Prepositions

Sinhala Lesson 4 (Prepositions and Directions)

Duration: 30 mins

Lessons Sinhala Lessons
Linguistic Sinhala Vocabulary
Culture Sinhala Phrases
Structure Sinhala Grammar

This first lesson teaches many important aspect of Sinhala like prepositions, vocabulary list about directions and finally common phrases about how to introduce yourself. I will try to give examples using both vocabulary and grammar. That way it will be easy for you to see the words when they are separate and when they are in a sentence. Going through the whole page should take about 30 min. Make sure to read the pronunciation and hear the audio as well. If you have any question about this course, please email me directly at Sinhala Classes.

Prepositions

Prepositions are used in almost every sentence. They can be a great tool to link words with each other. For example by simply knowing how to use "to", "with", "from", "after" you can expand your conversation scope. In short, a preposition describes a relationship between words in a sentence, for example: I agree with you.

Below is a list of 27 prepositions that you might come across or use very often. The table contains 3 columns (English, Sinhala, and Audio). Make sure you repeat each word after hearing it by either clicking on the audio button or by reading the pronunciation. That should help with memorization as well as improving your pronunciation.

Prepositions List in Sinhala

Prepositions Sinhala Audio
In front ofඉදිරිපස
idiripasa
Behindපිටුපස
piṭupasa
Beforeපෙර
pera
Afterපසුව
pasuva
Insideඇතුළේ
ætuḷē
Withසමග
samaga
Withoutනැතිව
nætiva
Outsideපිටත
piṭata
On top ofඉහළින්ම
ihaḷinma
Underයට
yaṭa
About (in regards to)පිළිබඳ
piḷiban̆da
Againstවිරුද්ධව, එදිරිව
viruddhava, ediriva
Andසහ
saha
As (similar to)නිසා, පරිදි, වැනි, විට
nisā, paridi, væni, viṭa
Betweenමැද
mæda
Butනමුත්
namut
Forසඳහා
san̆dahā
Fromසිට, වෙතින්
siṭa, vetin
Inතුළ
tuḷa
Instead ofවෙනුවට
venuvaṭa
Nearළඟ
ḷan̆ga
Ofගේ
Orහෝ
Sinceසිට, හේතුවෙන්
siṭa, hētuven
Soඑනිසා, එවිට
enisā, eviṭa
Toටිප් එක
ṭip eka
Untilඑතෙක්, දක්වා, තුරු
etek, dakvā, turu

Now we will try to implement some of the prepositions above into full Sinhala sentences. That way you will be able to use the word not only by itself but embedded in a structure.

Sinhala Prepositions in a Sentence

English Sinhala Audio
Can I practice Italian with you?මට ඔයත් එක්ක ඉතාලි පුරුදු වෙන්න පුළුවන්ද?
maṭa oyat ekka itāli purudu venna puḷuvanda?
I speak French but with an accentමම කලාතුරකින් ප්‍රංශ කතා කරනවා
mama kalāturakin praṁśa katā karanavā
I was born in Miamiමම උපන්නේ මියාමි වල
mama upannē miyāmi vala
I'm from Japanමම ජපානයෙන්
mama japānayen
The letter is inside the bookලියුම පොත ඇතුලේ
liyuma pota ætulē
The pen is under the deskපෑන ඩෙස් එක යට
pǣna ḍes eka yaṭa
Directions
Can I help you?ඔබට උදව් කරන්නද?
obaṭa udav karannada?

Questions?

If you have any questions, please contact me using the Sinhala contact form on the header above.

Vocabulary List about Directions

Below is a list of 28 words and sentences related to directions that you might need when lost or asking for help. If you can memorize them by heart, you will be able to travel from point A to point B by following directions.

Giving Directions in Sinhala

Directions Sinhala Audio
Can you help me?මට උදව් කරනවද?
maṭa udav karanavada?
Can you show me?ඔබට පෙන්නන්න පුළුවන්ද?
obaṭa pennanna puḷuvanda?
Come with me!මාත් එක්ක එන්න!
māt ekka enna!
Downtown (city center)නගර මධ්‍යය/ ටවුම
nagara madhyaya/ ṭavuma
Excuse me! (to ask someone)සමාවෙන්න
samāvenna
Go straightකෙලින්ම යන්න
kelinma yanna
How can I get to the museum? මම කටුගෙට යන්නෙ කොහොමද?
mama kaṭugeṭa yanne kohomada?
How long does it take to get there?එහෙට යන්න කොච්චර වෙලා යනවද?
eheṭa yanna koccara velā yanavada?
I'm lostමම අතරමං වෙලා
mama ataramaṁ velā
I'm not from hereමම මෙහෙ කෙනෙක් නෙවෙයි
mama mehe kenek neveyi
It's far from hereඑතනට හුඟක් දුරයි
etanaṭa hun̆gak durayi
It's near hereඒක මේ ළඟ
ēka mē ḷan̆ga
One moment please!පොඩ්ඩක් ඉන්න!
poḍḍak inna!
Turn leftවමට හැරෙන්න
vamaṭa hærenna
Turn rightදකුණට හැරෙන්න
dakuṇaṭa hærenna
Farදුර
dura
Hereමෙ‍තන
metana
Leftවම
vama
Rightදකුණ
dakuṇa
Nearඅසල
asala
Straightකෙළින්ම
keḷinma
Thereඅතන
atana
To driveවෙත
veta
To turnහැරෙන්න වෙයි
hærenna veyi
To walkඇවිදින්න වෙයි
ævidinna veyi
Traffic lightමාර්ග සංඥා එළි/ කලර් ලයිට්
mārga saṁgnā eḷi/ kalar layiṭ
Transportationප්‍රවාහනය
pravāhanaya

Daily Conversation in Sinhala

Finally, a couple sentences to help you know how to introduce yourself in Sinhala. For a complete list of commonly used sentences, please visit our Sinhala Phrases page. Enjoy!

Common Expressions in Sinhala

English Sinhala Audio
Do you speak English?ඔබ ඉංග්‍රීසි කතා කරනවාද?
oba iṁgrīsi katā karanavāda?
Just a littleටිකක්
ṭikak
What's your name?ඔයාගෙ නම මොකක්ද?
oyāge nama mokakda?
My name is (John Doe)මගේ නම (ජෝන් ඩෝ)
magē nama (jōn ḍō)
Mr... / Mrs. ... / Miss......මහතා/....මහත්මිය/....මෙනවිය
...mahatā/....mahatmiya/....menaviya
Nice to meet you!ඔබව හමුවීම සතුටක්!
obava hamuvīma satuṭak!
You're very kind!ඔබ ඉතා කරුණාවන්තයි!
oba itā karuṇāvantayi!

Fun Facts

Language Quote: The language of a society changes slowly but steadily with the result that an educated person will not be able to read or understand words in his language written 500 years ago. Do you feel like you can't talk to your parents? Maybe it's because you belong to the Niger-Congo family. More than 1,400 languages are spoken by different members of this family from Africa..

Congratulations! You finished your 4th lesson in Sinhala about prepositions, and directions. Are you ready for the next lesson? We recommend Sinhala Lesson 5. You can also simply click on one of the links below or go back to our Learn Sinhala homepage.

Lessons Sinhala Lessons
Linguistic Sinhala Vocabulary
Culture Sinhala Phrases
Structure Sinhala Grammar