Sinhala (Sri Lanka) style guide¶

Conventions¶

A plus sign (+) before an example marks the recommended correct translation. A minus sign (-) marks an incorrect example.
A term is translated as one unit. It may be a traditional term, a phrase, a sentence, or a paragraph.
References to interface elements refer only to the translatable texts of those elements.
Examples illustrate the point. They are not a source of approved terminology. Always check approved terminology.

Sample text¶

එ඼ව.එම්. ධශලිඪ සි඼ෑඹර්තථ,
72, බ඲ෞද්තශබමෝ඗ පශඹඪ,
බ඗ො඾ඵ 07
නිභ඗ණථබ: 0094 112 324554
ඉදි඼ෑ ඗ශමබේධි බපභඤ බඪොභදි඾ෑ ඼න්නිබේඬථ ඪශක්රඨ ක්බරේත්භබේ වියශම ධ඼ෑඹර්ඪථබක්
ඉ - යවලෑ මං඗ශ ඹෂඦ඼ඤලථ ක්඼ෑබශත්ප඗ ශිපත් ඼ප඙ප ඟථඪශඹඤ භශජ්බ බ඼ේඹශඹන් ඉඪශ ධලළිබඹන් සිනි ඗භ ඙ෂ඲ිපඤ ප඙ ධසධි තිබ඲ථ ඲ඹ විනිලි ඼ංබද්ය ලශ බඪොභදි඾ෑ ඪශක්රඨ ඇපෂතිඹභබශ ධඹ඼යි.
ඉදි඼ෑ ඗ශමබේධි බපභඤ බඪොභදි඾ෑ ඼න්නිබේඬථ ඪශක්රඨ ක්බරේත්භබේ වියශම ධ඼ෑඹර්ඪථබක් සිනි ඹඳි ඇඪෂයිඬ ඇපෂතිදිපශ ඹෂඩිනිභඤත් ධඹ඼යි.
උධත් විඹශල ලශ පභඨ ඼ලති඗ පිඤධත් ධ඼ෑ඙ඨ඗ශයව඼ෑඪඹ නිගිත් කිලෑබම් BMD ේබශධෘතිබ ඗ස඙ල්ම දි඼වත්඼ෑක්඗බේ ආභම්ඳ කිලෑප නිමිත්බඪන් ඗ස඙ල්ම දි඼ශ බල්඗ම් ඗ශර්බශමබේ ධෂඹෂති උත්඼ඹබ අපඪමින් ඇපෂතිදිපශ බපප අඬල඼ව ධ඾ ඗බ඾ේබ.
භශජ්බ අංයබ ප්භතිනිර්පශඨබ කිලෑබම් ඹෂඦ඼ඤලථ බඤබත් බම් ඹථ විඤ භශජ්බ බ඼ේඹශඹන් බ඲ොබලොපබක් බඪොභදි඾ෑ ලශ ඼න්නිබේඬථ ඪශක්රඨබබන් ඼වි඲ම ඙ෂන්ශිපඤ ලෂකිශි තිබ඲ථ ඲ඹඬ බපප උධත් විඹශල ලශ පභඨ ඼ලති඗ පිඤධත් නිගිත් කිලෑප එහි ඉඪශ ඹෂඬ඙ත් අදිබභක් ඲ඹඬ ඇපෂතිදිපශ බපහිධි ධෂඹෂහිබ.
යවලෑ මං඗ශ බඪොභදි඾ෑ ලශ ඼න්නිබේඬථ ඪශක්රඨ නිබබෝජිඪශබඪථබේ ප්භතශථ විතශබ඗ නිමතශලෑ උත්඼ඹබ අපඪමින් බපබ඼ේ ඛිබ.
ඟථශධිධතිදිපශබේ අබප්ක්රශඹක් ඹන්බන් බපභඤ ඼සප බිභඹෂසිබබක්ඤප බඪොභදි඾ෑ ලශ ඼න්නිබේඬථ ඪශක්රඨබේ ප්භතිමශඳ උධ඼ෑප ආ඗ශභබබන් ම඲ශ ධි ඔෂින් ඼වි඲ම ඙ෂන්ශිපයි .ඒ ඼ඬලශ බම් ඹථ විඤ වියශම ඹෂඦ බ඗ොඤ඼ක් සිනි කිලෑපඤ අධඤ ලෂකිශි තිබ඲ථඹශ. ථෂඨ඼ම පධ්බ඼වණශථ පිහිඩිශිප 1919 බලඹත් භශජ්බ බඪොභදි඾ෑ බක්න්ද්භබ ඼වණශපිඪ කිලෑප භශජ්බ ආබඪථ එකිබථ඗ඤ ඼ම්඲න්ත කිලෑප ඼ඬලශ ක්඼ෑබශත්ප඗ මං඗ශ භශජ්බ ඟශම ඹෂඦ඼ඤලථ ඊඤ උඬශලභඨ කිහිධබක් ධපඨයි.