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