සමාවෙන්න
“සමාවෙන්න” (samāvenna) — excuse me in Sinhala. Interjection, level A0, topic — polite words. Literally 'forgive me' — an imperative by shape, but it lives as a ready-made exclamation. To hail a stranger people more often just say ov or a polite title. In a live sentence: “සමාවෙන්න, මම පරක්කු වුණා” — Excuse me, I'm late. You can hear how it sounds right here. Written with the characters ස, ම, ා, ව, ෙ, න, ්, න.
In short
| Written in Sinhala | සමාවෙන්න |
| Read in Latin letters | samāvenna |
| Translation | excuse me |
| Part of speech | interjection |
| Level | A0 |
- සමාවෙන්නsamāvennaexcuse me
Why it looks that way
Literally 'forgive me' — an imperative by shape, but it lives as a ready-made exclamation. To hail a stranger people more often just say ov or a polite title
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.
- සමාවෙන්න, මම පරක්කු වුණාsamāvenna, mama parakku vuṇāExcuse me, I'm late
Nearby words: polite words
“Thank you”, “please” and “sorry” carry you while the rest of the words are still missing: with them even a gesture reads as a request rather than a demand.
- ස්තූතියිstūtiyithank youstūtiyi — STOO-tee-yee, from the Sanskrit word for praise. It's often boosted: bohoma stūtiyi, 'many thanks', is the everyday strong version
- කරුණාකරkaruṇākarapleasekaruṇākara opens a request: 'kindly…'. It is never said in reply to 'thank you' — that slot belongs to other words
- ටිකක් අඩු කරන්න පුළුවන්ද?ṭikak aḍu karanna puḷuvanda?can you make it cheaper?Literally 'can you reduce it a little?'. Puḷuvanda is 'can you' — the universal polite wrapper for any request
- කමක් නෑkamak nǣno problemLiterally 'there is no matter', that is, 'nothing terrible'. It answers both an apology and a thank-you
- තව එක පාරක් කියලා දෙන්නtava eka pārak kiyalā dennaexplain it againLiterally 'once more, having said, give'. 'To explain' is itself built from 'say' and 'give'
- පාස්පෝට් එක පෙන්නන්නpāspōṭ eka pennannashow your passport'To show' plus the -nna request, which is polite already. This is what you'll hear at the counter
- ආචාරශීලීācāraśīlīpoliteaa-cha-ra-shii-lii: three long vowels in a row
- පරක්කු වුණාට සමාවෙන්නparakku vuṇāṭa samāvennasorry for being lateThe ending -ṭa on the past means 'for the fact that': 'for what has happened'
- කිසිවක් නෑkisivak nǣyou're welcomeLiterally 'there is nothing' — nothing to thank for. People also answer with satuṭin, 'gladly', or kāmak nǣ, which you know as 'no problem'
- හම්බවෙලා සතුටුයිhambavelā satuṭuyinice to meet youThe same turn as in 'it was pleasant to talk': a participle plus satuṭuyi, 'glad'. The full polite version is oba hamuvīmaṭa satuṭuyi
Test yourself
Five questions from the same set — “polite words”. Recalling a spelling from meaning is harder than knowing a familiar word on sight, and therefore more useful.
- How do you say “excuse me” in Sinhala?
Literally 'forgive me' — an imperative by shape, but it lives as a ready-made exclamation. To hail a stranger people more often just say ov or a polite title
- How do you say “polite” in Sinhala?
A word off certificates and references. In speech people describe the deed: 'someone who speaks nicely'
- How do you say “can you make it cheaper?” in Sinhala?
Literally 'can you reduce it a little?'. Puḷuvanda is 'can you' — the universal polite wrapper for any request
- How do you say “nice to meet you” in Sinhala?
The same turn as in 'it was pleasant to talk': a participle plus satuṭuyi, 'glad'. The full polite version is oba hamuvīmaṭa satuṭuyi
- How do you say “show your passport” in Sinhala?
'To show' plus the -nna request, which is polite already. This is what you'll hear at the counter
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 “excuse me” in Sinhala?
«සමාවෙන්න», read “samāvenna”. In a live sentence: “සමාවෙන්න, මම පරක්කු වුණා” — Excuse me, I'm late. You can hear how it sounds right on this page. Interjection, level A0, from the set “polite words”; written with the characters ස, ම, ා, ව, ෙ, න, ්, න.
How is “සමාවෙන්න” written in Latin letters?
samāvenna. 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 'forgive me' — an imperative by shape, but it lives as a ready-made exclamation. To hail a stranger people more often just say ov or a polite title. 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.