බපප උධත් විඹශල ලශ පභඨ ඼ලති඗ පිඤධත් නිගිත් කිලෑබම් ේබශධෘතිබ බම් ඹථ විඤ බ඗ො඾ඵ දි඼වත්඼ෑක්඗බේ ඉඪශ ඼ශර්ණ඗ බම඼ අඹ඼න් ඗භ තිබ඲ථඹශ .අධ ඼සප බඬථශබේප ඣිවිඪබේ ඹටිථශප බල්඘ථබක් බ඼ේ ඼ම඗ථ උප්ධෂන්ථ ඼ලති඗බ බඪොභදි඾ෑ ඪශක්රඨබේ අතශභබබන් ම඲ශ ධිප අධබේ අභයිඨයි.අධබේ ඊ඾ග පිබඹභ ඹන්බන් ධදිංචි ආ඼න්ථප ප්භශබද්ෂිබ බල්඗ම් ඗ශර්බශමබබන් බපබ ම඲ශ ඙ෂ඲ිපඤ ධලළි඗ම් ඼ෂමහිපයි.විනිලි ඼ංබද්ය ලශ බඪොභදි඾ෑ ඪශක්රඨ අපශත්බශංයබේ බල්඗ම් යවලෑ මං඗ශ බඪොභදි඾ෑ ලශ ඼න්නිබේඬථ ඪශක්රඨ නිබබෝජිඪශබඪථබේ ඼ඳශධති නිබබෝජිඪශබඪථබේ ජ්බේරවඥ ඹෂඦ඼ඤලන් ප්භතශ඲ි බථ පලත්ඹ඾ෑ ඬ බපප අඹ඼වණශඹඤ ඼ලඳශගි විබ.
ඉ-඲ිති ේබශධෘතිබ බඤබත් ේබඹ඼වණශපිඪ ඲ිති කිහිධබක් පසඪ඗ශ඾ිථඹ ධශර්ලිබම්න්දිඹ පගින් ඼ම්පඪ ඗භථ මධි. ඉබමක්ට්බභොනි඗ ඙ඳිබඬඳි ධථඪ 2006 පශර්දි ප඼ ඼ම්පඪ සි අඪභ 2007 ඔක්බඪෝම්඲ර් ප඼ සිඤ ක්඼ෑබශත්ප඗ බඹයි .බපප ධථඪ “යවලෑ මං඗ශඹ දිම ඉබමක්ට්බභොනි඗ ඼වඹ඿ෑධබබන් සි ගිවිළිම් ඼඗඼ව ඗භ ඙ෂ඲ිප ඼දලශ ඬ, ඬත්ඪ ධණිෂිඦ නිර්පශඨබ ඼ල හුඹපශ඾ෑඹ ලශ බඹථත් ඼න්නිබේඬථ පිළි඙ෂ඲ිප ලශ ඊඤ ධලළි඗ම් ඼ෂමහිප ඼දලශ ඬ; ඒ ලශ ඼ම්඲න්ත බලෝ ඊඤ ආඳිරංගි඗ ඗ශභඨශ ඼දලශ විධිවිතශථ ඼ෂමහිප” පිණි඼ ඬ සි ධථඪකි.
ධ඼ෑ඙ඨ඗ අධභශත ධථඪ 2007 පෂයි ප඼ ඼ම්පඪ සි අඪභ 2008 ඤිලි ප඼ සිඤ ක්඼ෑබශත්ප඗ බඹයි .බපප ධථඪ ධ඼ෑ඙ඨ඗ අධභශත ලඳුථශ඙ෂ඲ිප, එඹෂනි අධභශත විපර්යථබ කිලෑප ඼ල ඹෂ඾ෂක්ශිප ඼දලශ නථති඗ ක්඼ෑබශපශර්඙බන් ඼ෂමහිප ඼ල ඒ ලශ ඼ම්඲න්ත බලෝ ඊඤ ආඳිරංගි඗ ඗ශභඨශ ඼ම්඲න්තබබන් විධිවිතශථ ඼ෂමෂ඼වශිප ඼දලශඬ සි ධථඪකි.
ඪඹඬ 2003 අං඗ 36 ඬභඨ බුද්ධිපබ බද්ධම ධථඪ බඪොභදි඾ෑ ඪශක්රඨ නිරවධශඬථ ලශ බ඼ේඹශඹන්ඤ, බුද්ධිපබ බද්ධම බඤබත් නථති඗ පිළි඙ෂ඲ිප ම඲ශබඬයි .එහි 6 ඹථ ඹ඙න්තිබඤ අඳිඹ ධ඼ෑ඙ඨ඗ පෘනි඗ශං඙බ඗ඤ( ධ඼ෑ඙ඨ඗ ඹෂඦ඼ඤලථක් බම඼ ඬක්ඹශ ඇති )අඬශ඾ ප්භ඗ශයථ අයිතිබ, යශ඼වත්ලෑබ, ඗මශත්ප඗ ලශ විද්බශත්ප඗ ප්භබේඬබ බඤබත් ම඲ශ ධි ඇඪ .බධභ බපන් බථොඹ ඼ශතශභඨ ඳශවිඪබඤ අඬශ඾ විරබ ධණබ 12 (7) ඹ඙න්තිබ ඼ප඙ කිබබඹථ 12(1) බඤබත් විේභල ඗භ තිබේ. බුද්ධිපබ බද්ධම ධථබඪහි ඼ං඙ෘහිඪ ධ඼ෑධණ පිළි඲දඹඬ ධ඼ෑච්බේඬබක් අඦංඞි බඹයි Source: Website of Information and Communication Technology Agency of Sri Lanka 2011.02.03 දිථ ධ.ඹ. 7.30ඤ ඼඗඼ව ඗භථ මදි

