Numbers and counting in Sinhala
56 words Sinhala words on the topic “numbers and counting”: එක — one, දෙක — two, තුන — three, හතර — four. 56 words can be played from recordings.
56 words on the topic
- එකekaoneAlso 'a piece, a unit': tē ekak is 'one tea'. Where English needs 'a' or 'one', Sinhala just tags the noun
- දෙකdekatwoThe vowel sign stands to the left of the letter but is read after it: 'de-ka', not 'ed-ka'
- තුනtunathreeCounting things it takes -k: tunak. Before another word it shrinks to tun-: tun vaṭāvak, 'three times'; tunveni, 'third'; tunsīya, 'three hundred'
- හතරhatarafourIn compounds the stem changes a lot: hataḷiha, 'forty'; hārasīya, 'four hundred'. Counting things: hatarak
- පහpahafiveCounting things: pahak; about clock time: pahaṭa, 'at five'. In compounds it takes the bookish stems pan- or pas-: pansīya, 'five hundred'; pasvana, 'fifth'
- හයhayasixThe spoken haya against the bookish saya: the latter sits on banknotes and in textbooks. Counting things: hayak
- හතhatasevenBefore another word it drops its vowel: hatsīya, 'seven hundred'; hatveni, 'seventh'. Don't confuse it with hatara, 'four' — they are neighbours and sound close
- අටaṭaeightA retroflex ṭ: the tongue at the roof of the mouth, the sound duller than a plain 't'. That is exactly what separates it from ata, 'a hand' — a hard pair by ear
- නවයnavayanineIn counting and in compounds the tail -ya falls off: navasīya, 'nine hundred'; navaveni, 'ninth'. Mind nava, 'new' — the same beginning, a different word
- දහයdahayatenThe tail -ya drops just as in navaya: dahaveni, 'tenth'; daha-aṭa, 'eighteen'. Length decides everything: dāha with a long 'aa' is already a thousand
- කිලෝkilōkilogramCounted through eka: kilō ekak is one kilogram, kilō dekak is two
- බාගයbāgayahalfAt the shop it sounds as bāgayak, 'a half of it': kilō bāgayak, 'half a kilo'
- එකොළහekoḷahaelevenEleven and twelve share the tail -oḷaha, an old word for ten. You can't see the familiar dahaya inside it: eka plus -oḷaha
- දොළහdoḷahatwelvedeka plus the same -oḷaha tail. Counting things, the number takes -k: doḷahak, 'twelve of them'. There is no separate word for 'dozen'
- දහතුනdahatunathirteenFrom thirteen on the row turns transparent: dahaya, 'ten', in front, the unit behind. The next numbers are built the same way
- දාහතරdāhatarafourteendaa-ha-ta-ra; the long first vowel is the only thing that keeps fourteen from sounding like four, hatara
- පහළොවpahaḷovafifteenThe odd one out: not dahapaha, but paha in front and the same -oḷaha tail behind, settled into -ḷova. It has to be learned separately
- දහසයdahasayasixteendahaya + haya, but inside the number haya loses its h and sounds like saya. Outside compound numbers that shape never appears
- දාහතdāhataseventeendaa-ha-ta; only that long first syllable separates it from seven, hata — in noise the two get mixed up
- දහඅටdahaaṭaeighteendahaya and aṭa are simply written together, with no fusion at all, and the seam is audible: 'daha-ata'
- දහනවයdahanavayanineteenThe only one in the row where the unit keeps its full tail -ya: not dahanava but dahanavaya
- විස්සvissatwentyIts own word, no relation to dahaya. After it the ten drops the tail: visieka, 'twenty-one'; visideka, 'twenty-two'
- තිහtihathirtyThe tens from thirty to fifty end in -ha and start from the unit: tuna gives tiha. The familiar 'I am thirty' — maṭa avurudu tihayi — is the same ten with a -yi tail
- හතළිහhataḷihafortyha-ta-LI-ha; the ḷ is an l with the tongue curled back toward the roof of the mouth, duller than the plain l
- පනහpanahafiftyOf paha, 'five', only the opening pa- is left. After this the tens stop being transparent altogether
- හැටhæṭasixtyOf haya, 'six', only the opening hæ is left here. The word is short, and the final ṭa is the retroflex 't', as in aṭa
- හැත්තෑවhættǣvaseventySeventy, eighty and ninety end in -va: hættǣva, asūva, anūva. The long æ in the middle has to be held, or the word won't be recognised
- අසූවasūvaeightyYou can no longer spot aṭa, 'eight', inside: asūva is a word of its own with a long ū
- අනූවanūvaninetynavaya, 'nine', shrank to anū-, just as eight shrank to asū-. The last two tens are easiest to learn as a pair: asūva, anūva
- සීයsīyahundredCareful with the familiar sīyā, 'grandfather': the hundred has no long -ā at the end. Counting, people say sīyak, and 'two hundred' is desīya
