Future Tense in Sinhala
Tense 3 of 3 — Future
Grammar Explanation
The future tense in Sinhala is used to talk about actions that will happen. Sinhala maintains the same SOV order. Future tense verbs use the ending -නවා (-nawa) combined with a future auxiliary, OR they use a specific future form ending in -න්නම් (-nnam) for 'I will' intentions, and -නවා with time words for general future. The most common way is to use present-tense verb form with a future time word like 'හෙට' (heta = tomorrow) or 'ඊළඟට' (eelagata = next time).
📐 Sentence Structure
Subject + (Time Word) + (Object) + Verb-නවා OR Verb-න්නම් (for 'I will')
🔤 Verb Endings
Future markers: -න්නම් (nnam) = strong intention (I will…), e.g. කන්නම් (kannam = I will eat). Add time words: හෙට (heta=tomorrow), ඊළඟ (eelaga=next), ඉදිරියේ (idirige=in the future).
Mama heta oyaawa hamuwenawa.
→ I will meet you tomorrow.
Ohu eelaga awuraddee Sri Lankaawata yanawa.
→ He will go to Sri Lanka next year.
Aeya kaviyak liyāvi ( liyai
→ She will write a poem.
Mama ee prashnya vusadanawa.
→ I will solve that problem.
Api eelaga sathiyee gedarata yanawa(yāvi)
→ We will go home next week.
Lamaayaa heta iskōle yanawa.
→ The child will go to school tomorrow.
Owun saadayakata enawa(évi)
→ They will come to the party.
Mamaa vyanjanayak uyanawa.
→ Mom will cook a curry.
Shishyayo prashna ahanava.
→ Students will ask questions.
Mama idirige sinhala hodaata kathaa karannnam.
→ I will speak Sinhala well in the future.
Quick Tips
- ✓The simplest future = present tense verb + a future time word like හෙට (tomorrow) or ඊළඟ (next).
- ✓For strong personal intention (I will definitely…), use -න්නම් ending: කන්නම් = I will eat.
- ✓Sinhala does NOT have a separate future tense word like 'will' — context and time words do that job.
- ✓Listen for 'හෙට', 'ඊළඟ', 'ඉදිරියේ' — these signal future meaning in most sentences.