LingoflyPronouns in Sinhala
26 words in Sinhala on the topic “pronouns”: මම (mama) — I, ඔයා (oyā) — you, ඔහු (ohu) — he, ඇය (æya) — she. 26 words can be played from recordings.
26 words on the topic
- මමmamaIA word you can read in the script with no vowel signs at all: ma + ma. Two identical letters
- ඔයාoyāyouThe neutral 'you' between equals. Elders are addressed by kinship words or by title, never by this pronoun
- ඔහුohuheThe bookish 'he'. In conversation you'll hear eyā far more often — one word for both 'he' and 'she', with no gender at all
- ඇයæyasheThe bookish 'she'; speech calls men and women alike eyā. Æya survives in newspapers, songs and film credits. The letter æ is a 'wide a', closer to the vowel of 'cat'
- අපිapiweOne form for everything: 'we with you' and 'we without you' are not distinguished. The same person gives the let's-form: yamu, 'let's go'
- මගේmagēmyFrom mama, 'I', with the possessive tail -gē. Every possessive is built with it
- ඔයාගේoyāgēyourThe 'your' for an equal. For an elder it's obāgē, and in speech people generally dodge second-person pronouns altogether
- අපේapēourFrom api, 'we'. Shorter than you'd expect: the vowels melt together
- ඔබලාගේobalāgēyour (plural)The plural -lā plus the possessive -gē. The tails stack one onto another
- එයාගේeyāgēhis, herSpoken Sinhala has no gender: eyāgē works for a man and for a woman alike. For 'their' the plural tail comes along: eyālāgē
- තමන්ගේtamangēone's ownFrom thaman, 'self'. It does the job of English 'own': thamangē is one's own, eyāgē is someone else's
- තමන්tamanoneselfOne unchanging word for everybody — 'I did it myself' and 'she did it herself' share the same thaman
- මුළුmuḷuentireStands before the noun: muḷu davasa, 'the whole day'. For 'everyone' in the plural there is okkoma
- හැම කෙනෙක්මhæma kenekmaeach onehæma is 'every', kenek is the counter word for people; for things it would be ekak. The final -ma presses it: 'every single one'
- ඕනෑමōnǣmaanyFrom the same ōnē, 'need, want', pressed with -ma: literally 'whichever you like'. Ōnǣma bas ekak — any bus will do
- මේmēthisThere are three steps: mē is next to me, ē is by you, ara is over there
- අරarathat (over there)The farthest step — 'that one yonder'. The middle step, ē, refers to what has already been talked about
- මේ වගේmē vagēsuchLiterally 'like this'. Vagē compares, and it stands after the word
- අනිත්anitthe otherAnit is the other of the known ones, venat is other in general. The difference is close to 'the other' and 'another'
- කිසිමkisimanone at allFrom kisi, 'some kind of', boosted by -ma. It demands a negation at the verb
- කවුරු හරිkavuru harisomeoneKavuru is 'who', plus hari, 'correct', which here gives indefiniteness
- මොකක් හරිmokak harisomething or otherThe pair to 'someone', built with the same hari. One is for people, the other for things
- කිසිවෙක්kisiveknone of themFrom kisi with the animate tail -vek. The verb with it is necessarily negative
- මොකුත්mokutnothingWith the same tail -t as 'too' and 'again'. It demands a negation: mokuth nǣ
- එයාලාeyālātheyThe bookish ohu and æya are 'he' and 'she'; in speech both are eyā. The tail -lā makes people many, as in ammalā, and gives eyālā. The bookish ovun lives in newspapers
- ඔයාලාoyālāyou allOyā is 'you'. The same tail -lā turns it into a plural 'you'. There is no polite singular 'you' in speech: people take the bookish oba or a name
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How it sounds in a sentence
A word list is a blank. Conversation is made of sentences, and these are the ones the words fit into most often.
What is worth knowing about these words
මම (mama) — I. A word you can read in the script with no vowel signs at all: ma + ma. Two identical letters.
ඔයා (oyā) — you. The neutral 'you' between equals. Elders are addressed by kinship words or by title, never by this pronoun.
ඔහු (ohu) — he. The bookish 'he'. In conversation you'll hear eyā far more often — one word for both 'he' and 'she', with no gender at all.
ඇය (æya) — she. The bookish 'she'; speech calls men and women alike eyā. Æya survives in newspapers, songs and film credits. The letter æ is a 'wide a', closer to the vowel of 'cat'.
Test yourself
First by ear — the way you will meet the word in conversation. Click the speaker and pick the translation.
Now the other way around: recall the spelling from the meaning. That is harder, and therefore more useful.
- How do you say “I” in Sinhala?
A word you can read in the script with no vowel signs at all: ma + ma. Two identical letters
- How do you say “our” in Sinhala?
From api, 'we'. Shorter than you'd expect: the vowels melt together
- How do you say “any” in Sinhala?
From the same ōnē, 'need, want', pressed with -ma: literally 'whichever you like'. Ōnǣma bas ekak — any bus will do
- How do you say “something or other” in Sinhala?
The pair to 'someone', built with the same hari. One is for people, the other for things
- How do you say “he” in Sinhala?
The bookish 'he'. In conversation you'll hear eyā far more often — one word for both 'he' and 'she', with no gender at all
How to learn the set instead of just reading it
I, you, we, they. There is a handful of them, they turn up in every sentence, and politeness rides on them: most of these languages keep a formal “you” apart from a familiar one, and choosing the wrong one is noticed faster than a mispronounced word.
A list is read in a minute and forgotten in a day. What works: hide the translation, try to recall, get it wrong — and come back to the same words tomorrow.
- 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.
- Study spread over days wins not only in experiments but in ordinary classrooms, with real students.checked many timesMawson & Kang, 2025, Behavioral Sciences 15(6):771 · 22 studies, d = 0.54 (confidence interval 0.31–0.77). The authors warn that individual studies disagree widely.
Frequently asked
How do you say “I” in Sinhala?
«මම» (mama), read “mama”. A word you can read in the script with no vowel signs at all: ma + ma. Two identical letters. It is one of 26 words in the set “pronouns” — the rest are in the table above.
How many pronouns do you need to start?
The whole set on this page is 26 words, but there is no need to start with all of it: the words you will need in the next few days are enough. Take them a few at a time — five to seven new ones per session.
Is there audio?
Yes, 26 words on this page can be played — click the speaker next to the word. The sound works on any phone, and nothing needs to be installed.