මල්වලට වතුර දානවා
“මල්වලට වතුර දානවා” (malvalaṭa vatura dānavā) — to water the flowers in Sinhala. Verb, level A1. Literally 'to put water to the flowers'. mal is flowers. In a live sentence: “හැම උදේම මල්වලට වතුර දානවා” — Every morning I water the flowers. You can hear how it sounds right here. Written with the characters ම, ල, ්, ව, ල, ට, ව, ත, ු, ර, ද, ා. A word from the everyday Sinhala course, level A1.
In short
| Written in Sinhala | මල්වලට වතුර දානවා |
| Read in Latin letters | malvalaṭa vatura dānavā |
| Translation | to water the flowers |
| Part of speech | verb |
| Level | A1 |
- මල්වලට වතුර දානවාmalvalaṭa vatura dānavāto water the flowers
Why it looks that way
Literally 'to put water to the flowers'. mal is flowers
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.
- හැම උදේම මල්වලට වතුර දානවාhæma udēma malvalaṭa vatura dānavāEvery morning I water the flowers
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 water the flowers” in Sinhala?
«මල්වලට වතුර දානවා», read “malvalaṭa vatura dānavā”. In a live sentence: “හැම උදේම මල්වලට වතුර දානවා” — Every morning I water the flowers. You can hear how it sounds right on this page. Verb, level A1; written with the characters ම, ල, ්, ව, ල, ට, ව, ත, ු, ර, ද, ා.
How is “මල්වලට වතුර දානවා” written in Latin letters?
malvalaṭa vatura dānavā. 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?
Literally 'to put water to the flowers'. mal is flowers. 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.