කෑම මේසෙට දානවා
“කෑම මේසෙට දානවා” (kǣma mēseṭa dānavā) — to set the table in Sinhala. Phrase, level A2. Literally 'to put food on the table', from the familiar food and table. Sinhala has no separate verb for laying the table. In a live sentence: “අමුත්තෝ එන්න කලින් කෑම මේසෙට දාන්න” — Set the table before the guests come. You can hear how it sounds right here. Written with the characters ක, ෑ, ම, ම, ේ, ස, ෙ, ට, ද, ා, න, ව.
In short
| Written in Sinhala | කෑම මේසෙට දානවා |
| Read in Latin letters | kǣma mēseṭa dānavā |
| Translation | to set the table |
| Part of speech | phrase |
| Level | A2 |
- කෑම මේසෙට දානවාkǣma mēseṭa dānavāto set the table
Why it looks that way
Literally 'to put food on the table', from the familiar food and table. Sinhala has no separate verb for laying the table
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.
- අමුත්තෝ එන්න කලින් කෑම මේසෙට දාන්නamuttō enna kalin kǣma mēseṭa dānnaSet the table before the guests come
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 set the table” in Sinhala?
«කෑම මේසෙට දානවා», read “kǣma mēseṭa dānavā”. In a live sentence: “අමුත්තෝ එන්න කලින් කෑම මේසෙට දාන්න” — Set the table before the guests come. You can hear how it sounds right on this page. Phrase, level A2; written with the characters ක, ෑ, ම, ම, ේ, ස, ෙ, ට, ද, ා, න, ව.
How is “කෑම මේසෙට දානවා” written in Latin letters?
kǣma mēseṭa 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 food on the table', from the familiar food and table. Sinhala has no separate verb for laying the table. 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.