මැදින් නවත්තනවා
“මැදින් නවත්තනවා” (mædin navattanavā) — to cut short in Sinhala. Verb, level B1. Literally 'to stop in the middle': the familiar middle word with the -en tail. The difference from 'cease' is exactly this word: ceasing is for good, cutting short is midway. In a live sentence: “කතාව මැදින් නවත්තන්න වුණා” — The talk had to be cut short. You can hear how it sounds right here. Written with the characters ම, ැ, ද, ි, න, ්, න, ව, ත, ්, ත, න.
In short
| Written in Sinhala | මැදින් නවත්තනවා |
| Read in Latin letters | mædin navattanavā |
| Translation | to cut short |
| Part of speech | verb |
| Level | B1 |
- මැදින් නවත්තනවාmædin navattanavāto cut short
Why it looks that way
Literally 'to stop in the middle': the familiar middle word with the -en tail. The difference from 'cease' is exactly this word: ceasing is for good, cutting short is midway
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.
- කතාව මැදින් නවත්තන්න වුණාkatāva mædin navattanna vuṇāThe talk had to be cut short
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 cut short” in Sinhala?
«මැදින් නවත්තනවා», read “mædin navattanavā”. In a live sentence: “කතාව මැදින් නවත්තන්න වුණා” — The talk had to be cut short. You can hear how it sounds right on this page. Verb, level B1; written with the characters ම, ැ, ද, ි, න, ්, න, ව, ත, ්, ත, න.
How is “මැදින් නවත්තනවා” written in Latin letters?
mædin navattanavā. 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 'to stop in the middle': the familiar middle word with the -en tail. The difference from 'cease' is exactly this word: ceasing is for good, cutting short is midway. 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.