Language/Sinhala/Grammar/Negation

Sinhala Grammar - Negation

Hi Sinhala learners! 😊
In this lesson, we will focus on the negation of verbs in Sinhala grammar. Negation is commonly used in all languages, and in this lesson, we will study how to negate verbs in Sinhala. Understanding negation is crucial since it allows us to describe the opposite of a statement.
Let’s dive into it!

What is Negation?

Before understanding negation in Sinhala, we should review what negation is in grammar.

In linguistics, negation is a grammatical construction that contradicts or denies the validity of the existence or truth of a logical statement. Negation is usually represented by the words "not" or "no."

For example, in English, the simple present tense of the verb "to be" is negated by adding the word "not" after the verb: "I am not happy."

In Sinhala grammar, we use a different approach to negate sentences. Let’s discover how!

Negative verb forms

In Sinhala, we change a verb to a negative form by using the word "නැත" (netha). To create a negative sentence, "නැත" follows the verb.

Let's look at some examples:

Regular verbs

Regular verbs use the negative particle "නැත" to produce the negative form.

Sinhala	Pronunciation	English
මම කරන්නේ	Mama karanne	I do
මම කරන්නේ නැත	Mama karanne netha	I don't do
ඔහු ඇයව කරනවා	Ohu ayeve karanaa	He/She is doing
ඔහු ඇයව කරනවා නැත	Ohu ayeve karanaa netha	He/She is not doing

Irregular verbs

Irregular verbs change their base forms with the negative particle "නැත". They do not follow the regular rules of verb conjugation.

|යම්කිරිමත්ය (yamkirimatya) (to go)||යම්ගිය (yamgiya) (went)||යම්ගෙයි (yamgeyee) (did not go)|| |එපිටිය (epitiya)(to die)||මරියොත් (marioth) (died)||මියොත්නැත (miothnetha) (did not die)|| | මොකක්දැයි (mokadeyi) (to want)||මගෙන් මොකක්දෙන්නේ (magen mokakdenne) (I want)||මගෙන් නොමොකක්දෙන්නේ (magen nomokakdenne) (I don't want)|| |බොහොමයි (Bohomai) (to eat)||බොහෝම (Bohoma) (ate)||බොහෝමනැත (Bohomanetha) (did not eat)||

Just as in the regular verbs, we follow the same approach to make negative statements.

Negation particles in Sinhala

The negative particles are used to negate a sentence in Sinhala grammar. There are three main negative particles in Sinhala grammar:

• නැත – netha
• එපා - epaa
• නො – no

Let's see how to use them through examples.

නැත (Netha)

In modern Sinhala, නැත is the most commonly used negative particle. It is added to the end of a verb or adjective.

• Kolomba yana netha (He/She did not go to Colombo)

එපා (Epaa)

Epaa is generally used specifically to negate verbs like die, lie or sleep, which do not have potential for completeness. When a verb related to these activities in the negative, we use epaa instead of netha.

• කලමන්තොට නවරඝ එපා දිගට යමෙන්නේ. (kalambantot navaragala epaa digata yamanne) (The Coroner cannot find out if he had died due to fresh injuries)

නො (No)

"නො" means "not" and is used in the front of verbs.

• මට දැන් කිසි පිපීරී කාර්යාලයක් නොකල්පු මිණිස්සු. (Mata daan kisi pipiri kaaryala nokalpu minissu.) (I have not been to any Indian restaurant until now.)

Exercises

• Read the following sentences and turn them into the negative form.

1. මම ගෙදර යන්නේ (Mama gedara yanney) (I go home)
2. මම ගෙදර නැත්තේ (Mama gedara neththa) (I am not going home)
3. ඔවුන් ඔවුන් කාලයක් දෙනවා (Owun owun kaleyak denenawa) (They are spending time together)
4. ඔවුන් කාලයක් නැතිනම් (Owun kaleyak nethinam) (They are not spending time together)

Dialogues

• කාර්යමණ්ඩලවරයා (kaaryamanthlandhvraya) (office worker): කුඩා යකෝ මේ දවස් මොහොතක් තියෙද්දි කැමති කියලා තිබුණාද? (Kudaa yakho me daws mhmtak tiryddi kaimathiy kiralaa thibunadha?) (Hey, did you have a good day today?)
• කුරුණෑගල්ලේ ලංකාවේ අලුත්ම පරිදියක් (kurunagalla langawe aluthma parydiyak) (A newcomer from Kurunegala in Sri Lanka): ආයුබෝවන්! සුභ උදෑසක් රැකියා ඇත්තේ. ඔයාගේ දෙයක් මොකද? (Ayubovan! Suba Udakarak rayaki aththe. Oyage deyak mokda?) (Hello! I had a good day. How was your day?)
• කාලිංගං (kalinganga) (Student): මම කොහොමද කියන්නෙ no smoking කියල යකෝ නැත්තේ නැත්තේ (Mama kohomada kiyanne "no smoking" kiyla yakho neththa neththa?) (I'm confused. Does "no smoking" mean "don't smoke" or "smoke")?
• ලංකාවේ පාන්දර්පත් පිරිමිතිකම් මගේ පිටියෙන් (Langawey panandhaarpath pirimithikams maga pitiyen) (At the immigration office in Sri Lanka): මගේ පලමු ගිණුමෙන් මට ඉල්ලනවා නැවත යන්නේ එක්වන්නේ නැතුව දියුණුව. (Magem palamu giyunemen matt illanawa nawa yanney ekwannu nethuwa diyunuwa.) (I have been refused entry again after my first visa being rejected.)

Conclusion

In this lesson, we have discussed the basics of negation in Sinhala grammar. We learned how to change a sentence to negative form and how to use three main negative particles in Sinhala grammar.

To improve your Sinhala Grammar, you can also use the Polyglot Club website. Find native speakers and ask them any questions!

Sources

• Sinhalese Grammar
• Negation
• Sinhalese Language