ටිකක් වැඩිය සුමටයි
“ටිකක් වැඩිය සුමටයි” (ṭikak væḍiya sumaṭayi) — too good to be true in Sinhala. Phrase, level B1. Literally 'a little too smooth': the smooth word is 'even, without roughness', not the touch-smooth of the shape unit. Said with suspicion. In a live sentence: “ඒ කතාව ටිකක් වැඩිය සුමටයි” — This story is too good to be true. You can hear how it sounds right here. Written with the characters ට, ි, ක, ක, ්, ව, ැ, ඩ, ි, ය, ස, ු.
In short
| Written in Sinhala | ටිකක් වැඩිය සුමටයි |
| Read in Latin letters | ṭikak væḍiya sumaṭayi |
| Translation | too good to be true |
| Part of speech | phrase |
| Level | B1 |
- ටිකක් වැඩිය සුමටයිṭikak væḍiya sumaṭayitoo good to be true
Why it looks that way
Literally 'a little too smooth': the smooth word is 'even, without roughness', not the touch-smooth of the shape unit. Said with suspicion
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.
- ඒ කතාව ටිකක් වැඩිය සුමටයිē katāva ṭikak væḍiya sumaṭayiThis story is too good to be true
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 “too good to be true” in Sinhala?
«ටිකක් වැඩිය සුමටයි», read “ṭikak væḍiya sumaṭayi”. In a live sentence: “ඒ කතාව ටිකක් වැඩිය සුමටයි” — This story is too good to be true. You can hear how it sounds right on this page. Phrase, level B1; written with the characters ට, ි, ක, ක, ්, ව, ැ, ඩ, ි, ය, ස, ු.
How is “ටිකක් වැඩිය සුමටයි” written in Latin letters?
ṭikak væḍiya sumaṭayi. 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 'a little too smooth': the smooth word is 'even, without roughness', not the touch-smooth of the shape unit. Said with suspicion. 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.