Beginner Sinhala Lesson 4 – Pronouns

Beginner Sinhala Lesson 4

Pronouns.

Pronouns in Sinhala are divided into four distinct classes according to distance. මේ “me” indicates that the thing or person being referred to is in close proximity to the speaker. ඔ “o” indicates that the thing or person being referred to is in close proximity to the hearer. Infact in modern Sinhala, words such as ඔයා “Oya”, there person near you, are taking to literally mean “you”. අර “ara” indicates that the thing or person is relatively distant to both the speaker and the listener – “over there”. එ “e” refers to a person or thing that was mentioned earlier in the conversation or something that both are already aware of.

මම mama I	මගේ magee My	මගෙන් magen From / by me	මට mata to me	මාව maawa Me
මෙයා Meyaa ‘This one’	මෙයාගේ Meyaagee ‘This one’ ‘s	මෙයාගෙන් Meyaagen From/by ‘this one’	මෙයාට meyaata to ‘this one’	මෙයාව Meyaawa ‘This one’ (acc)
ඔයා oyaa You	ඔයාගේ oyaagee Your	ඔයාගෙන් oyaagen From / by you	ඔයාට oyaata To you	ඔයාව oyaawa You (acc)
අරයා arayaa ‘That one there’	අරයාගේ arayaagee ‘That one there’ ‘s	අරයාගෙන් arayaagen From /by ‘that one there’	අරයාට arayaata To ‘that one there’	අරයාව arayaawa ‘That one there’ (acc)
එයා eyaa He / She	එයාගේ eyaagee His / Her	එයාගෙන් eyaagen From / by him / her	එයාට eyaata to him / her	එයාව eyaawa him / her
අපි api We	අපේ apee Our	අපෙන් apen From / by us	අපිට apita To us	අපිව apiwa us
ඔයාලා oyaalaa You (plural)	ඔයාලගේ oyalaage Your (plural)	ඔයාලගෙන් From / by you (plural)	ඔයාලට To you (plural)	ඔයාලව you (acc plural)

The plural affix “ලා” can be added to මෙයා, අරයා and එයා (meyaa, arayaa, eyaa) to make them plural in number.

Examples

ඔයාට පොතක් තියෙනවා
oyaata pothak thiyenawaa
‘You have a book’ (lit. to you a book there is)

මගේ කාර් එක
magee kaar eka
‘My car’

එයාගෙන් අහන්න
eyaagen ahanna
‘Ask from him‘

අපි එයාව දැක්කා
api eyaawa d@kkaa
We saw him

මෙයාලගේ කෑම
meyalaage k@@ma
These one’s food