Characters¶

Country/region: Sri Lanka
Lower-case characters: n/a. Upper-case characters: n/a. Extended Latin characters: n/a. Total number of characters: n/a.
Characters in case less scripts: අ, ආ, ඇ, ඈ, ඉ, ඊ, උ, ඌ, ඍ, ඎ, ඏ, ඐ , එ, ඒ, ඓ, ඔ, ඕ, ඖ, ංං, ං , ඗, ඘, ඙, ක, ඛ, ග, ඝ, ඞ, ඟ, ච, ඡ, ජ, ඣ, ඤ, ඥ, ඦ, ට, ඨ, ඩ, ඪ, ණ, ඬ, ත, ථ, ද, ධ, න, ඲, ඳ, ප, ඵ, බ, භ, ම, ඹ, ය, ර, ඼, ල, ඾, ඿
Alphabetical order is not necessarily the sorting order.
Unicode codes: අ = U +0D85, ආ = U + 0D86, ඇ = U + 0D87, ඈ = U + 0D88, ඉ = U +0D89, ඊ = U +0D8A, උ = U + 0D8B, ඌ = U + 0D8C, ඍ = U + 0D8D, ඎ = U + 0D8E, ඏ = U + 0D8F, ඐ = U + 0D90, එ = U + 0D91, ඒ = U + 0D92, ඓ = U + 0D93, ඔ = U + 0D94, ඕ = U + 0D95, ඖ = U + 0D96, ංං = Not Found, ං = Not Found, ඗ = U + 0D9A, ඘ = U + 0D9B, ඙ = U + 0D9C, ක = U + 0D9D, ඛ = U + 0D9E, ග = U + 09F, ඝ = U + 0DA0, ඞ = U + 0DA1, ඟ = U + 0DA2, ච = U + 0DA3, ඡ = U + 0DA4, ජ = U + 0DA5, ඣ = U + 0DA6, ඤ = U + 0DA7, ඥ = U + 0DA8, ඦ = U + 0DA9, ට = U + 0DAA, ඨ = U + 0DAB, ඩ = U + 0DAC, ඪ = U + 0DAD, ණ = U + 0DAE, ඬ = U + 0DAF, ත = U + 0DB0, ථ = U + 0DB1, ද = U + 0DB3, ධ = U + 0DB4, න = U + 0DB5, ඲ = U + 0DB6, ඳ = U + 0DB7, ප = U + 0DB8, ඵ = U + 0DB9, බ = U + 0DBA, භ = U + 0DBB, ම = U + 0DBD, ඹ = U + 0DC0, ය = U + 0DC1, ර = U + 0DC2, ඼ = U + 0DC3, ල = U + 0DC4, ඾ = U + 0DC5, ඿ = U + 0DC6
Vowel modifiers, kundaliya, and zero-width joiner (zwj) are also used in Sinhala text.