- දාහdāhathousanddaa-ha; the long 'aa' in the first syllable is the only thing that keeps the thousand from sounding like the ten, dahaya
- මිලියනයmiliyanayamillionEnglish million with a Sinhala tail -ya; in counting the tail drops: miliyana dahayak. Big sums are more often counted in lakhs — lakshaya, a hundred thousand
- බින්දුවbinduvazeroLiterally 'a dot', and the digit 0 is one too. Phone numbers are usually dictated with the English word for zero; the bookish shunyaya lives in a maths textbook
- පළවෙනිpaḷavenifirstOrdinals are built from the number plus -veni. Only 'first' refuses eka and takes the old stem pala-. Both spellings occur; speech doesn't tell them apart
- දෙවෙනිdeveniseconddeka drops -ka and takes -veni. The bookish devena stands in headlines, the spoken deveni is everywhere else
- තුන්වෙනිtunvenithirdtuna takes the form tun- before -veni. After this the row is even: hataraveni, pahaveni, hayaveni
- කීයක්දkīyakdahow many?You know kīyada for price and time; kīyakda asks the count of things. About people the politer form is kī denyāda, about the uncountable — kohomada
- එකක්ekakpiece, unitThere is no separate word for 'a piece': you count by adding -k to the number — ekak, dekak, tunak. Ekak itself is 'one piece'. The familiar kælla is a broken-off chunk
- සියයටsiyayaṭapercentLiterally 'per hundred', and it stands BEFORE the number: siyayaṭa dahayak, 'ten percent'. The familiar poli is interest on a loan — a different word
- දෙසීයdesīyatwo hundredThe familiar sīya, 'hundred', with the number in front. Counting things adds -k: desīyak; naming a sum adds -yi: desīyayi. The bookish desiya stays on banknotes and notices
- තුන්සීයtunsīyathree hundredtuna takes the form tun- before the hundred, the same one as in tunveni, 'third'. The bookish form is tunsīya
- හාරසීයhārasīyafour hundredhatara, 'four', turns into hāra- before the hundred — the only number in the row that changes this much. Neither 'hatara-sīya' nor 'hata-sīya' will be understood
- පන්සීයpansīyafive hundredpaha, 'five', squeezes to pan-, exactly as in pandāha, 'five thousand'. The five-hundred-rupee note is simply called the pansīyē nottuva
- හයසීයhayasīyasix hundredhaya doesn't change at all: hayasīya. In bookish spelling the six looks different — saya — and the hundred there is sayasīya
- හත්සීයhatsīyaseven hundredhata, 'seven', drops its last vowel: hatsīya. Its neighbour hārasīya, 'four hundred', sounds close, and sellers pronounce both carefully
- අටසීයaṭasīyaeight hundredaṭa stays as it is: aṭasīya. The retroflex ṭ is said with the tongue at the roof of the mouth — that's exactly what keeps it apart from atasīya
- නවසීයnavasīyanine hundrednavaya, 'nine', drops the tail -ya: navasīya. After this the hundreds end and dāha, the thousand, begins
- හතරවෙනිhataravenifourthFrom the fourth on the row becomes even: the whole number plus -veni, with no contractions. The bookish hataravana stands on plates and in headlines
- පහවෙනිpahavenififthThe spoken form takes the full paha, the bookish one the old stem pas-: pasvana. On signs and in timetables you'll meet exactly that one
- හයවෙනිhayavenisixthhaya plus -veni, with no change in the stem. The bookish hayavana is the same word in different clothes
- හත්වෙනිhatveniseventhhata loses its vowel the same way as before the hundred: hatveni. From hataraveni, 'fourth', it differs by a single syllable, and people mix them up constantly
- අටවෙනිaṭavenieighthaṭa plus -veni. A school class is named exactly so: aṭaveni paṁtiya, 'grade eight'
- නවවෙනිnavavenininthnavaya drops its -ya, leaving two va sounds in a row: navaveni is read 'nava-veni', both syllables separate
- දහවෙනිdahavenitenthdahaya drops its -ya, just as navaya does. For the day of the month add -dā: dahavenidā, 'on the tenth'
- සියවෙනිsiyavenihundredthIn the ordinal the hundred takes the bookish stem siya-, not the spoken sī: siyaveni, not 'see-veni'. Beside it lives the similar siyavasa, 'a century' — the same siya-, a different word
- ගණනgaṇananumberA trap: the same word means 'price'. Ganan væḍiyi, 'expensive', is literally 'the number is big'
How it sounds in a sentence
A word list is a blank. Conversation is made of sentences, and these are the ones the words fit into most often.
