How to pronounce "I love you" in Sinhala (Sri Lankan)?

January 2, 2014 7:19 AM

I know it's spelled "mama oyāṭa ādareyi" and I can sort of read it phonetically, but I really want to know exactly. Can anyone direct me to an audio or video, or at least explain the inflections to me? =)
posted by Ellabelle797 to Writing & Language (4 answers total)

Perhaps a Sinhalese speaker with speak up, but I checked Forvo and there was no entry for this phrase, to my surprise. There is only an entry for මම ("mama"). I would recommend submitting the phrase of මම ඔයාට ආදරෙයි (this is the phrase in Sinhalese script), or its other component words, to Forvo if you do not receive an answer here.
posted by Tanizaki at 8:07 AM on January 2, 2014

Sinhala is phonetic, so if you can read it - you can't go too far wrong pronouncing it.

මම - the two syllables are "ma" and "mer" (sounds like mummer)
ඔයාට - three syllables, "oh", "yaa", "ta". The emphasis/inflection is on "yaa"
ආදරෙයි - "aa", "dha","ray-ee". As a simplification, you could pronounce the last syllable almost exactly as "ray". The emphasis is on "aa".

I'll look around for something on Youtube that might help - it's a fairly common phrase in Sinhala cinema.

possibly of use - in some informal social contexts,you could use මං (pronounced mun-NG) instead of මම
posted by geminus at 10:37 AM on January 2, 2014

I would say this using the colloquialism that geminus mentioned (mung as opposed to mama). I think mung is also easier for an English speaker to say correctly.

Keep in mind that the 'd' sound in ādareyi is pronounced like the 'th' sound in the English word 'the'.

Speaking Sinhala is difficult for Anglophones. Don't worry too much about getting every syllable right, many are almost impossible for English speakers without extensive practice. The object of your affections will be charmed senseless by any attempt to say this.
posted by sid at 2:04 PM on January 2, 2014

Response by poster: Thank you so much, for the effort, pronunciation and the reassurances =)
posted by Ellabelle797 at 7:04 PM on January 2, 2014