How To Greet in Sinhalese

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Episode 1: Greetings & Responses Video 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 the
equivalent 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 person
o Answering some quick questions on the material covered

SECTION 1: Basic Personal Pronouns

The word for I is 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 away or
alive.


First, notice that all new words are being added to the sidebar on your right for your
convenience.
In this episode, well be looking at the informal word for you, which is oyaa.
oyaa is usually used on a friend, family member, or someone near your age.
In an informal context, you could also use oyaa on a stranger such shop staff, drivers, etc.


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

SECTION 2: Typical Informal Greeting - how are you?

Lets now use these pronouns in sentences.
You already know that the word for you is oyaa. The word for how is kohomdh (you dont
need to memorize it)
Regarding its pronunciation, notice that the dh represents a soft D, which we use when we say
words like then or there.


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.


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


Similarly, to ask how (is) he/she? we would say yaa kohomdh?
We can also replace yaa with 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 Ricky kohomdh?


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 now
we know an even easier way, which is to just say kohomdh?

SECTION 3: Respond to a greeting - I am fine

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


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


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


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 like
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; and
now we have an even easier way which is to just say hodhin innva.

EXTRAS: Sample Dialogue (with someone familiar)


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
aayubwan by 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).

EXTRAS: Sample Dialogue (with someone unfamiliar)

EXTRAS: So tell me


Episode Recap

You now know that I is mam, you (informal) is oyaa, and he/she is 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 Ricky kohomdh?
To respond to kohomdh?, we say the equivalent of I am fine which is hodhin innva.
You can also say it as mam hodhin innva.
Similarly, You (are) fine is oyaa hodhin innva
He/she (is) fine is yaa hodhin innva; and
Ricky (is) fine is Ricky hodhin innva
And finally, the traditional formal greeting in Sinhala is aayubwan, to which the correct
response is also aayubwan.

Preview of Next Episode

END OF VIDEO TRANSCRIPT

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How To Greet in Sinhalese

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