Unit 1.1: Your first clear request
Put the verb first, ask for one thing, and the AI understands you the first time.
Here is something I see every week. A student types "This email Sinhala translate" into ChatGPT, and it works… sometimes. The next day the AI writes a reply to the email instead, or translates it into the wrong language. The English words were all correct. The order was the problem.
In this unit we fix that order. It takes 15 minutes, and it will make every prompt you write from today a little better.
සිංහලෙන් අපි කියන්නේ "මේ email එක සිංහලට translate කරන්න" කියලා. ක්‍රියාපදය (verb එක) එන්නේ අන්තිමට. English වලදී ඒක මුලටම එනවා: "Translate this email into Sinhala." AI එකක් ඉල්ලීමක් කියවනකොට මුලින්ම හොයන්නේ "මට කරන්න කියන්නේ මොකක්ද?" කියලා. ඒ නිසා verb එක මුලට දාන්න. ඊට පස්සේ මොකක්ද (what), අන්තිමට විස්තර (how / for whom).
Sinhala order and English order
Sinhala usually goes who → what → do. English requests go do → what → detail.
| 1 | 2 | 3 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sinhala | මේ email එක | සිංහලට | translate කරන්න |
| English | Translate | this email | into Sinhala |
| Sinhala | මගේ notes | පොයින්ට් පහකට | summarise කරන්න |
| English | Summarise | my notes | in five points |
When you write to an AI, there is often no "I" or "you" at the start. You start straight with the verb. That is not rude in English. It is the normal way to give an instruction.
Verb first
- Translate this email into Sinhala.study
- Summarise my A/L chemistry notes in five points.study
- Write a WhatsApp reply to this customer.work
- Fix the grammar in my CV.abroad
- Explain photosynthesis in simple English.study
- List ten interview questions for a job in Korea.abroad
One message, one task
When a message asks for three things at once, the AI often does one of them well and forgets the others. In Level 1, keep to one task per message. Send the next task after the first answer comes.
Before and after
Choose your track. The examples change; the skill is the same.
In your world
"I have a doubt" is Sri Lankan English for "I have a question". It is fine, but say which part you need help with.
Quick check
Tap an answer. Nothing is saved.
Which request is clearer for an AI?
this poem in simple English.
Which one will an AI understand exactly?
Put the words in order: for my cake shop / a short Facebook post / write
Your turn
Your turn
Saved on this device only.
Think of one thing you really want an AI to do for you this week: for your studies, your work or your plans to go abroad.
Write one request, in English, with the verb first. Then score it below.
Score it: 0, 1 or 2 for each.
Clarity
AI එකට කරන්න ඕන දේ පැහැදිලිද?
Completeness
අවශ්‍ය විස්තර ඔක්කොම තියෙනවද?
Structure
කොටස් හරි පිළිවෙළටද?
Internationally clear
ලංකාවෙන් පිට කෙනෙක්ටත් තේරෙනවද?
Total: 0 / 8
Side quest
Open ChatGPT, Gemini or Claude and send this, with a sentence of your own at the end:
You have just used AI as your English teacher. There are more ways to do that in Unit 0.4: Use AI to learn English.
ඊළඟ unit එක (1.2) a, an සහ the ගැන. සිංහලෙන් the වගේ වචනයක් නැති නිසා, AI එකට "කොයි එකද?" කියලා තේරෙන්නේ නෑ. ඒක ඊළඟට.
Next: Unit 1.2: a, an and the
Finished this one? Tick it off. It is saved on this device only.