Reading Sinhala road signs

Sri Lankan road signs carry three lines: Sinhala, Tamil and English. Sinhala is the round, curly one on top. Each consonant carries a short ‘a’, and other vowels are signs added around it.

Learn the common letters and මාතර (Matara) or ගාල්ල (Galle) read themselves, even where the English line is missing or worn.

Sinhala at a glance

Sinhala is the script of the Sinhala language of Sri Lanka; Tamil, the island’s other language, has a script of its own.

It is read left to right; its round letters are consonants with an ‘a’ built in, and other vowels are signs around them.

Every consonant comes with an ‘a’

On its own, a consonant is read with a short ‘a’, said even at the end of a word: මහරගම is Ma-ha-ra-ga-ma. ව is w, and ත a soft t, written th or t.

The built-in ‘a’ is not written, so below it is shown in a lighter colour.

• කka
• ගga
• චcha
• ජja
• ටta
• ඩda
• තtha
• දda
• නna
• පpa
• බba
• මma
• යya
• රra
• ලla
• වwa
• සsa
• හha

Vowel signs

Every other vowel is a sign added to the consonant, replacing the built-in one. Even a long ‘a’ has its own sign: කා is kā (as in “father”), while ක alone is the short ka. The line over a vowel just marks it as long; English names drop it.

ැ is the vowel of “cat”, written ‘ae’ or ‘e’. ෙ is written before the letter but read after it.

• කාkā
• කැkae
• කෑkǣ
• කිki
• කීkī
• කුku
• කූkū
• කෙke
• කේkē
• කොko
• කෝkō

The stop and the circle

The mark ් takes away the built-in ‘a’: ල is la, ල් just l. The small circle ං is ng, or n before another consonant.

• ලla
• ල්l
• ම්m
• න්n
• සිංsing

Letters with a hum

Some letters start with a short m or n: ඹ is mb, ඳ and ඬ are nd, ඟ is ng.

• ඹmba
• ඳnda
• ඬnda
• ඟnga

Same sound, different letter

Some sounds have two letters; you can read them alike. ළ and ණ turn up in many names.

• ලla
• ළla
• නna
• ණna
• ශsha
• ෂsha
• ධdha
• භbha

Name parts worth knowing

Some pieces come back again and again. Spot them and half the name is read.

Some places have quite different names in English: මහනුවර, Mahanuwara, is Kandy, and මීගමුව, Migamuwa, is Negombo. When you type, the Sinhala reading counts too.

Try it

Which city is on the sign?

All the letters

Consonants

• කk
• ඛkh
• ගg
• ඝgh
• ඞng
• ඟng
• චch
• ඡchh
• ජj
• ඣjh
• ඤny
• ඥgn
• ඦnj
• ටt
• ඨth
• ඩd
• ඪdh
• ණn
• ඬnd
• තth
• ථth
• දd
• ධdh
• නn
• ඳnd
• පp
• ඵph
• බb
• භbh
• මm
• ඹmb
• යy
• රr
• ලl
• වw
• ශsh
• ෂsh
• සs
• හh
• ළl
• ෆf

Vowels

• අa
• ආa
• ඇae
• ඈae
• ඉi
• ඊi
• උu
• ඌu
• ඍru
• එe
• ඒe
• ඓai
• ඔo
• ඕo
• ඖau

Vowel signs, shown on ක

• කka
• කාka
• කැkae
• කෑkae
• කිki
• කීki
• කුku
• කූku
• කෘkru
• කෙke
• කේke
• කෛkai
• කොko
• කෝko
• කෞkau

Other signs

• ක්k
• කංkang
• කඃkah

Clusters in these place names

• ශ්‍රsra
• ත්‍රthra

A consonant with no vowel sign carries an unwritten a; the hal sign ( ් ) on top removes it. ae is the vowel of “cat”.

The 200 places in the quiz

The quiz has 200 towns of Sri Lanka: every district capital, the larger towns and well-known smaller places.