Practicing Conversations in Sinhala
🌿 Introduction
In this part, you’ll see a real-life dialogue showing how to use everything you’ve learned so far.
But first—let’s pick up a few new words that will make your conversation feel more natural!
✨ New Vocabulary
| Sinhala Script | Romanization | English Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| ගොඩක් | Godak | a lot |
| ටිකක් | Tikak | a little |
| කෑම | Kaaema | food |
| නේද | Needha? | right? isn’t it? |
| මොනවද? / මොනාද? | Monawadha / Monaadha? | what? (plural) |
| ගහන්න | Gahanna | to play (an instrument) |
| …ද? | …dha? | question particle |
🌟 How to Use These in a sentence
✅ Godak + [……] = I really love / I like … a lot
-
මම ගොඩක් කැමතියි කන්න
(Mama godak kaemathii kanna)
I love eating
✅ Tikak + [……] = I like … a little
-
මම ටිකක් කැමතියි සිංදු කියන්න
(Mama tikak kaemathii sindhu kiyanna)
I like singing a little
✅ Mokadhdha? vs Monaadha?
-
Mokadhdha? – singular (one thing)
-
Monaadha? – plural (more than one thing)
When the answer is one thing, you can use mokadhdha?
But when it’s possible to have more than 1 answer, you can use monaadha?
Examples:
-
ඔයාගේ නම මොකද්ද?
(Oyaage nama mokadhdha?)
What is your name? -
ඔයා කැමති මොනවද?
(Oyaa kaemathi monaadha?)
What do you like?
✅ …dha? – question particle (turns a statement into a yes/no question)
-
ඔයා කැමතිද?
(Oyaa kaemathiidha?)
Do you like?
👉 Don’t worry if you can’t remember all these yet—we’ll keep practicing in Lesson 2!
🎭 Dialogue
Below is a friendly chat between Shani and Lisa:
👩 Shani:
Hello, කොහොමද? ඔයාගේ නම මොකද්ද?
(Hello, kohomadha? Oyaage nama mokadhdha?)
Hi, how are you? What is your name?
👩🦰 Lisa:
මගේ නම ලීසා, ඔයාගේ නම මොකද්ද?
(Mage nama Lisa, oyaage nama mokadhdha?)
My name is Lisa. What is your name?
👩 Shani:
මම ශානි, ඔයා ඇමරිකාවෙන්ද?
(Mama Shani, oyaa Aemarikaawendha?)
I’m Shani. Are you from America?
👩🦰 Lisa:
නෑ, මං ජර්මනියෙන්. ඔයාගේ වයස කීයද?
(Naae, man Jarmaniyen. Oyaage wayasa kiiyadha?)
No, I’m from Germany. How old are you?
👩 Shani:
මට තිස් එකයි (31). ඔයාගේ වයස?
(Mata this ekai. Oyaage wayasa?)
I’m 31 years old. What about you?
👩🦰 Lisa:
මට විසි දෙකයි (22). ඔයා engineer කෙනෙක්ද?
(Mata wisi dhekai. Oyaa engineer kenekdha?)
I’m 22. Are you an engineer?
👩 Shani:
නෑ, මං teacher කෙනෙක්.
(Naae, man teacher kenek.)
No, I am a teacher.
👩🦰 Lisa:
ඔයා කැමතිද සිංදු කියන්න?
(Oyaa kaemathiidha sindhu kiyanna?)
Do you like to sing?
👩 Shani:
ඔව්, මම ගොඩක් කැමතියි සිංදු කියන්න. ඔයා Sri Lankan කෑම කන්න කැමතිද?
(Ow, mama godak kaemathii sindhu kiyanna. Oyaa Sri Lankan kaaema kanna kaemathiidha?)
Yes, I love singing! Do you like eating Sri Lankan food?
👩🦰 Lisa:
ඔව්, මං ගොඩක් කැමතියි Sri Lankan කෑම කන්න.
(Ow, man godak kaemathii Sri Lankan kaaema kanna.)
Yes, I really love Sri Lankan food!
✅ Tip: Try reading this dialogue out loud a few times. If you like, you can record yourself and listen back.
🌟 Practice Tip
👉 Practice changing the questions:
-
“Oyaa kaemathiidha movies balanna ?”
(Do you like to watch movies?) -
“Oyaa kaemathiidha dance karanna?”
(Do you like to dance?)
The more you mix the words, the easier it gets!
✅ Ready to test yourself?
👉 Click here to do activities from this lesson:
🎤 Want to practice speaking more, get answers to all your questions, learn to sound natural, and understand native speakers?
💬 Discussion Prompt
Write a short dialogue in Sinhala.
✅ Introduce yourself
✅ Say which country you are from
✅ Ask the other person a question about what they like or don’t like
👉 Try to use words like kaemathii, kaemathi naae, godak, and tikak!