Language/Sinhala/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.
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!