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