How to Greet in Sinhalese

8/14/2019 How to Greet in Sinhalese

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Episode 1: Greetings & ResponseVideo Transcript

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Episode Overview

In this episode, we will:o

Look at some basic personal pronouns such as I, you, he, and she.o Use these to learn the easiest and most typical informal greeting in Sinhala, which is

the equivalent of asking how are you?

o Use these pronouns to learn how to respond to an informal greeting by saying theequivalent of I am fine.

o Learn the traditional formal greeting in Sinhala And well end this episode by:

o Looking at a sample dialogue between you and another persono Answering some quick questions on the material covered


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SECTION 1: Basic Personal Pronouns

The word for Iis mam. It sound like mama (as in mother), but with a closed A at the end. A closed A (that Ive indicated with a dot), is the A you use for words like awayor

alive.


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First, notice that all new words are being added to the sidebar on your right for yourconvenience.

In this episode, well be looking at the informal word for you, which is oyaa. oyaais usually used on a friend, family member, or someone near your age. In an informal context, you could also use oyaaon a stranger such shop staff, drivers, etc.


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The good news is that in spoken Sinhala, we use only one word to refer to both heandshe, and that word is yaa.


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SECTION 2: Typical Informal Greeting - how are you?

Lets now use these pronouns in sentences. You already know that the word for youis oyaa. The word for howis kohomdh(you don

need to memorize it)

Regarding its pronunciation, notice that the dhrepresents a soft D, which we use when we saywords like thenor there.


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To ask the equivalent of how are you?we simply join these 2 words to ask oyaa kohomdh? This literally reads you, how?Thats because we havent use an equivalent Sinhala word for the

word are.


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In Sinhala, the equivalent expressions for are, am, and isare not used very often. No need to worry about this now, youll see this for yourself once we go through a few more

episodes.


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Similarly, to ask how (is) he/she?we would say yaa kohomdh? We can also replace yaawith a name of a person (e.g. Ricky). To inquire about Ricky, in English

we would ask How (is) Ricky?and in Sinhala this would be Rickykohomdh?


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Tip:o Instead of greeting someone with oyaa kohomdh?, you can also just ask

kohomdh?It will be understood that you are referring to the person in front of you.

So we already knew an easy way of greeting someone, which was oyaa kohomdh?; and nowwe know an even easier way, which is to just say kohomdh?


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SECTION 3: Respond to a greeting - I am fine

As you know, the word for Iis mam. The equivalent to the word fineis hodhin innva(once again, not necessary to memorize). Notice the joint pronunciation of nd indicated by d


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To say I am finewe simply like before, join the 2 words and say mam hondhin innva. Once again notice that the word amis implied and that this sentence literally reads I, fine


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Similarly, oyaa hodhin innvais You (are) fine yaa hodhin innvais He/she (is) fine Rickyhodhin innvais Ricky (is) fine


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Tip:o Instead of replying with mam hondhin innva, you could also just say hodhin

innva. In this case, it is understood that you are referring to yourself. In English this is lik

saying fine, when someone asks how are you?.

So, we already knew an easy way of saying I am fine, which was mam hodhin innva; andnow we have an even easier way which is to just say hodhin innva.


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EXTRAS: Sample Dialogue (with someone familiar)


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SECTION 4: Formal Greeting:

The traditional formal greeting is aayubwan(literally, it means May your life span be long). When someone greets you with aayubwan, the reply is also aayubwan. This is not used that often in day-to-day conversation; youre most likely to be greeted with

aayubwanby people in touristy places such as hotel staff or the Sri Lankan airlines crew

members; and therefore, its good to at least know how to respond (just respond with

aayubwan).


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EXTRAS: Sample Dialogue (with someone unfamiliar)


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EXTRAS: So tell me


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Episode Recap

You now know that Iis mam, you(informal) is oyaa, and he/sheis yaa. You also know an easy way to ask how are you?which is kohomdh? Another way of asking how (are) you?is oyaa kohomdh Similarly, How (is) he/she?yaa kohomdh?; and How (is) Ricky?is Rickykohomdh? To respond to kohomdh?, we say the equivalent of I am finewhich is hodhin innva. You can also say it as mam hodhin innva. Similarly, You (are) fineis oyaa hodhin innva

He/she (is) fineis yaa hodhin innva; and Ricky (is) fineis Rickyhodhin innva And finally, the traditional formal greeting in Sinhala is aayubwan, to which the correct

response is also aayubwan.


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Preview of Next Episode

END OF VIDEO TRANSCRIPT

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How to Greet in Sinhalese