ඔයා මොකද හිතන්නේ?
“ඔයා මොකද හිතන්නේ?” (oyā mokada hitannē?) — and what do you think? in Sinhala. Phrase, level B1. The question word mokada stands right before the verb, not at the start, and the verb takes the -nnē form because of it. Every content question is built this way. In a live sentence: “ඔයා මොකද හිතන්නේ මේ ගැන?” — And what do you think about it? You can hear how it sounds right here. A word from the everyday Sinhala course, level B1.
In short
| Written in Sinhala | ඔයා මොකද හිතන්නේ? |
| Read in Latin letters | oyā mokada hitannē? |
| Translation | and what do you think? |
| Part of speech | phrase |
| Level | B1 |
- ඔයා මොකද හිතන්නේ?oyā mokada hitannē?and what do you think?
Why it looks that way
The question word mokada stands right before the verb, not at the start, and the verb takes the -nnē form because of it. Every content question is built this way
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.
- ඔයා මොකද හිතන්නේ මේ ගැන?oyā mokada hitannē mē gæna?And what do you think about it?
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 “and what do you think?” in Sinhala?
«ඔයා මොකද හිතන්නේ?», read “oyā mokada hitannē?”. In a live sentence: “ඔයා මොකද හිතන්නේ මේ ගැන?” — And what do you think about it? You can hear how it sounds right on this page. Phrase, level B1; written with the characters ඔ, ය, ා, ම, ො, ක, ද, හ, ි, ත, න, ්.
How is “ඔයා මොකද හිතන්නේ?” written in Latin letters?
oyā mokada hitannē?. 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 question word mokada stands right before the verb, not at the start, and the verb takes the -nnē form because of it. Every content question is built this way. 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.