Beginner Sinhala Lesson 7 – Infinitive / Imperative

In the Sinhala language, the infinitive and the imperative are identical – that is the verb stem + න්න “nna”.
The infinitive in English is rendered as “to” + verb. To come, to go, to run are all infinitives. Imperatives are rendered “Come”, “Go”, “Run” which are used as a command. Therefore, in English the verb root and the imperative form is the same – as the infinitive form and the imperative are the same in Sinhala. In Sinhala, the  න්න “nna” form is also the polite form – which is often translated as please + verb. There are impolite forms, which we will also cover. The verb root + පන් “pan” signifies speaking with someone who you know well. It is impolite to use this form with strangers.  The verb root + පිය “piya” has an even more impolite connotation and is never used, except to show anger towards the hearer. It is advisable that foreigners only use  න්න “nna” until they know exactly what they are doing.

Please come එන්න “enna”	Come! වරෙන් “varen”	Come thou!
Please go යන්න “yanna”	Go! පලයන් “palayan”	Go Away! පලාපිය “palapiya”
Please give දෙන්න “denna”	Give දීපන් / දීයන් diipan / diiyan	Give thou දීපිය “diipiya”
Please hit ගහන්න “gahanna”	Hit! ගහපන් “gahapan”	Hit Thou! ගහපිය “gahapiya”
Please eat කන්න “kanna”	Eat! කාපන් “kaapan”	Eat Thou! කාපිය “kaapiya”
Please take ගන්න “ganna”	Take! ගනින් “ganin”	Take Thou! ගනිපිය “ganipiya”
Please do කරන්න “karanna”	Do! කරපන් “karapan”	Do Thou! කරපිය “karapiya”
Please search හොයන්න “hoyanna”	Search! හොයපන් “hoyapan”	Search Thou! හොයපිය “hoyapiya”
Please drink බොන්න “bonna”	Drink! බීපන් “biipan”	Drink Thou! බීපිය “biipiya

From looking at the table one can notice that a number of the verbs have altered corresponding forms. Noticeably the ones that would be commonly used in a rough manner (Go, Come, Give, Take). Of all the forms, the command for come is the most interesting. Its infinitive form is එන්න enna, but its impolite imperative form is varen – which bares no resemblance. What is even more odd is that the only explanation for it is that it derives from tamil “Vaa” where varen means  “I come”. Come, Go , Take and Give are all irregular verbs. The impolite imperative form for go actually derives from the verb පලනවා palanava – “flee” – so that form isn’t stictly irregular. Give’s (දෙන්න) forms are also due to the fact that the past tense root and participle root are different to the present tense root. The other differences between forms are due the past tense form being used in the impolite imperative.

There is also another imperative form that is impolite which is used for more than one person, which is verb root + පල්ලා “pallaa”. For example: කරපල්ලා “karapalla” you all do! දීපල්ලා “diipalla” you all give බීපල්ලා “biipalla” you all drink.

Now its time to demonstrate the above and see the imperative and infinitive in action.
මෙහේ එන්න
mehee enna
Please come here

කන්න එන්න
kanna enna
Please come to eat

ඉස්කෝලෙට යන්න
iskooleta yanna
Please go to school

අරහේ පලයන්
arahee palayan
Go there! (Go away!)

මම කෑම කන්න පටන් ගන්නන්
mama k@@ma kanna patan gannan
I will start to eat food.

කන්න මම ගෙදර යනවා
kanna mama gedara yanawaa
I am going home to eat (to eat, I home go-am)

මේ බීම බීපල්ලා
me biima biipallaa
(You all) drink this drink!

මම ඉගෙන ගන්න ඉස්කෝලේ යනවා
mama igena ganna iskoolee yanawaa
I go to school to learn (I to learn school[to] go-am)
(learn = ඉගෙන ගන්නවා)