අර
“අර” (ara) — that (over there) in Sinhala. Pronoun, level A1, topic — pronouns. The farthest step — 'that one yonder'. The middle step, ē, refers to what has already been talked about. In a live sentence: “අර ගොඩනැගිල්ල කෞතුකාගාරය” — That building over there is a museum. You can hear how it sounds right here. Written with the characters අ, ර. One of 26 words in the set “pronouns” in the Sinhala course.
In short
| Written in Sinhala | අර |
| Read in Latin letters | ara |
| Translation | that (over there) |
| Part of speech | pronoun |
| Level | A1 |
- අරarathat (over there)
Why it looks that way
The farthest step — 'that one yonder'. The middle step, ē, refers to what has already been talked about
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.
- අර ගොඩනැගිල්ල කෞතුකාගාරයara goḍanægilla kautukāgārayaThat building over there is a museum
Nearby words: pronouns
I, you, we, they. There is a handful of them, they turn up in every sentence, and politeness rides on them: most of these languages keep a formal “you” apart from a familiar one, and choosing the wrong one is noticed faster than a mispronounced word.
- මමmamaIThe very first word you can read in the script with no vowel signs at all: ma + ma. Two identical letters
- ඔයාoyāyouThe neutral 'you' between equals. Elders are addressed by kinship words or by title, never by this pronoun
- ඔහුohuheThe bookish 'he'. In conversation you'll hear eyā far more often — one word for both 'he' and 'she', with no gender at all
- ඇයæyasheThe bookish 'she'; speech calls men and women alike eyā. Æya survives in newspapers, songs and film credits. The letter æ is a 'wide a', closer to the vowel of 'cat'
- අපිapiweOne form for everything: 'we with you' and 'we without you' are not distinguished. The same person gives the let's-form: yamu, 'let's go'
- මගේmagēmyFrom mama, 'I', with the possessive tail -gē. Every possessive in the course is built with it
- ඔයාගේoyāgēyourThe 'your' for an equal. For an elder it's obāgē, and in speech people generally dodge second-person pronouns altogether
- අපේapēourFrom api, 'we'. Shorter than you'd expect: the vowels melt together
- ඔබලාගේobalāgēyour (plural)The plural -lā plus the possessive -gē. The tails stack one onto another
- එයාගේeyāgēhis, herSpoken Sinhala has no gender: eyāgē works for a man and for a woman alike. For 'their' the plural tail comes along: eyālāgē
Test yourself
Five questions from the same set — “pronouns”. Recalling a spelling from meaning is harder than knowing a familiar word on sight, and therefore more useful.
- How do you say “that (over there)” in Sinhala?
The farthest step — 'that one yonder'. The middle step, ē, refers to what has already been talked about
- How do you say “your” in Sinhala?
The 'your' for an equal. For an elder it's obāgē, and in speech people generally dodge second-person pronouns altogether
- How do you say “he” in Sinhala?
The bookish 'he'. In conversation you'll hear eyā far more often — one word for both 'he' and 'she', with no gender at all
- How do you say “his, her” in Sinhala?
Spoken Sinhala has no gender: eyāgē works for a man and for a woman alike. For 'their' the plural tail comes along: eyālāgē
- How do you say “my” in Sinhala?
From mama, 'I', with the possessive tail -gē. Every possessive in the course is built with it
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 “that (over there)” in Sinhala?
«අර», read “ara”. In a live sentence: “අර ගොඩනැගිල්ල කෞතුකාගාරය” — That building over there is a museum. You can hear how it sounds right on this page. Pronoun, level A1, from the set “pronouns”; written with the characters අ, ර.
How is “අර” written in Latin letters?
ara. 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?
The farthest step — 'that one yonder'. The middle step, ē, refers to what has already been talked about. 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.