කලින්ම කියන්න පුළුවන්
“කලින්ම කියන්න පුළුවන්” (kalinma kiyanna puḷuvan) — you could see it coming in Sinhala. Adverb, level B1. Literally 'one can say it in advance', from the familiar before, say and possible. Sinhala gives no single word for 'predictable'. In a live sentence: “අවසානය කලින්ම කියන්න පුළුවන්” — The ending — you could see it coming. You can hear how it sounds right here. Written with the characters ක, ල, ි, න, ්, ම, ක, ි, ය, න, ්, න.
In short
| Written in Sinhala | කලින්ම කියන්න පුළුවන් |
| Read in Latin letters | kalinma kiyanna puḷuvan |
| Translation | you could see it coming |
| Part of speech | adverb |
| Level | B1 |
- කලින්ම කියන්න පුළුවන්kalinma kiyanna puḷuvanyou could see it coming
Why it looks that way
Literally 'one can say it in advance', from the familiar before, say and possible. Sinhala gives no single word for 'predictable'
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.
- අවසානය කලින්ම කියන්න පුළුවන්avasānaya kalinma kiyanna puḷuvanThe ending — you could see it coming
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 “you could see it coming” in Sinhala?
«කලින්ම කියන්න පුළුවන්», read “kalinma kiyanna puḷuvan”. In a live sentence: “අවසානය කලින්ම කියන්න පුළුවන්” — The ending — you could see it coming. You can hear how it sounds right on this page. Adverb, level B1; written with the characters ක, ල, ි, න, ්, ම, ක, ි, ය, න, ්, න.
How is “කලින්ම කියන්න පුළුවන්” written in Latin letters?
kalinma kiyanna puḷuvan. 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 'one can say it in advance', from the familiar before, say and possible. Sinhala gives no single word for 'predictable'. 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.