Lingoflyඉගෙන ගන්නවා
- ඉගෙන ගන්නවාigena gannavāto learn
“ඉගෙන ගන්නවා” (igena gannavā) — to learn in Sinhala. Verb, level A1, topic — verbs. Literally 'taking, I study': Sinhala doesn't split 'to learn' and 'to study' — one verb covers both. Cramming is a separate verb, and so is teaching. In a live sentence: “මම සිංහල ඉගෙන ගන්නවා” (mama siṁhala igena gannavā) — I'm learning Sinhala. You can hear how it sounds right here. Written with the characters ඉ, ග, ෙ, න, ග, න, ්, න, ව, ා.
In short
| Written in Sinhala | ඉගෙන ගන්නවා (igena gannavā) |
| Read in Latin letters | igena gannavā |
| Translation | to learn |
| Part of speech | verb |
| Level | A1 |
Why it looks that way
Literally 'taking, I study': Sinhala doesn't split 'to learn' and 'to study' — one verb covers both. Cramming is a separate verb, and so is teaching
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.
Nearby words: verbs
I want, I can, I am going, I know. The verb holds a sentence together: a few of the most frequent ones cover more everyday talk than a long list of nouns.
- ඕනේōnēto need, to wantNot a verb in the usual sense: 'I need' is built as maṭa … ōnē — 'to me … is wanted'. Wanting happens to you, in the 'to whom' form
- යනවාyanavāto go, to rideOn foot and by transport — one verb: going home and going to Colombo is the same yanavā. The request is yanna, the past is giyā — nothing like the stem
- කනවාkanavāto eatOnly about food. Drinks and even pills take a different verb, bonavā
- බොනවාbonavāto drinkThe request is bonna, the past is bivvā. The same verb 'takes' medicine: pills are 'drunk', though you swallow them
- කතා කරනවාkatā karanavāto talkLiterally 'to do talk'. Half of Sinhala verbs are built this way: a noun plus karanavā, 'to do'
- ඉන්නවාinnavāto liveAlso 'to be located' — but only about the living. Things have their own verb
- තෝරනවාtōranavāto chooseAn ordinary -navā verb: it covers 'I choose', 'you choose' and 'let's choose' alike
- රිදෙනවාridenavāto hurtThe scheme is simple: 'what hurts' stands before the verb — literally 'the leg hurts'
- අපි හම්බවෙමුapi hambavemulet's meetThe ending -mu means 'let us'. The spoken verb normally shows no person; with -mu the 'we' is built into the meaning itself
- පාඩම් කරනවාpāḍam karanavāto studyLiterally 'to do lessons', that is, sit over the books. Mastering a language or a craft is igena gannavā
Test yourself
Five questions from the same set — “verbs”. Recalling a spelling from meaning is harder than knowing a familiar word on sight, and therefore more useful.
- How do you say “to learn” in Sinhala?
Literally 'taking, I study': Sinhala doesn't split 'to learn' and 'to study' — one verb covers both. Cramming is a separate verb, and so is teaching
- How do you say “to choose” in Sinhala?
An ordinary -navā verb: it covers 'I choose', 'you choose' and 'let's choose' alike
- How do you say “to eat” in Sinhala?
Only about food. Drinks and even pills take a different verb, bonavā
- How do you say “to study” in Sinhala?
Literally 'to do lessons', that is, sit over the books. Mastering a language or a craft is igena gannavā
- How do you say “to live” in Sinhala?
Also 'to be located' — but only about the living. Things have their own verb
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 learn” in Sinhala?
«ඉගෙන ගන්නවා» (igena gannavā), read “igena gannavā”. In a live sentence: “මම සිංහල ඉගෙන ගන්නවා” (mama siṁhala igena gannavā) — I'm learning Sinhala. You can hear how it sounds right on this page. Verb, level A1, from the set “verbs”; written with the characters ඉ, ග, ෙ, න, ග, න, ්, න, ව, ා.
How is “ඉගෙන ගන්නවා” (igena gannavā) written in Latin letters?
igena gannavā. 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 'taking, I study': Sinhala doesn't split 'to learn' and 'to study' — one verb covers both. Cramming is a separate verb, and so is teaching. 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 this 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.