අගුල මාරු කරනවා
“අගුල මාරු කරනවා” (agula māru karanavā) — to change the lock in Sinhala. Phrase, level A1. You know the door lock, the key, and māru karanavā, 'to replace'. The locksmith on his sign is the 'lock man'. In a live sentence: “යතුර නැති වුණා, අගුල මාරු කරන්න ඕන” — The key is lost — the lock needs changing. You can hear how it sounds right here. Written with the characters අ, ග, ු, ල, ම, ා, ර, ු, ක, ර, න, ව.
In short
| Written in Sinhala | අගුල මාරු කරනවා |
| Read in Latin letters | agula māru karanavā |
| Translation | to change the lock |
| Part of speech | phrase |
| Level | A1 |
- අගුල මාරු කරනවාagula māru karanavāto change the lock
Why it looks that way
You know the door lock, the key, and māru karanavā, 'to replace'. The locksmith on his sign is the 'lock man'
A word with a story stays in memory longer than one learned as a “spelling — translation” pair: memory holds on to meaning, not to a string.
In a live sentence
A single word almost never appears alone in conversation. A sentence shows where it fits and what stands next to it.
- යතුර නැති වුණා, අගුල මාරු කරන්න ඕනyatura næti vuṇā, agula māru karanna ōnaThe key is lost — the lock needs changing
How not to forget this word
Reading a word and remembering it are different jobs. A day later, little survives of a single reading — and that is not bad memory, that is how memory works.
- This has been tested on foreign words too. The difference shows up most when you test yourself a few days later rather than straight away.checked many timesKim & Webb, 2022, Language Learning 72(2) · 48 experiments, 3,411 participants, 98 comparisons.
- 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.
- An answer you worked out yourself sticks better than one handed to you.checked many timesBertsch et al., 2007, Memory & Cognition 35(2) · 86 studies, 445 comparisons, d = 0.40.
Frequently asked
How do you say “to change the lock” in Sinhala?
«අගුල මාරු කරනවා», read “agula māru karanavā”. In a live sentence: “යතුර නැති වුණා, අගුල මාරු කරන්න ඕන” — The key is lost — the lock needs changing. You can hear how it sounds right on this page. Phrase, level A1; written with the characters අ, ග, ු, ල, ම, ා, ර, ු, ක, ර, න, ව.
How is “අගුල මාරු කරනවා” written in Latin letters?
agula māru karanavā. This is a practical spelling — you need it to read aloud and be understood, not to meet an academic standard.
Why does this word look the way it does?
You know the door lock, the key, and māru karanavā, 'to replace'. The locksmith on his sign is the 'lock man'. A word with a story stays in memory longer than a “spelling — translation” pair: memory holds on to meaning, not to a string.
Can I hear how it sounds?
Yes, right on this page: click the word and it will play. The sound works on any phone, and nothing needs to be installed.