Music & Entertainment

1. ඔබ සංගීතය ප්‍රිය කරනවාද?

   O-ba saṅ-gī-tha-ya pri-ya ka-ra-na-vā-da?

   Do you like music?

   Usage

   Used to ask about someone's music preferences

   Grammar Note

   "Sangīthaya" is Sanskrit-derived meaning "the art of sound". "Priya karanavā" is a compound verb meaning "to like/enjoy".

2. ඔය ගීතය ගායනා කරන්නේ කවුද?

   O-ya gī-tha-ya gā-ya-nā ka-ran-nē ka-vu-da?

   Who is singing that song?

   Usage

   Used to ask who is performing a particular song

   Grammar Note

   "Gīthaya" (song) and "gāyanā" (singing) are both Sanskrit-derived. "Kavu" is the interrogative pronoun for "who".

3. ශ්‍රී ලාංකික සංගීතය ඉගෙන ගන්න ආසයි

   Shrī lāṅ-ki-ka saṅ-gī-tha-ya i-ge-na gan-na ā-sa-yi

   I want to learn Sri Lankan music

   Usage

   Used to express interest in learning traditional Sri Lankan music

   Grammar Note

   "Āsayi" is the colloquial verb form meaning "I want / I like"; the literary equivalent is "āśāvemi". Sri Lanka has rich classical music traditions.

4. බෙරය ගහන හැටි කියා දෙන්නද?

   Be-ra-ya ga-ha-na hæ-ti ki-yā den-na-da?

   Could you teach me how to play the drum?

   Usage

   Used to ask someone to teach you how to play a traditional drum

   Grammar Note

   "Gahanavā" means "to beat/strike". "Kiyā denavā" is a compound meaning "to tell/teach". Sri Lanka has rich percussion traditions including the getabera drum.

5. ඔබ කිනම් සංගීත භාණ්ඩයක් වාදනය කරනවාද?

   O-ba ki-nam saṅ-gī-tha bhāṇ-ḍa-yak vā-da-na-ya ka-ra-na-vā-da?

   What musical instrument do you play?

   Usage

   Used to ask what instrument someone plays

   Grammar Note

   "Bhāṇḍa" is Sanskrit-derived meaning "vessel/instrument". "Vādanaya" also from Sanskrit means "playing/performance".

6. ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ සාම්ප්‍රදායික නර්තනය ගැන කතා කරමු

   Shrī lan-kā-vē sām-pra-dā-yi-ka nar-tha-na-ya gæ-na ka-thā ka-ra-mu

   Let's talk about traditional Sri Lankan dance

   Usage

   Used to initiate a conversation about Sri Lankan traditional arts

   Grammar Note

   Kandyan dance is Sri Lanka's most iconic traditional dance form. "Narthanaya" is Sanskrit-derived meaning "dance".

7. ඔය ගීතයේ පද මොනවාද?

   O-ya gī-tha-yē pa-da mo-na-vā-da?

   What are the lyrics of that song?

   Usage

   Used to ask about the lyrics of a song

   Grammar Note

   "ගීත පද" means "the words of a song", i.e. lyrics; "පද" = words/phrases. It pairs with the plural question word "මොනවාද" to ask what the words are. The English word "lyrics" is also used in casual speech.

8. ඔබේ ප්‍රියතම ගායකයා කවුද?

   O-bē pri-ya-tha-ma gā-ya-ka-yā ka-vu-da?

   Who is your favorite singer?

   Usage

   Used to ask about someone's favorite singer

   Grammar Note

   "Priyathama" is a Sanskrit superlative meaning "most dear". Female singer: "gāyikāva". Some Sinhala nouns change form by gender.

9. මේ ගීතය සිංහල ඉගෙන ගන්නට හොඳයි

   Mē gī-tha-ya siṁ-ha-la i-ge-na gan-na-ta hon-da-yi

   This song is great for learning Sinhala

   Usage

   Used when discussing using music as a language learning tool

   Grammar Note

   "Igena gannanṭa" means "for the purpose of learning". The suffix "-ṭa" marks the infinitive of purpose in Sinhala.

10. සංගීත ප්‍රසංගයකට ටිකට් ගන්නේ කොහෙන්ද?

    Saṅ-gī-tha pra-saṅ-ga-ya-ka-ta ti-kat gan-nē ko-hen-da?

    Where can I buy tickets for a concert?

    Usage

    Used to ask where to purchase concert tickets

    Grammar Note

    "Kohenda" = "kohen" (from where) + "da". "Gannaā" means "to take/get/buy". Colombo has many live music venues.

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