බොත්තම ඔබනවා
“බොත්තම ඔබනවා” (bottama obanavā) — to press the button in Sinhala. Phrase, level A1. You know bottama, 'button'. Obanavā is to press from above; the same word presses the gate bell. In a live sentence: “කොළ පාට බොත්තම ඔබන්න” — Press the green button. You can hear how it sounds right here. Written with the characters බ, ො, ත, ්, ත, ම, ඔ, බ, න, ව, ා. A word from the everyday Sinhala course, level A1.
In short
| Written in Sinhala | බොත්තම ඔබනවා |
| Read in Latin letters | bottama obanavā |
| Translation | to press the button |
| Part of speech | phrase |
| Level | A1 |
- බොත්තම ඔබනවාbottama obanavāto press the button
Why it looks that way
You know bottama, 'button'. Obanavā is to press from above; the same word presses the gate bell
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.
- කොළ පාට බොත්තම ඔබන්නkoḷa pāṭa bottama obannaPress the green button
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 press the button” in Sinhala?
«බොත්තම ඔබනවා», read “bottama obanavā”. In a live sentence: “කොළ පාට බොත්තම ඔබන්න” — Press the green button. You can hear how it sounds right on this page. Phrase, level A1; written with the characters බ, ො, ත, ්, ත, ම, ඔ, බ, න, ව, ා.
How is “බොත්තම ඔබනවා” written in Latin letters?
bottama obanavā. 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 bottama, 'button'. Obanavā is to press from above; the same word presses the gate bell. 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.