Sinhala Letters & Alphabet Guide

Complete reference for Sinhala vowels, consonants and numbers with English pronunciation

About Sinhala Script: Sinhala (also spelled Sinhalese) is written in the Sinhala script, an abugida descended from the ancient Brahmi script. It has 18 core vowels and over 40 consonants. The script is known for its beautiful rounded characters. Sinhala is the official language of Sri Lanka, spoken by over 17 million people.
Vowels Consonants Numbers Translate Now →

Sinhala Vowels — ස්වර (Svara)

SinhalaTransliterationPronunciationExample Word
අaas in "about"අම්මා (ammā - mother)
ආāas in "father"ආකාශය (ākāśaya - sky)
ඇæas in "cat"ඇස (æsa - eye)
ඈǣlong æ soundඈත (ǣta - far)
ඉias in "sit"ඉර (ira - sun)
ඊīas in "see"ඊශ්වර (Īśvara - God)
උuas in "put"උස (usa - height)
ඌūas in "food"ඌරු (ūru - pig)
එeas in "bed"එළිය (eliya - light)
ඒēas in "they"ඒ (ē - that)
ඐaias in "kite"ඐ (ai)
ඔoas in "hot"ඔය (oya - river)
ඕōas in "go"ඕනෑ (ōnæ - needed)
ඖauas in "cow"ඖෂධ (auṣadha - medicine)

Sinhala Consonants — ව්‍යාංජන (Vyāñjana)

SinhalaTransliterationPronunciationExample Word
කkak as in "kit"කළු (kaḷu - black)
ඛkhakh aspiratedඛේදය (khēdaya - grief)
ගgag as in "go"ගස (gasa - tree)
ඝghagh aspiratedඝෝෂා (ghōṣā - noise)
චcach as in "chair"චන්ද්‍රය (chandraya - moon)
ජjaj as in "jar"ජලය (jalaya - water)
ටṭaretroflex tටෝපිය (ṭōpiya - hat)
ඩḍaretroflex dඩොළරය (ḍolaraya - dollar)
ණṇaretroflex nණය (ṇaya - debt)
තtat (dental)තාරකා (tārakā - star)
දdad (dental)දිනය (dinaya - day)
ධdhadh aspiratedධනය (dhanaya - wealth)
නnan as in "not"නගරය (nagaraya - city)
පpap as in "pen"පොත (pota - book)
ෆfaf as in "fan"ෆෝන් (fōn - phone)
බbab as in "bat"බල්ලා (ballā - dog)
භbhabh aspiratedභාෂාව (bhāṣāva - language)
මmam as in "man"මල (mala - flower)
යyay as in "yes"යතුර (yatura - key)
රrar (rolled)රත්‍රං (rathraṃ - gold)
ලlal as in "lip"ලොකු (loku - big)
වvav as in "van"වතුර (vatura - water)
ශśash as in "ship"ශක්තිය (śaktiya - power)
සsas as in "sun"සිංහල (Siṃhala - Sinhala)
හhah as in "hat"හිරු (hiru - sun)
ළḷaretroflex lළමය (ḷamaya - child)
ෆfaf as in "fan"ෆෝන් (fōn - phone)

Sinhala Numbers — ගණන් (Gaṇan)

NumberSinhalaPronunciation
0බිංදුවbinduva
1එකeka
2දෙකdeka
3තුනtuna
4හතරhatara
5පහpaha
6හයhaya
7හතhata
8අටaṭa
9නවයnavaya
10දහයdahaya
100සියsiya
1000දාහයdāhaya
About Sinhala: Sinhala belongs to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European language family. It is one of two official languages of Sri Lanka (the other being Tamil). The Sinhala script has been used since the 3rd century BCE and is listed in the Unicode standard.

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