මාමා
“මාමා” (māmā) — uncle in Sinhala. Noun, level A2. Strictly the mother's brother or an aunt's husband; the father's brother is loku tāttā or bāppā. An older man you don't know gets hailed māmā too. In a live sentence: “මාමා අපිට එනවා” — Uncle is coming to see us. You can hear how it sounds right here. Written with the characters ම, ා, ම, ා. A word from the everyday Sinhala course, level A2.
In short
| Written in Sinhala | මාමා |
| Read in Latin letters | māmā |
| Translation | uncle |
| Part of speech | noun |
| Level | A2 |
- මාමාmāmāuncle
Why it looks that way
Strictly the mother's brother or an aunt's husband; the father's brother is loku tāttā or bāppā. An older man you don't know gets hailed māmā too
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.
- මාමා අපිට එනවාmāmā apiṭa enavāUncle is coming to see us
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 “uncle” in Sinhala?
«මාමා», read “māmā”. In a live sentence: “මාමා අපිට එනවා” — Uncle is coming to see us. You can hear how it sounds right on this page. Noun, level A2; written with the characters ම, ා, ම, ා.
How is “මාමා” written in Latin letters?
māmā. 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?
Strictly the mother's brother or an aunt's husband; the father's brother is loku tāttā or bāppā. An older man you don't know gets hailed māmā too. 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.