ගිහින් එන්නම් කියනවා
“ගිහින් එන්නම් කියනවා” (gihin ennam kiyanavā) — to say goodbye in Sinhala. Verb, level A2. Built like the greeting, with the familiar 'I'll go and come back' inside. Sinhala never says goodbye for good. In a live sentence: “යන්න කලින් ගිහින් එන්නම් කියනවා” — Before leaving, people say goodbye. You can hear how it sounds right here. Written with the characters ග, ි, හ, ි, න, ්, එ, න, ්, න, ම, ්. A word from the everyday Sinhala course, level A2.
In short
| Written in Sinhala | ගිහින් එන්නම් කියනවා |
| Read in Latin letters | gihin ennam kiyanavā |
| Translation | to say goodbye |
| Part of speech | verb |
| Level | A2 |
- ගිහින් එන්නම් කියනවාgihin ennam kiyanavāto say goodbye
Why it looks that way
Built like the greeting, with the familiar 'I'll go and come back' inside. Sinhala never says goodbye for good
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.
- යන්න කලින් ගිහින් එන්නම් කියනවාyanna kalin gihin ennam kiyanavāBefore leaving, people say goodbye
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 say goodbye” in Sinhala?
«ගිහින් එන්නම් කියනවා», read “gihin ennam kiyanavā”. In a live sentence: “යන්න කලින් ගිහින් එන්නම් කියනවා” — Before leaving, people say goodbye. You can hear how it sounds right on this page. Verb, level A2; written with the characters ග, ි, හ, ි, න, ්, එ, න, ්, න, ම, ්.
How is “ගිහින් එන්නම් කියනවා” written in Latin letters?
gihin ennam kiyanavā. 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?
Built like the greeting, with the familiar 'I'll go and come back' inside. Sinhala never says goodbye for good. 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.