LingoflyWhat does he look like? in Sinhala
At the airport: the greeter describes over the phone what the person to find looks like in Sinhala. 8 phrases that the conversation is made of: «මම (mama) එයාව (eyāva) දන්නේ (dannē) නෑ. එයා (eyā) කොහොමද (kohomada) පේන්නේ?» — I don't know him. What does he look like?; «එයා සාමාන්ය උසයි (eyā sāmānya usayi), ටිකක් (ṭikak) සිහින්» (sihin) — He is of medium height, quite slim. Every line can be played right on the page.
How the whole thing sounds
The situation: at the airport: the greeter describes over the phone what the person to find looks like. First the whole conversation, then each line on its own, with a translation.
Lines one by one
| Sinhala | Reading | Translation |
|---|---|---|
| මම (mama) එයාව (eyāva) දන්නේ (dannē) නෑ. එයා (eyā) කොහොමද (kohomada) පේන්නේ? | mama eyāva dannē nǣ. eyā kohomada pēnnē? | I don't know him. What does he look like? |
| එයා සාමාන්ය උසයි (eyā sāmānya usayi), ටිකක් (ṭikak) සිහින් (sihin) | eyā sāmānya usayi, ṭikak sihin | He is of medium height, quite slim. |
| කොණ්ඩේ (koṇḍē) කොහොමද? (kohomada) තට්ටද? | koṇḍē kohomada? taṭṭada? | And the hair? Is he bald? |
| නෑ, රැළි කොණ්ඩේ (ræḷi koṇḍē). ටිකක් (ṭikak) පැහුණු (pæhuṇu) | nǣ, ræḷi koṇḍē. ṭikak pæhuṇu | No, curly hair. A little gray. |
| මූණේ (mūṇē) මොකක් හරි (mokak hari) ලකුණක් තියෙනවද (tiyenavada)? | mūṇē mokak hari lakuṇak tiyenavada? | Is there any mark on the face? |
| ඔව් (ov), නිකට (nikaṭa) ළඟ (ḷanga) පොඩි (poḍi) ලපයක් (lapayak) තියෙනවා (tiyenavā) | ov, nikaṭa ḷanga poḍi lapayak tiyenavā | Yes, a small mole by the chin. |
| හොඳයි (hondayi). එයා (eyā) කතාබහට (katābahaṭa) කැමතිද? | hondayi. eyā katābahaṭa kæmatida? | Good. Is he sociable? |
| ඔව් (ov), ගොඩක් (goḍak). හොඳ (honda) සෙන්ස් (sens) ඔෆ් (of) හියුමර් (hiyumar) එකකුත් තියෙනවා (tiyenavā) | ov, goḍak. honda sens of hiyumar ekakut tiyenavā | Yes, very. And a good sense of humor. |
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?
“මම (mama) එයාව (eyāva) දන්නේ (dannē) නෑ. එයා (eyā) කොහොමද (kohomada) පේන්නේ?” (mama eyāva dannē nǣ. eyā kohomada pēnnē?) — I don't know him. What does he look like? 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.