Key Sinhala sounds and minimal pairs for accurate pronunciation. Front: the sound or example word (with romanization). Back: meaning plus a plain-English pronunciation note.
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- Retroflex ට (ta)
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A hard, curled-tongue t sound, made by touching the tongue tip to the roof of the mouth further back than English t- Dental ත (tha)
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A soft t sound made with the tongue against the back of the teeth, softer than the retroflex ට- Retroflex ඩ (da)
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A hard, curled-tongue d sound, made further back in the mouth than English d- Dental ද (dha)
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A soft d sound made with the tongue against the back of the teeth- Aspirated ඛ, ඝ, ඡ, ඨ, ථ
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A set of consonants pronounced with a strong puff of air, mostly found in words borrowed from Sanskrit and Pali- Prenasalized ඟ (nga)
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A g sound preceded by a light nasal hum, common in native Sinhala words- Prenasalized ඬ (nda)
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A d sound preceded by a light nasal hum, as in kanda (mountain)- Short a vs long aa
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Sinhala distinguishes short and long vowels; a short a, as in gama (village), versus a held-longer aa, as in gaama (a different word shape)- Vowel length in ඇ (ae)
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A distinct central vowel similar to the a in cat, different from both a and aa- Long ඈ (aae)
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The long counterpart of ඇ, held for a longer duration- Vowel ර (r)
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A lightly tapped r sound, similar to the r in Spanish pero- Vowel ළ (la, retroflex)
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A retroflex l sound made with the tongue curled back, distinct from the plain ල- Gemination (doubled consonants)
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Doubled consonants, as in ammа versus ama, are held longer and change word meaning- Kanda vs Kaanda
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Mountain versus a differently vowel-lengthened word; shows how vowel length alone changes meaning- Word stress
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Sinhala stress is generally light and even, without the strong single-syllable stress found in English
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