Language/Sinhala/Grammar/How-to-Use-Have

Sinhala Grammar - How to Use "Have"

Hi Sinhala learners! 😊
In this lesson, we'll be talking about how to use "have" in Sinhala grammar. "Have" is used to talk about possession, experience or completion of an action. We'll cover how to use "have" in different tenses and with different subjects, and provide examples along the way.

Let's get started!

Present Tense

In the present tense, "have" is used to express possession or experience in Sinhala. For example, if you want to say "I have a car" in Sinhala, you would say "මම මගේ බලයක් තියනවා" (mama mage balayak tiyanna). Here, "මම" (mama) means "I", "මගේ" (mage) means "my", "බලයක්" (balayak) means "car" and "තියනවා" (tiyanna) means "have".

Let's have a look at more examples:

Sinhala	Pronunciation	English
මම මගේ ගෙදර තියනවා	Mama mage gedara tiyanna	I have a house
ඔව්, මට රියදුරු කියනවා	Owa, mat rideyuru kiyannava	Yes, I have experience in driving
පව්ඩස් දිගටම තියනවා	Pawds digatama tiyanna	I have seen Padmasana

Note that the word "තියනවා" (tiyanna) is used for all three examples, which means "have".

Past Tense

In the past tense, "have" is used to indicate completion of an action. It can be used in different tenses with different subjects. For example, if you want to say "I had breakfast" in Sinhala, you would say "මට පැයට බෙදාහැරීම් තියෙන්නේ" (mat paayata bedahareem tiyenne). Here, "පැයට බෙදාහැරීම්" (paayata bedahareem) means "having breakfast" and "තියෙන්නේ" (tiyenne) means "had".

Let's look at more examples in the table below:

Sinhala	Pronunciation	English
මම වෙනස වෙන්නෝ තියේද?	Mama wenasa venno tiyedha?	Have I had/written anything new?
දුම්රිය හඳම තරම් හොඳම වියදමක් වෙනවා	Dumriya hadama tharama hodama viyadamak venava	Dumriya had a very good income

Note the use of the word "තියෙන්නේ" (tiyenne) for the past tense, which means "had".

Future Tense

In the future tense, "have" is also used to indicate completion of an action which will happen in the future. For example, if you want to say "I will have a birthday party" in Sinhala, you would say "මට උපන්දිනයක් සලසන්නෙ තියෙනවා" (mat upanandinak salasanne tiyenne). Here, "උපන්දිනයක් සලසමින්" (upanandinak salasamin) means "to celebrate a birthday party", and "තියෙනවා" (tiyenne) means "will have".

Here are more examples in the table below:

Sinhala	Pronunciation	English
මම ඉගෙන ගත්ත යුද්ධයක් සරලව දැනුම්දීමක් වනුවෙන් තියෙනවා	Mama igena gaththu yuthdayak saralawa dannumdiyam venavun thani	I will have learned a foreign language very well
ඔව්, ඔහු කාර්යාලයේ ගෙදර ඇතිවුණා	Owa, owu karyalayay gedara ethiwanawa	Yes, he will have gotten a house in the office complex

Note the use of the word "තියෙනවා" (tiyenne) for the future tense, which means "will have".

Usage with Different Subjects

It's important to note that like in English, "have" in Sinhala changes depending on the subject of the sentence. Here are a few examples of how it changes:

Sinhala	Pronunciation	English
ඔව්, ඔහුගේ විශේශත්වය අප සිදුවේ	Owa, owughe visesathwaya apa siduwei	Yes, we have his consent
අපේ පහතින් පෙන්වීම් කළේ කොහොමද?	Ape pahthin penveem kalay kohomada?	Have we shown any interest so far?
මගේ බාගතයට ඇත රටවල් නිරීක්ෂණයක් උත්තරේ	Mage bagathayata etha ratawal nirikshana nak uththare	There has been an investigation into my luggage

1. 1. Dialogue

Here is a dialogue between two friends who are discussing their weekend plans:

• මිණිසුන්ව සම්පූර්ණ වීමක් තියෙනවා

(Munisunwa sampurna weemak tiyenawa)

• "Are you guys having a party this weekend?"

• ජවිත් අපිව නිකුත් කරනවා

(Javith apivaa nikuth karannawa)

• "Yes, we are planning to have a barbecue."

• බය තුල මට විදිහට නිකුතුවා.

(Baya thula mat widihata nikuthuwa)

• "I will have to decline as I have a meeting tomorrow."

• වැඩ මරුපියක් සහිත වෙළෙද්ද කියවීමේ තියෙනවා.

(Wada marupiyak sahitha welledda kiyawemata tiyenne)

• "I will have a lot to talk about regarding the new invention."

1. 1. Conclusion

That's it! You have reached the end of this lesson on how to use "have" in Sinhala grammar. Feel free to practice what you have learned by creating your own sentences and finding native speakers to practice with. To improve your Sinhala Grammar, you can also use the Polyglot Club website. Find native speakers and ask them any questions!

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➡ If you have any questions, please ask them in the comments section below.
➡ Feel free to edit this wiki page if you think it can be improved. 😎

Other Lessons

• Negation
• Future Tense
• Plurals
• Give your Opinion
• Conditional Mood
• Questions
• How to Use Be
• Adjectives
• Pronouns

Sources

• Sinhala language - Wikipedia
• Sinhala Grammar - How to Use "Have"
• Computational model of grammar for English to Sinhala Machine ...