# Sinhala/2.1

We have already seen the Alphabet. But now We are going to learn how to pronounce and how to write Sinhalese letters, with examples.

## අ

අ is the first letter of the Alphabet. it is basically pronounced as a in 'what'. It is only used at the beginning of a word as well as all the other vowels. Let's see some example words begin with this letter.
    අම්මා (ammā) - Mother
    අට (aṭa) - Eight
    අවි (avi) - Weapons
    අලුත් (alut) - New
    අශ්වයා (aśvayā) - Horse
    අක්කා (akkā) - Elder sister
    අකුරු (akuru) - Letters of the alphabet/Fonts
    අඛණ්ඩ (akhaṇḍa) - Unbroken/Continuous
    අඟ (an̆ga) - Horn
    අඟහරුවාදා (an̆gaharuvādā) - Tuesday

## ආ

ආ is the second letter of the alphabet. It's like a longer version of the first letter අ. ආ is pronounced as a in 'smart'. This letter is also can be seen only at the beginning of a word. Let's see some example words begin with this letter.
    ආදරය (ādaraya) - love
    ආච්චි (ācci) - Grandmother
    ආගම (āgama) - religion
    ආකරය (ākaraya) - mine
    ආධාරය (ādhāraya) - help/support
    ආයෙත් (āyet) - again
    ආරම්භය (ārambhaya) - beginning/commencement/start
    ආරාධනාව (ārādhanāva) - invitation
    ආරවුල (āravula) - dispute/quarrel
    ආවරණය (āvaraṇaya) - shield/shelter/covering

## ඇ

The third vowel in the alphabet. it sounds like a in cat. This letter is also can be seen only at the beginning of a word. Let's see some example words begin with this letter.
    ඇඟිල්ල (an̆gilla) - finger
    ඇස (asa) - eye
    ඇටය (aṭaya) - bone or seed or nut
    ඇට්ටර (aṭṭara) - obstinate
    ඇඳ (an̆da) - bed
    ඇඬුම (an̆ḍuma) - cry
    ඇඳුම (an̆duma) - cloth/dress
    ඇප (apa) - bail
    ඇපල් (apal) - apple
    ඇඹුල් (am̆bul) - sour

## ඈ

The forth vowel in the alphabet. It sounds like a in 'ash' or 'jam'. This letter is also can be seen only at the beginning of a word. Let's see some example words begin with this letter.
    ඈ - she
    ඈත (ǣtha) - far
    ඈනුම (ǣnuma) - yawn
    ඈන් (ǣn) - Ann

## ඉ

The fifth vowel in the alphabet having the fine, sharp sound of i in 'his' or 'pin'. This letter is also can be seen only at the beginning of a word. Let's see some example words begin with this letter.
    ඉක්මන් - quick
    ඉක්කාව - hiccough
    ඉක්බිති - then/thereafter
    ඉඟුරු - ginger
    ඉගෙනීම - learning
    ඉගිලෙනවා - fly
    ඉටි - wax
    ඉතිහාසය - history
    ඉතින් - so/well/henceforth
    ඉබ්බා - Tortoise

## ඊ

The sixth vowel in the alphabet. It is sounded like ee in 'feel'. This letter is also can be seen only at the beginning of a word. Let's see some example words begin with this letter.
    ඊතලය (ītalaya) - arrow
    ඊයම් (īyam) - lead
    ඊසාන (īsāna) - north east
    ඊයෙ (īye) - yesterday
    ඊළඟ (īḷan̆ga) - next

## උ

The seventh vowel in the alphabet. It sounds like u in 'put. This letter is also can be seen only at the beginning of a word. Let's see some example words begin with this letter.
    උක් - sugar cane
    උකුණා - Louse
    උකුල - hip/lap
    උගත් - educated
    උගන්වනවා - teach
    උගුල - trap/snare
    උච්ඡාරණය - pronunciation
    උඩ - above/over/on
    උඩඟු - arrogant
    උත්තරය - answer

## ඌ

The eighth vowel in the alphabet. It sounds like u in 'rule'. This letter is also can be seen only at the beginning of a word. Let's see some example words begin with this letter.
    ඌ - it
    ඌරා - pig
    ඌන - deficient
    ඌර්ධව - high/above/upper/uppermost