Determiners
The small words before a noun. A, the, this, some, every, both. Which one you need, and when.
සිංහලෙන් කියවන්න:Determiners - නිර්ණායක
They're tiny words, but they're some of the hardest for Sri Lankan learners, because Sinhala doesn't use most of them. We don't have a word for the! So be patient with yourself. 😊
noun එකකට කලින් ඇවිත් ඒක කොයි එකද, කීයක්ද කියලා කියන පොඩි වචන determiners. a, the, this, some, every, both වගේ. සිංහලෙන් the වගේ වචනයක් නැති නිසා මේවා අපිට ටිකක් අමාරුයි.
Kinds of determiners
| Kind | Words | Example |
|---|---|---|
| The definite article | the | the moon |
| Indefinite articles | a, an | a banana, an egg |
| Demonstratives | this, that, these, those | this phone |
| Quantifiers | some, any, many, much, a few, a lot of… | a few friends |
| Differentiators | other, another | another cup |
| All | all | all the students |
| Both, either, neither | both, either, neither | both hands |
| Each, every | each, every | every day |
| Half | half | half the cake |
| Possessives | my, your, his, her, our, their | my bag |
One rule for all of them
A singular countable noun (phone, bus, egg) can't stand alone. It always needs a determiner in front.