ප්රජනනය වෙනවා
“ප්රජනනය වෙනවා” (prajananaya venavā) — to reproduce in Sinhala. Verb, level B1. The bookish word of the biology textbook. The colloquial 'to spread' means the same, but the course already keeps it for 'to get infected': Sinhala has one word for breeding and infection. In a live sentence: “මේ මාළු වර්ගය ඉක්මනට ප්රජනනය වෙනවා” — This fish species reproduces quickly. You can hear how it sounds right here. Written with the characters ප, ්, ර, ජ, න, න, ය, ව, ෙ, න, ව, ා.
In short
| Written in Sinhala | ප්රජනනය වෙනවා |
| Read in Latin letters | prajananaya venavā |
| Translation | to reproduce |
| Part of speech | verb |
| Level | B1 |
- ප්රජනනය වෙනවාprajananaya venavāto reproduce
Why it looks that way
The bookish word of the biology textbook. The colloquial 'to spread' means the same, but the course already keeps it for 'to get infected': Sinhala has one word for breeding and infection
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 මාළු වර්ගය ඉක්මනට ප්රජනනය වෙනවාmē māḷu vargaya ikmanaṭa prajananaya venavāThis fish species reproduces quickly
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 reproduce” in Sinhala?
«ප්රජනනය වෙනවා», read “prajananaya venavā”. In a live sentence: “මේ මාළු වර්ගය ඉක්මනට ප්රජනනය වෙනවා” — This fish species reproduces quickly. You can hear how it sounds right on this page. Verb, level B1; written with the characters ප, ්, ර, ජ, න, න, ය, ව, ෙ, න, ව, ා.
How is “ප්රජනනය වෙනවා” written in Latin letters?
prajananaya venavā. 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?
The bookish word of the biology textbook. The colloquial 'to spread' means the same, but the course already keeps it for 'to get infected': Sinhala has one word for breeding and infection. 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.