ටේප් ගහනවා
“ටේප් ගහනවා” (ṭēp gahanavā) — to tape up in Sinhala. Verb, level A1. You know alavanavā, 'to glue', and the English sellotape. On the island a box is sealed not with glue but with tape, and the verb with the tape is gahanavā — the same one that hammers a nail: it takes every application of force to a thing. An envelope is sealed differently — 'glue the flap'. In a live sentence: “පෙට්ටිය හොඳට ටේප් ගහන්න” — Tape the box up properly.
In short
| Written in Sinhala | ටේප් ගහනවා |
| Read in Latin letters | ṭēp gahanavā |
| Translation | to tape up |
| Part of speech | verb |
| Level | A1 |
- ටේප් ගහනවාṭēp gahanavāto tape up
Why it looks that way
You know alavanavā, 'to glue', and the English sellotape. On the island a box is sealed not with glue but with tape, and the verb with the tape is gahanavā — the same one that hammers a nail: it takes every application of force to a thing. An envelope is sealed differently — 'glue the flap'
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.
- පෙට්ටිය හොඳට ටේප් ගහන්නpeṭṭiya hondaṭa ṭēp gahannaTape the box up properly
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 tape up” in Sinhala?
«ටේප් ගහනවා», read “ṭēp gahanavā”. In a live sentence: “පෙට්ටිය හොඳට ටේප් ගහන්න” — Tape the box up properly. You can hear how it sounds right on this page. Verb, level A1; written with the characters ට, ේ, ප, ්, ග, හ, න, ව, ා.
How is “ටේප් ගහනවා” written in Latin letters?
ṭēp gahanavā. 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?
You know alavanavā, 'to glue', and the English sellotape. On the island a box is sealed not with glue but with tape, and the verb with the tape is gahanavā — the same one that hammers a nail: it takes every application of force to a thing. An envelope is sealed differently — 'glue the flap'. 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.