooms and a kitchen; «මාසේ කුලිය කීයද?» (māsē kuliya kīyada) — How much is the rent? Every line can be played right on the page.
How the whole thing sounds
The situation: viewing a rental apartment: the broker shows the place, the tenant asks about the fee and the meter. First the whole conversation, then each line on its own, with a translation.
- රුපියල් හතළිස්දාහයි. ඩිපොසිට් එක මාස දෙකක්rupiyal hataḷisdāhayi. ḍiposiṭ eka māsa dekakForty thousand rupees. The deposit is two months.
- ov, sōfā ekakut tiyenavā. karanṭ bila venamaYes, there's a sofa too. The electricity bill is separate.
- mīṭaraya koheda? mīṭar rīḍiṁ eka balanna ōnēWhere's the meter? I want to see the reading.
- hondayi. kulī givisuma kiyavalā heṭa uttara dennamGood. I'll read the lease and answer tomorrow.
Lines one by one
| Sinhala | Reading | Translation |
|---|---|---|
| මේ තමයි (tamayi) ගෙදර (gedara). කාමර (kāmara) දෙකයි (dekayi), කුස්සියයි | mē tamayi gedara. kāmara dekayi, kussiyayi | Here is the house. Two rooms and a kitchen. |
| මාසේ කුලිය කීයද? (māsē kuliya kīyada) | māsē kuliya kīyada? | How much is the rent? |
| රුපියල් (rupiyal) හතළිස්දාහයි. ඩිපොසිට් එක (ḍiposiṭ eka) මාස (māsa) දෙකක් (dekak) | rupiyal hataḷisdāhayi. ḍiposiṭ eka māsa dekak | Forty thousand rupees. The deposit is two months. |
| ෆර්නිෂ්ඩ්ද? ඇඳක් (ændak) සහ (saha) අල්මාරියක් තියෙනවද (tiyenavada)? | farniṣḍda? ændak saha almāriyak tiyenavada? | Furnished? Is there a bed and a wardrobe? |
| ඔව් (ov), සෝෆා (sōfā) එකකුත් තියෙනවා (tiyenavā). කරන්ට් බිල (karanṭ bila) වෙනම (venama) | ov, sōfā ekakut tiyenavā. karanṭ bila venama | Yes, there's a sofa too. The electricity bill is separate. |
| මීටරය (mīṭaraya) කොහෙද? (koheda) මීටර් රීඩිං එක (mīṭar rīḍiṁ eka) බලන්න (balanna) ඕනේ (ōnē) | mīṭaraya koheda? mīṭar rīḍiṁ eka balanna ōnē | Where's the meter? I want to see the reading. |
| ගේට්ටුව (gēṭṭuva) ළඟ (ḷanga). වතුර (vatura) හැම (hæma) දාම (dāma) තියෙනවා (tiyenavā) | gēṭṭuva ḷanga. vatura hæma dāma tiyenavā | It's by the gate. There is water every day. |
| හොඳයි (hondayi). කුලී ගිවිසුම (kulī givisuma) කියවලා (kiyavalā) හෙට (heṭa) උත්තර (uttara) දෙන්නම් (dennam) | hondayi. kulī givisuma kiyavalā heṭa uttara dennam | Good. I'll read the lease and answer tomorrow. |
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 තමයි (tamayi) ගෙදර (gedara). කාමර (kāmara) දෙකයි (dekayi), කුස්සියයි” (mē tamayi gedara. kāmara dekayi, kussiyayi) — Here is the house. Two rooms and a kitchen. 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.