Date¶

Calendar/Era: Western
First day of the week: ඼ඳුඬශ
First week of the year: in accordance with ISO 8601:2004
Separator: slash /
Default short date format: Yyyy/MM/dd, example 2011/03/17
Default long date format: yyyy MMMM dd, example 2011 පශර්දි 17
Additional short date format 1: yyyy/MM/dd, example 2011/03/17
Additional short date format 2: yyyy/MM/dd, example 2011/03/17
Additional long date format 1: yyyy MMMM ප඼ dd ඹෂනිඬශ dddd, example 2011 පශර්දි ප඼ 17 ඹෂනිඬශ අගල඾ෑඹශඬශ
Additional long date format 2: ඹර්ර yyyy ක්සි MMMM ප඼ dd ඹෂනිඬශ dddd, example ඹර්ර 2011 ක්සි පශර්දි ප඼ 17 ඹෂනිඬශ අගල඾ෑඹශඬශ
Leading zero in day field for short date format: Yes
Leading zero in month field for short date format: Yes
Digits for year in short day format: 4
Leading zero in day field for long date format: Yes
Leading zero in month field for long date format: n/a
Digits for year in long day format: 4
Date format for correspondence: yyyy MMMM dd, example 2011 පශර්දි 17
Format codes: d is day. Number of ds sets the format (d = digits without leading zero, dd = digits with leading zero, ddd = abbreviated day name, dddd = full day name). M is month (M = digits without leading zero, MM = digits with leading zero, MMM = abbreviated name, MMMM = full name). y is year (yy = two digits, yyyy = four digits).

Time¶

24 hour format: No
Standard time format: H.mm:ss, example 9.30:45
Time separator: dot ., example 3.24:12
Hours leading zero: No
String for AM designator: බධ.ඹ.
String for PM designator: ධ.ඹ.

Days¶

Monday: ඼ඳුඬශ, abbreviation ඼
Tuesday: අගල඾ෑඹශඬශ, abbreviation අ
Wednesday: ඲ඬශඬශ, abbreviation ඲
Thursday: ේභල඼වධතින්ඬශ, abbreviation ේභ
Friday: සිගිභශඬශ, abbreviation සි
Saturday: බ඼ථළිභශඬශ, abbreviation බ඼
Sunday: ඉ඼ෑඬශ, abbreviation ඉ
First day of week: ඼ඳුඬශ
First letter capitalized: No

