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How to Ask Questions in Sinhala

Updated: Jul 23




When we learn a new language, learning to ask a question from that language is important as we continue with our conversation with someone. Usually we start a conversation with a question, such as "What is your name ?" or "How are you ?" etc. So as a Sinhala language learner you have to know how to ask questions in Sinhala and today we are going to teach some question words in Sinhala. We are going to show you how to ask WH questions in Sinhala. Such as what, where, when, who, which, why. So let's take a look.


What | මොනවද /මොකක්ද | monawada / mokakda

Where | කොහෙද | koheda

When | කවදද | kawadada

Who | කවුද | kauda

Which | කොයි | koi

Why | ඇයි | aei


Those are the main question words in Sinhala, but sometimes we can question by adding 'da' sound in the end of the sentence or word as well. we will discuss about that later.

In spoken Sinhala there's no specific way to ask a question as in English. In English the question word usually comes in the beginning of a sentence, but in Sinhala a question word can be in the beginning, in the end or even in the middle of a sentence. Let's take an example .

What are you doing ?

in Sinhala ' monawada oya karanne? '

we can ask ' oya monawada karanne?'

or 'oya karanne monawada ?' This is why I said Sinhala Language is flexible.


Here is another example.

What do you want?

mokakda oyata oni ?

මොකක්ද ඔයාට ඕනේ

oyata mokakda oni?

ඔයාට මොකක්ද ඕනේ

oyata oni mokakda?

ඔයාට ඕනෙ මොකක්ද


some more example are below.

what is your name?

oyage nama mokakda?

ඔයාගේ නම මොකක්ද

what is your country ?

oyage rata mokakda?

ඔයාගේ රට මොකක්ද

What is your mother's name ?

oyage ammage nama mokakda?

ඔයාගේ අම්මගෙ නම මොකක්ද


When compared to English, speaking in Sinhala is quite easier, and it's very flexible.





Now let's move on to next question word ''Where'. In Sinhala we say ' Koheda' කොහෙද


Let's take an example

Where are you going ?

In sinhala we can ask ' koheda oya yanne ' ,කොහෙද ඔයා යන්නේ ?

Or oya koheda yanne | ඔයා කොහෙද යන්නෙ ?


 

Now let's see the next question word ' Who ' kauda | කවුද

  • Who did it ?

Kauda eaka kale | කවුද ඒක කලේ ?

eaka kale kauda | ඒක කලේ කවුද ?


  • Who did come here ?

Kauda meaheta aave | කවුද මෙහෙට ආවෙ ?



 

Which - koi | කොයි

now when we use this question word we need to know if it referring to thing or person

A thing- which one - Koi ekada | කොයි එකද

A person - which person - koi kenada | කොයි කෙනාද


example.

  • Which person is next ?

koi kenada iilangata | කොයි කෙනාද ඊළඟට

Which one is next ?

koi ekada iilangata | කොයි එකද ඊළඟට


  • Which boy is next ?

Koi pirimi lamayada iilangata

කොයි පිරිමි ළමයද ඊලඟට ?


  • which chair

Koi putuwada

කොයි පුටුවද ?




 

Next question word is ' why' aei | ඇයි


ex.

  • Why did you go?

aei oya giye

ඇයි ඔයා ගියේ

  • Why did you do that?

aei oya eka kalea

ඇයි ඔයා ඒක කළේ ?

  • Why is it ?

aei ea

ඇයි ඒ ?


We have covered main 6 question words in Sinhala. We hope you understand them well now. Keep practicing. We recommend writing down at least 15 questions in English and translate them into Sinhala. And if you have a questions you can always reach us via chat on the site, feel free to drop a chat message. We may not reply quickly but we will reply as soon as possible. Good luck learning Sinhala. At Araliya Academy there are more resources to learn Sinhala now 7 weeks challenge is a great way to start or try our PDF version of Sinhala Conversation booklet as well.


Interested in learning Sinhala ? try out our free trial session today. https://www.araliyaacademy.com/bookings-checkout/trial-session?referral=service_list_widget





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