පාවිච්චි කරනවා
“පාවිච්චි කරනවා” (pāvicci karanavā) — to use in Sinhala. Verb, level A2. From pāvicciya, 'use', a Portuguese root. The same phrase means 'to make use of' a thing; the bookish bhāvita karanavā stands in manuals. In a live sentence: “මේක පාවිච්චි කරන්න පුළුවන්ද?” — Can this be used? You can hear how it sounds right here. Written with the characters ප, ා, ව, ි, ච, ්, ච, ි, ක, ර, න, ව. A word from the everyday Sinhala course, level A2.
In short
| Written in Sinhala | පාවිච්චි කරනවා |
| Read in Latin letters | pāvicci karanavā |
| Translation | to use |
| Part of speech | verb |
| Level | A2 |
- පාවිච්චි කරනවාpāvicci karanavāto use
Why it looks that way
From pāvicciya, 'use', a Portuguese root. The same phrase means 'to make use of' a thing; the bookish bhāvita karanavā stands in manuals
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.
- මේක පාවිච්චි කරන්න පුළුවන්ද?mēka pāvicci karanna puḷuvanda?Can this be used?
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 use” in Sinhala?
«පාවිච්චි කරනවා», read “pāvicci karanavā”. In a live sentence: “මේක පාවිච්චි කරන්න පුළුවන්ද?” — Can this be used? You can hear how it sounds right on this page. Verb, level A2; written with the characters ප, ා, ව, ි, ච, ්, ච, ි, ක, ර, න, ව.
How is “පාවිච්චි කරනවා” written in Latin letters?
pāvicci karanavā. 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?
From pāvicciya, 'use', a Portuguese root. The same phrase means 'to make use of' a thing; the bookish bhāvita karanavā stands in manuals. 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.