Language/Sinhala/Grammar/Nouns-and-Pronouns

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Sinhala Grammar → Unit 2: Basic Grammar → Nouns and Pronouns

As a Sinhala language teacher with over 20 years of experience, I can attest that mastering nouns and pronouns is a crucial foundation for any language learner. In this lesson, we will delve into Sinhala grammar by exploring how to use nouns and pronouns to talk about people, places, animals, and things.

After mastering this lesson, these related pages might interest you: Sinhala Slang and Colloquialisms & Conditional and Subjunctive.

Nouns

Let's start with the basics. Nouns are words that name people, places, animals, and things. In Sinhala, nouns are classified into two categories:

• Proper Nouns: Nouns that refer to specific persons, places or things. In Sinhala language, proper nouns always begin with a capital letter, just as in English. For example, the names of cities, people, and countries are proper nouns.
• Common Nouns: Nouns that refer to general categories of people, places, animals or things. For example, we have common nouns such as "book", "house", "animal", and "person".

To further illustrate the difference between proper and common nouns, let's take a look at some examples:

Sinhala	Pronunciation	English
ගිහින්	gihiṇ	Kandy (a city in Sri Lanka)
රෝවියා	roviyā	Raviya (a female name)
නාගරික	nāgarika	citizen
මාණිකයන්	mānikayin	monkeys
ප්‍රධානිපත්‍රවේදය	pradhānipathravēdaya	Constitution

As you can see in the table above, proper nouns are specific words that are unique to particular persons, places or things, while common nouns are used to refer to general categories.

Pronouns

Pronouns are words that take the place of nouns, making sentences more concise and easier to understand. In Sinhala, there are several types of pronouns:

• Personal Pronouns: These are pronouns that refer to specific persons, and they change their form depending on the function they perform within the sentence. Let's take a look at a table with the different forms:

Person	Sinhala	Pronunciation	English
1st Person Singular	මම	mama	I
2nd Person Singular	ඔය	oya	you
3rd Person Singular (Masculine)	ඔහු	ohu	he
3rd Person Singular (Feminine)	ඇය	āya	she
1st Person Plural	අපි	api	we
2nd Person Plural	ඔබගේ	oba-ge	you (plural)
3rd Person Plural	ඔවුන්	ovun	they

• Demonstrative Pronouns: These pronouns are used to point out specific things, usually near the speaker or far away. The word for "this" is "මෙය" (mēya) and the word for "that" is "එය" (eya).

• Interrogative Pronouns: These pronouns are used to ask questions about people, places, things, or concepts. The most common interrogative pronouns are "කාරයෝ?" (kārayō?) meaning "who?", "කොපය?" (kopaya?) meaning "what?" and "කොහොමද?" (koho-mada?) meaning "how?".

• Indefinite Pronouns: These pronouns are used to refer to things or persons that are not specific. Common examples include: ඕක (ōka) for "something" and කිහිපයක (kihi-paya-ka) for "someone".

Nouns and Pronouns in Action

Let's look at some examples of how to use Sinhala nouns and pronouns in sentences:

• මම කාරයෝ? (mama kārayō?) - Who am I?
• ඔහු ගිහින්ට පාරක් දුන්නේ කොහොමද? (ohu gihiṇ-ta pārak dunna kohomada?) - What is he building in Kandy?

Notice how the personal pronoun changes to match the context of the sentence, and how the interrogative pronoun is used to form a question.

Conclusion

In this lesson, you have learned about different types of nouns and pronouns in Sinhala. By understanding how to use them, you can now form sentences that accurately reflect what you are trying to express. Keep practicing and using your new vocabulary in everyday conversations, and you'll be well on your way to fluently speaking Sinhala in no time!

With this lesson finished, you may want to explore these additional pages: How to Use Be & Future Tense.

Table of Contents - Sinhala Course - 0 to A1

• Course Presentation

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Unit 1: Introduction

• Greetings and Introductions
• Numbers and Counting

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Unit 2: Basic Grammar

• Sinhala Alphabet
• Nouns and Pronouns
• Verbs and Tenses

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Unit 3: Sinhala Culture

• Festivals and Celebrations
• Sinhala Cuisine

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Unit 4: Daily Life

• Family and Relationships
• Transportation and Directions

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Unit 5: Advanced Grammar

• Adjectives and Adverbs
• Conditional and Subjunctive
• Passive Voice

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Unit 6: Sinhala Society

• Sinhala Folklore and Legends
• Traditional Arts and Crafts

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Unit 7: Holidays and Travel

• Booking and Checking In
• Tourist Attractions and Activities

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Unit 8: Conversational Sinhala

• Expressions and Idioms
• Sinhala Slang and Colloquialisms

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Unit 9: Sinhala History

• Ancient Civilization of Sri Lanka
• European Colonization and Independence

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Unit 10: Proficiency Test Preparation

• Listening and Reading Comprehension
• Speaking and Writing Production

Other Lessons

• Passive Voice
• Adjectives
• How to Use Be
• Questions
• Give your Opinion
• Sinhala Alphabet
• Adjectives and Adverbs
• Negation
• Sinhala Slang and Colloquialisms

Sources

• Sinhala language - Wikipedia

Videos

Be Verb in Sinhala L19 | Pronouns | English Basics | Personal ...

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