- තේ එකක් දෙන්නtē ekak dennaGive me one tea
- මට බිත්තර දෙකක් ඕනේmaṭa bittara dekak ōnēI need two eggs
- මට පාන් තුනක් දෙන්නmaṭa pān tunak dennaGive me three loaves of bread
- ගෙදර කාමර හතරක් තියෙනවාgedara kāmara hatarak tiyenavāThe house has four rooms
- මම පහට එනවාmama pahaṭa enavāI'll come at five
- මම හයට ගෙදර එනවාmama hayaṭa gedara enavāI'll come home at six
What is worth knowing about these words
එක (eka) — one. Also 'a piece, a unit': tē ekak is 'one tea'. Where English needs 'a' or 'one', Sinhala just tags the noun
දෙක (deka) — two. The vowel sign stands to the left of the letter but is read after it: 'de-ka', not 'ed-ka'
තුන (tuna) — three. Counting things it takes -k: tunak. Before another word it shrinks to tun-: tun vaṭāvak, 'three times'; tunveni, 'third'; tunsīya, 'three hundred'
හතර (hatara) — four. In compounds the stem changes a lot: hataḷiha, 'forty'; hārasīya, 'four hundred'. Counting things: hatarak
Test yourself
First by ear — the way you will meet the word in conversation. Click the speaker and pick the translation.
- What is this word?
It is එක (eka) — one.
- What is this word?
It is හය (haya) — six.
- What is this word?
It is කිලෝ (kilō) — kilogram.
- What is this word?
It is දාහතර (dāhatara) — fourteen.
- What is this word?
It is දහනවය (dahanavaya) — nineteen.
Now the other way around: recall the spelling from the meaning. That is harder, and therefore more useful.
- How do you say “one” in Sinhala?
Also 'a piece, a unit': tē ekak is 'one tea'. Where English needs 'a' or 'one', Sinhala just tags the noun
- How do you say “six” in Sinhala?
The spoken haya against the bookish saya: the latter sits on banknotes and in textbooks. Counting things: hayak
- How do you say “kilogram” in Sinhala?
Counted through eka: kilō ekak is one kilogram, kilō dekak is two
- How do you say “fourteen” in Sinhala?
Before hatara the ten lengthens: not dahahatara but dāhatara. Seventeen lengthens the same way
- How do you say “nineteen” in Sinhala?
The only one in the row where the unit keeps its full tail -ya: not dahanava but dahanavaya
How to learn the set instead of just reading it
A price, the change, a house number, the time you agreed on, the floor. Numbers are the first thing you have to catch by ear — and the first thing people say fast.
A list is read in a minute and forgotten in a day. What works: hide the translation, try to recall, get it wrong — and come back to the same words tomorrow.
- Recalling beats re-reading. Covering the translation and trying to remember it does more than reading it ten more times.checked many timesAdesope, Trevisan & Sundararajan, 2017, Review of Educational Research 87(3) · 188 experiments, 272 comparisons. g = 0.61; against plain re-reading 0.51, against passive review 0.93.
- This holds not only in experiments but in ordinary classrooms, with real students.checked many timesMawson & Kang, 2025, Behavioral Sciences 15(6):771 · 22 studies, d = 0.54 (confidence interval 0.31–0.77). The authors warn that individual studies disagree widely.
Frequently asked
How do you say “one” in Sinhala?
«එක», read “eka”. Also 'a piece, a unit': tē ekak is 'one tea'. Where English needs 'a' or 'one', Sinhala just tags the noun. It is one of 56 words in the set “numbers and counting” — the rest are in the table above.
How many numbers do you need to start?
A dozen is enough. The set of 56 words on this page covers nearly every everyday case on the topic — but it is best taken a few at a time, not all at once.
Is there audio?
Yes, 56 words on this page can be played — click the speaker next to the word. The sound works on any phone, and nothing needs to be installed.