බොත්තම් ගලවනවා
“බොත්තම් ගලවනවා” (bottam galavanavā) — to unbutton in Sinhala. Verb, level A1. galavanavā is 'to take off, to pull off'. Shoes are taken off with the same verb. In a live sentence: “කමිසේ බොත්තම් ගලවන්න” — Unbutton the shirt. You can hear how it sounds right here. Written with the characters බ, ො, ත, ්, ත, ම, ්, ග, ල, ව, න, ව. A word from the everyday Sinhala course, level A1.
In short
| Written in Sinhala | බොත්තම් ගලවනවා |
| Read in Latin letters | bottam galavanavā |
| Translation | to unbutton |
| Part of speech | verb |
| Level | A1 |
- බොත්තම් ගලවනවාbottam galavanavāto unbutton
Why it looks that way
galavanavā is 'to take off, to pull off'. Shoes are taken off with the same verb
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.
- කමිසේ බොත්තම් ගලවන්නkamisē bottama galavannaUnbutton the shirt
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 unbutton” in Sinhala?
«බොත්තම් ගලවනවා», read “bottam galavanavā”. In a live sentence: “කමිසේ බොත්තම් ගලවන්න” — Unbutton the shirt. You can hear how it sounds right on this page. Verb, level A1; written with the characters බ, ො, ත, ්, ත, ම, ්, ග, ල, ව, න, ව.
How is “බොත්තම් ගලවනවා” written in Latin letters?
bottam galavanavā. 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?
galavanavā is 'to take off, to pull off'. Shoes are taken off with the same verb. 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.