ග + ◌ෙ
ගෙ
+
ද
+
ර
Alphabets
The Sinhala alphabet හෝඩිය
Meet every letter of Sinhala, hear how it sounds, and learn how letters join to make words.
About Sinhala
Sinhala is written in the Sinhala script (සිංහල අක්ෂර) from left to right, with round letters that suited writing on palm leaves. Every consonant carries a built-in "a"; vowel signs called pilli change it, and the al-lakuna (්) removes it. Sinhala has special prenasalised letters such as ඟ ඬ ඳ ඹ, for "ng", "nd" and "mb" sounds.
- 18
- vowels
- 42
- consonants
- 4
- prenasalised letters
- L → R
- writing direction
Vowels ස්වර
A vowel can stand on its own at the start of a word. After a consonant it is written as a vowel sign (matra) instead – shown here on ක. Tap a letter to hear it.
Extra signs
Anusvara – a nasal "ng" sound.
Consonants ව්යඤ්ජන
The consonants are arranged by where in the mouth the sound is made. Tap a letter to hear it.
Velar ක වර්ගය
from the back of the throat
Palatal ච වර්ගය
tongue against the palate
Retroflex ට වර්ගය
tongue curled back
Dental ත වර්ගය
tongue at the teeth
Labial ප වර්ගය
with the lips
Others අවර්ග
semivowels, sibilants and h
The prenasalised letters ඟ ඬ ඳ ඹ are special to Sinhala: අඹ (amba, mango).
How letters join to make words
Sinhala words are built syllable by syllable. Three simple rules cover almost everything.
-
1
Every consonant has a built-in "a"
On its own, ක is read ka.
ක් +අ =ක -
2
A vowel sign changes it
Add a pilla: ka becomes kā.
ක +◌ා =කා -
3
Al-lakuna removes it
The sign ් leaves a pure consonant.
ක +◌් =ක්
Where does the vowel sign go?
After
කා කැ කෑ
Written after the consonant.
Before
කෙ කේ කෛ
Written before the consonant.
Both sides
කො කෝ කෞ
One part before and one after.
Above or below
කි කී කු කූ
Above or under the consonant.
Build real words
ව
+
ත + ◌ු
තු
+
ර
ප + ◌ො
පො
+
ත
ම
+
ල
Ready to type in Sinhala?
Use the on-screen keyboard to write these letters, or translate your first sentence.