සපත්තු ගලවනවා
“සපත්තු ගලවනවා” (sapattu galavanavā) — to take off your shoes in Sinhala. Phrase, level A2. The familiar shoes and the verb 'to take off' — the same one as for a ring and a watch. Into temple and house one always enters barefoot. In a live sentence: “පන්සලට යනකොට සපත්තු ගලවන්න” — Entering the temple, take off your shoes. You can hear how it sounds right here. Written with the characters ස, ප, ත, ්, ත, ු, ග, ල, ව, න, ව, ා.
In short
| Written in Sinhala | සපත්තු ගලවනවා |
| Read in Latin letters | sapattu galavanavā |
| Translation | to take off your shoes |
| Part of speech | phrase |
| Level | A2 |
- සපත්තු ගලවනවාsapattu galavanavāto take off your shoes
Why it looks that way
The familiar shoes and the verb 'to take off' — the same one as for a ring and a watch. Into temple and house one always enters barefoot
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.
- පන්සලට යනකොට සපත්තු ගලවන්නpansalaṭa yanakoṭa sapattu galavannaEntering the temple, take off your shoes
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 take off your shoes” in Sinhala?
«සපත්තු ගලවනවා», read “sapattu galavanavā”. In a live sentence: “පන්සලට යනකොට සපත්තු ගලවන්න” — Entering the temple, take off your shoes. You can hear how it sounds right on this page. Phrase, level A2; written with the characters ස, ප, ත, ්, ත, ු, ග, ල, ව, න, ව, ා.
How is “සපත්තු ගලවනවා” written in Latin letters?
sapattu galavanavā. 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 familiar shoes and the verb 'to take off' — the same one as for a ring and a watch. Into temple and house one always enters barefoot. 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.