නගරය
“නගරය” (nagaraya) — city in Sinhala. Noun, level A1, topic — the city and its places. You know town — the centre people go shopping in — and gama, the village. Nagaraya is the city as a unit on the map: addresses and road signs use it. In a live sentence: “මේ නගරය ලොකුයි” — This city is big. You can hear how it sounds right here. Written with the characters න, ග, ර, ය.
In short
| Written in Sinhala | නගරය |
| Read in Latin letters | nagaraya |
| Translation | city |
| Part of speech | noun |
| Level | A1 |
- නගරයnagarayacity
Why it looks that way
You know town — the centre people go shopping in — and gama, the village. Nagaraya is the city as a unit on the map: addresses and road signs use it
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.
- මේ නගරය ලොකුයිmē nagaraya lokuyiThis city is big
Nearby words: the city and its places
Street, square, pharmacy, bank. An address is built out of these, and an address is something you have to both say and understand.
- කඩේkaḍēshopA roadside shop with everything at once. A big one is supiri veladasala on the sign, and the word is used nowhere but there
- වෙළඳපොළveḷandapoḷamarketLiterally 'trading place': velanda is trade, pola is the ground. Pola on its own is the village fair at the weekend. Hard to read: two 'heavy' l sounds and a half-nasal
- ෆාමසියfāmasiyapharmacyThe English pharmacy, written with the youngest letter of the alphabet, fa
- බැංකුවbæṁkuvabankEnglish bank with a Sinhala tail -uva. The nasal mark gives a hum drawn through the nose: 'baeng-kuva'
- පාරpārastreetAlso 'road' and 'one time': eka parak, 'once'. A long pa at the start. Addresses are written exactly so: Galle para, Galle Road
- කවුන්ටරයkavunṭarayacounterThe English counter with a Sinhala ending -ya. At the market the counter is more often just called the shop
- ග්රොසරි කඩේgrosari kaḍēgrocery storeThe English grocery plus the familiar kaḍē. A chain like Cargills will be called the supermarket
- පෝලිමpōlimaqueueA word you hear every day on the island: pōḷimē innavā, 'to stand in the queue'
- ඇරලාæralāopen for businessFrom the verb 'to open'. The -lā form describes a state: 'it stands opened'. On the door of a shop at noon you'll see exactly this
- වහලාvahalāclosedThe pair to æralā, from vahanavā, 'to close'. On a shop door at noon you'll read exactly this
Test yourself
Five questions from the same set — “the city and its places”. Recalling a spelling from meaning is harder than knowing a familiar word on sight, and therefore more useful.
- How do you say “city” in Sinhala?
You know town — the centre people go shopping in — and gama, the village. Nagaraya is the city as a unit on the map: addresses and road signs use it
- How do you say “grocery store” in Sinhala?
The English grocery plus the familiar kaḍē. A chain like Cargills will be called the supermarket
- How do you say “pharmacy” in Sinhala?
The English pharmacy, written with the youngest letter of the alphabet, fa
- How do you say “closed” in Sinhala?
The pair to æralā, from vahanavā, 'to close'. On a shop door at noon you'll read exactly this
- How do you say “counter” in Sinhala?
The English counter with a Sinhala ending -ya. At the market the counter is more often just called the shop
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 “city” in Sinhala?
«නගරය», read “nagaraya”. In a live sentence: “මේ නගරය ලොකුයි” — This city is big. You can hear how it sounds right on this page. Noun, level A1, from the set “the city and its places”; written with the characters න, ග, ර, ය.
How is “නගරය” written in Latin letters?
nagaraya. 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 town — the centre people go shopping in — and gama, the village. Nagaraya is the city as a unit on the map: addresses and road signs use it. 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.