Lingoflyවම් පැත්තෙන්
- වම් පැත්තෙන්vam pættenon the left
“වම් පැත්තෙන්” (vam pætten) — on the left in Sinhala. Adverb, level A1. Vam pættē is 'to the left of something'. With no landmark people take -en: vam pætten, 'from the left side'. In a live sentence: “වම් පැත්තෙන් යන්න” (vam pætten yanna) — Walk on the left. You can hear how it sounds right here. Written with the characters ව, ම, ්, ප, ැ, ත, ්, ත, ෙ, න, ්. A word from the everyday Sinhala course, level A1.
In short
| Written in Sinhala | වම් පැත්තෙන් (vam pætten) |
| Read in Latin letters | vam pætten |
| Translation | on the left |
| Part of speech | adverb |
| Level | A1 |
Why it looks that way
Vam pættē is 'to the left of something'. With no landmark people take -en: vam pætten, 'from the left side'
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.
- වම් පැත්තෙන් යන්නvam pætten yannaWalk on the left
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 “on the left” in Sinhala?
«වම් පැත්තෙන්» (vam pætten), read “vam pætten”. In a live sentence: “වම් පැත්තෙන් යන්න” (vam pætten yanna) — Walk on the left. You can hear how it sounds right on this page. Adverb, level A1; written with the characters ව, ම, ්, ප, ැ, ත, ්, ත, ෙ, න, ්.
How is “වම් පැත්තෙන්” (vam pætten) written in Latin letters?
vam pætten. 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?
Vam pættē is 'to the left of something'. With no landmark people take -en: vam pætten, 'from the left side'. 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.