Sinhala/2.1

We have already seen the Alphabet. But now We are going to learn how to pronounce and how to write Sinhalese letters, with examples.

අ
අ is the first letter of the Alphabet. it is basically pronounced as a in 'what'. It is only used at the beginning of a word as well as all the other vowels. Let's see some example words begin with this letter.
 * අම්මා (ammā) - Mother
 * අට (aṭa) - Eight
 * අවි (avi) - Weapons
 * අලුත් (alut) - New
 * අශ්වයා (aśvayā) - Horse
 * අක්කා (akkā) - Elder sister
 * අකුරු (akuru) - Letters of the alphabet/Fonts
 * අඛණ්ඩ (akhaṇḍa) - Unbroken/Continuous
 * අඟ (an̆ga) - Horn
 * අඟහරුවාදා (an̆gaharuvādā) - Tuesday

ආ
ආ is the second letter of the alphabet. It's like a longer version of the first letter අ. ආ is pronounced as a in 'smart'. This letter is also can be seen only at the beginning of a word. Let's see some example words begin with this letter.
 * ආදරය (ādaraya) - love
 * ආච්චි (ācci) - Grandmother
 * ආගම (āgama) - religion
 * ආකරය (ākaraya) - mine
 * ආධාරය (ādhāraya) - help/support
 * ආයෙත් (āyet) - again
 * ආරම්භය (ārambhaya) - beginning/commencement/start
 * ආරාධනාව (ārādhanāva) - invitation
 * ආරවුල (āravula) - dispute/quarrel
 * ආවරණය (āvaraṇaya) - shield/shelter/covering

ඇ
The third vowel in the alphabet. it sounds like a in cat. This letter is also can be seen only at the beginning of a word. Let's see some example words begin with this letter.
 * ඇඟිල්ල (an̆gilla) - finger
 * ඇස (asa) - eye
 * ඇටය (aṭaya) - bone or seed or nut
 * ඇට්ටර (aṭṭara) - obstinate
 * ඇඳ (an̆da) - bed
 * ඇඬුම (an̆ḍuma) - cry
 * ඇඳුම (an̆duma) - cloth/dress
 * ඇප (apa) - bail
 * ඇපල් (apal) - apple
 * ඇඹුල් (am̆bul) - sour

ඈ
The forth vowel in the alphabet. It sounds like a in 'ash' or 'jam'. This letter is also can be seen only at the beginning of a word. Let's see some example words begin with this letter.
 * ඈ - she
 * ඈත (ǣtha) - far
 * ඈනුම (ǣnuma) - yawn
 * ඈන් (ǣn) - Ann

ඉ
The fifth vowel in the alphabet having the fine, sharp sound of i in 'his' or 'pin'. This letter is also can be seen only at the beginning of a word. Let's see some example words begin with this letter.
 * ඉක්මන් - quick
 * ඉක්කාව - hiccough
 * ඉක්බිති - then/thereafter
 * ඉඟුරු - ginger
 * ඉගෙනීම - learning
 * ඉගිලෙනවා - fly
 * ඉටි - wax
 * ඉතිහාසය - history
 * ඉතින් - so/well/henceforth
 * ඉබ්බා - Tortoise

ඊ
The sixth vowel in the alphabet. It is sounded like ee in 'feel'. This letter is also can be seen only at the beginning of a word. Let's see some example words begin with this letter.
 * ඊතලය (ītalaya) - arrow
 * ඊයම් (īyam) - lead
 * ඊසාන (īsāna) - north east
 * ඊයෙ (īye) - yesterday
 * ඊළඟ (īḷan̆ga) - next

උ
The seventh vowel in the alphabet. It sounds like u in 'put. This letter is also can be seen only at the beginning of a word. Let's see some example words begin with this letter.
 * උක් - sugar cane
 * උකුණා - Louse
 * උකුල - hip/lap
 * උගත් - educated
 * උගන්වනවා - teach
 * උගුල - trap/snare
 * උච්ඡාරණය - pronunciation
 * උඩ - above/over/on
 * උඩඟු - arrogant
 * උත්තරය - answer

ඌ
The eighth vowel in the alphabet. It sounds like u in 'rule'. This letter is also can be seen only at the beginning of a word. Let's see some example words begin with this letter.
 * ඌ - it
 * ඌරා - pig
 * ඌන - deficient
 * ඌර්ධව - high/above/upper/uppermost