මට ඇහුණේ නෑ
“මට ඇහුණේ නෑ” (maṭa æhuṇē nǣ) — I didn't catch that in Sinhala. Phrase, level B1. ma-ta e-hu-næ næ; the ṇ is the curled-tongue n. In a live sentence: “සද්දේ නිසා මට ඇහුණේ නෑ” — Because of the noise I didn't catch that. You can hear how it sounds right here. Written with the characters ම, ට, ඇ, හ, ු, ණ, ේ, න, ෑ. A word from the everyday Sinhala course, level B1.
In short
| Written in Sinhala | මට ඇහුණේ නෑ |
| Read in Latin letters | maṭa æhuṇē nǣ |
| Translation | I didn't catch that |
| Part of speech | phrase |
| Level | B1 |
- මට ඇහුණේ නෑmaṭa æhuṇē nǣI didn't catch that
How to pronounce it
ma-ta e-hu-næ næ; the ṇ is the curled-tongue n
Why it looks that way
Impersonal again: 'it wasn't heard to me'. One verb is 'to be heard' by itself, the other 'to listen' on purpose
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.
- සද්දේ නිසා මට ඇහුණේ නෑsaddē nisā maṭa æhuṇē nǣBecause of the noise I didn't catch that
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 “I didn't catch that” in Sinhala?
«මට ඇහුණේ නෑ», read “maṭa æhuṇē nǣ”. ma-ta e-hu-næ næ; the ṇ is the curled-tongue n. In a live sentence: “සද්දේ නිසා මට ඇහුණේ නෑ” — Because of the noise I didn't catch that. You can hear how it sounds right on this page. Phrase, level B1; written with the characters ම, ට, ඇ, හ, ු, ණ, ේ, න, ෑ.
How is “මට ඇහුණේ නෑ” written in Latin letters?
maṭa æhuṇē nǣ. 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?
Impersonal again: 'it wasn't heard to me'. One verb is 'to be heard' by itself, the other 'to listen' on purpose. 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.