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The Sinhala alphabet සිංහල හෝඩිය
Sinhala is written left to right in a rounded script descended from Brahmi. Each consonant carries a short 'a' until a vowel sign or the hal kirīma (්) changes it. Start with the vowels and the everyday consonants. The aspirated letters near the end mostly appear in formal and borrowed words.
Vowels
ස්වර · svaraShort and long pairs: the long one is the same sound, held for longer. Length changes meaning.
අ
a
like the u in “cup”
/a/
අම්මා ammā · mother
ආ
ā
like the a in “father”
/aː/
ආච්චි āchchi · grandmother
ඇ
æ
like the a in “cat”
/æ/
ඇස æsa · eye
ඈ
ǣ
the a in “cat”, held longer
/æː/
ඈත ǣta · far
ඉ
i
like the i in “sit”
/i/
ඉර ira · sun
ඊ
ī
like the ee in “see”
/iː/
ඊයේ īyē · yesterday
උ
u
like the u in “put”
/u/
උදේ udē · morning
ඌ
ū
like the oo in “food”
/uː/
ඌරා ūrā · pig
එ
e
like the e in “bed”
/e/
එළවළු eḷavaḷu · vegetables
ඒ
ē
like “ay” in “say”, without sliding into a y
/eː/
ඒක ēka · that (thing)
ඓ
ai
like the i in “kite”
/ai/
ඓතිහාසික aitihāsika · historical
ඔ
o
a short o, as in “for” said quickly
/o/
ඔව් ow · yes
ඕ
ō
like the o in “go”, without sliding into a w
/oː/
ඕනෑ ōnǣ · want, need
ඖ
au
like the ow in “cow”
/au/
ඖෂධ auṣadha · medicine
ඍ
ṛ
said “ru”, only in words from Sanskrit
/ru/
ඍතුව ṛtuva · season
Everyday consonants
ව්‍යඤ්ජන · vyañjanaShown with the built-in short 'a'. Watch the two t's and d's: ත/ද touch the teeth, ට/ඩ curl the tongue back.
ක
ka
k as in “skip”, no puff of air
/k/
කන්න kanna · to eat
ග
ga
g as in “go”
/ɡ/
ගෙදර gedara · home
ඟ
n̆ga
a quick “ng” before the g, as in “finger”
/ᵑɡ/
සඟරාව san̆garāva · magazine
ච
ca
ch as in “church”
/tʃ/
චූටි chūṭi · tiny
ජ
ja
j as in “jam”
/dʒ/
ජනේලය janēlaya · window
ට
ṭa
t with the tongue curled back to the roof of the mouth
/ʈ/
ටිකක් ṭikak · a little
ඩ
ḍa
d with the tongue curled back
/ɖ/
ඩිංගක් ḍiṅgak · a tiny bit (colloquial)
ණ
ṇa
today said just like න (n)
/n/
ගණන gaṇana · amount, price
ඬ
n̆ḍa
a quick “n” before a curled-back d
/ⁿɖ/
හඬ han̆ḍa · voice, sound
ත
ta
t with the tongue touching the back of the top teeth
/t̪/
තේ tē · tea
ද
da
d with the tongue touching the teeth
/d̪/
දවස davasa · day
න
na
n as in “no”
/n/
නංගී naṅgī · younger sister
ඳ
n̆da
a quick “n” before a teeth d, as in “and”
/ⁿd̪/
හඳ han̆da · moon
ප
pa
p as in “spin”, no puff of air
/p/
පාන් pān · bread
බ
ba
b as in “bat”
/b/
බත් bat · rice
ම
ma
m as in “mat”
/m/
මල mala · flower
ඹ
m̆ba
a quick “m” before the b, as in “amber”
/ᵐb/
අඹ am̆ba · mango
ය
ya
y as in “yes”
/j/
යාළුවා yāḷuvā · friend
ර
ra
a light, tapped r
/ɾ/
රට raṭa · country
ල
la
l as in “let”
/l/
ලස්සන lassana · beautiful
ව
va
between v and w, lips barely touching
/ʋ/
වතුර vatura · water
ස
sa
s as in “sun”
/s/
සතුට satuṭa · happiness
හ
ha
h as in “hat”
/h/
හත hata · seven
ළ
ḷa
today said just like ල (l)
/l/
ළමයා ḷamayā · child
ෆ
fa
f as in “fan”, for borrowed words
/f/
ෆෝන් fōn · phone
Two signs to know
Not letters on their own, but on almost every line of text.
ං
ṃ
“ng” as in “sing”, added after a letter
/ŋ/
සිංහල siṃhala · Sinhala
්
(no vowel)
hal kirīma: removes the built-in a, so ක් is just “k”
//
බත් bat · rice
Aspirated and formal letters
මහාප්‍රාණ · mahāprāṇaMostly in words from Sanskrit and Pali. In everyday speech most are said like their plain partners above; ශ and ෂ are both “sh”.
ඛ
kha
said like ක (k)
/k/
ඝ
gha
said like ග (g)
/ɡ/
ඝෝෂාව ghōṣāva · noise
ඡ
cha
said like ච (ch)
/tʃ/
ඡායාරූපය chāyārūpaya · photograph
ඣ
jha
said like ජ (j)
/dʒ/
ඤ
ña
“ny” as in “canyon”
/ɲ/
ඥ
gña
“gny”, said “gn-ya”
/ɡɲ/
ඥාතියා gnyātiyā · relative
ඨ
ṭha
said like ට (curled-back t)
/ʈ/
ශ්‍රේෂ්ඨ śrēṣṭha · excellent
ඪ
ḍha
said like ඩ (curled-back d)
/ɖ/
ථ
tha
said like ත (teeth t)
/t̪/
ස්ථානය sthānaya · place
ධ
dha
said like ද (teeth d)
/d̪/
ධර්මය dharmaya · the Dhamma, teaching
ඵ
pha
said like ප (p)
/p/
ඵලය phalaya · fruit, result
භ
bha
said like බ (b)
/b/
භාෂාව bhāṣāva · language
ශ
śa
sh as in “ship”
/ʃ/
ශ්‍රී śrī · Sri (as in Sri Lanka)
ෂ
ṣa
also sh as in “ship”
/ʃ/
භාෂාව bhāṣāva · language
Vowel signs
After a consonant, a vowel is written as a sign (pilla) around the letter instead of in full. Here they are on ක (ka).
This sheet was drafted with AI as a first pass and is being checked by our tutors. Sound hints compare to English where there is a close match; IPA is given for anyone who reads it. Spotted something off? Tell your tutor, or write to us at serendib.learn@gmail.com.