Months¶

January: full ඟථඹශ඼ෑ, abbreviated ඟථ, long date 26 ඟථඹශ඼ෑ 2011
February: full බධ඲භඹශ඼ෑ, abbreviated බධ඲, long date 11 බධ඲භඹශ඼ෑ 2011
March: full පශර්දි, abbreviated පශර්දි, long date 9 පශර්දි 2011
April: full අප්බර්ල්, abbreviated අප්බර්ල්, long date 1 අප්බර්ල්2011
May: full පෂයි, abbreviated පෂයි, long date 1 පෂයි2011
June: full ඥිනි, abbreviated ඥිනි, long date 15 ඤිනි 2011
July: full ඥිලි, abbreviated ඥිලි, long date 18 ඥිලි 2011
August: full අබ඙ෝ඼වදි, abbreviated අබ඙ෝ, long date 31 අබ඙ෝ඼වදි 2011
September: full ඼ෂප්ඪෂම්඲ර්, abbreviated ඼ෂප්, long date 16 ඼ෂප්ඪෂම්඲ර් 2011
October: full ඔක්බඪෝ඲ර්, abbreviated ඔක්, long date 27 ඔක්බඪෝම්඲ර් 2011
November: full බථොඹෂම්඲ර්, abbreviated බථොඹෂ, long date 23 බථොඹෂම්඲ර් 2011
December: full බඬ඼ෂම්඲ර්, abbreviated බඬ඼ෂ, long date 25 බඬ඼ෂම්඲ර්2011

Numbers¶

Sinhala usually uses Latin script numerals 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9.
Phone numbers: international dialing code +94, area codes used Yes, area code digits 2, separator space, domestic digits 9, domestic grouping (0##) ### ####
Local digits 7, local grouping ### ####; mobile digits 9, mobile grouping 0## ### ####; international digits 11, international grouping +94 ## ### ####

Addresses¶

Do not use real address information in examples as fictitious information.
Address format: [Honorific] FirstName LastName [Title], [CompanyName], Address1, [Address2], City [PostalCode], [Country]
Example address: ආඝශර්බ S.H. ඙පබේ හි.඼. උධ඼ෑප ප්බභොඦක්ට්඼ව 627 ඼යිද්භ පශඹඪ බ඗ො඾ඵ 10006 යවලෑ මං඗ශඹ.
Local postal code format: xxxxx. The digit code of numbers for local postal code format is 0094.

Currency¶

Currency name: Rupees
Currency symbol: ඾ෑපිබල්.
Currency symbol position: before the digit (඾ෑපිබල් 5,000()
Positive currency format: Rs. 5,000.00
Negative sign symbol: n/a
Negative currency format: - ඾ෑ. 5,000.00
Decimal symbol: .; digits after decimal: 2
Digit grouping symbol: ,; digits in digit grouping: 3-2
Positive currency example: ඾ෑ. 5,000.00; negative currency example: -඾ෑ.5,000.00
ISO currency code: LKR
Currency subunit name: Cents; symbol cts; example යඪ 99

Digit groups¶

Decimal separator: ., dot. Examples: 5.55, Rs. 256.50
Thousand separator: ,, comma. Example: 2,000

Measurement units¶

Metric system commonly used: Yes. Temperature: Celsius
Sinhala units are shown in the plural form.
Linear measure: Kilometer කිබමෝඹිඤභ, කිඹි
Meter ඹිඤභ, ඹි
Decimeter බඦසිඹිඤභ, බඦසිඹි
Centimeter බ඼න්ටිඹිඤභ, බ඼ඹි
Millimeter මිලිඹිඤභ, මිඹි
Capacity: Hectoliter බලක්බඤො඾ිඤභ, බලක්඾ි
Liter ඾ිඤභ, ඾ි
Deciliter බඦසි඾ිඤභ, බඦසි඾ි
Centiliter බ඼න්ටි඾ිඤභ, බ඼඾ි
Milliliter මිලි඾ිඤභ, මි඾ි
Mass: Ton බඤොන්, බඤො
Kilogram කිබමෝේරෑම්, කිේරෑ
Pound භශත්ඪල්, භශ
Gram ේරෑම්, ේරෑ
Decigram බඦසිේරෑම්, බඦසිේරෑ
Centigram බ඼න්ටිේරෑමි, බ඼ේරෑ
Milligram මිලිේරෑම්, මිේභෘ
English units: Inch අගල්, අග
Feet අඩි, අඩි
Mile ඼ෂඪබිම්, ඼ෂ
Gallon ඙ෂ඿ිම්, ඙ෂ

Percentages¶

Use % to express how large or small one quantity is relative to another.

Sorting¶

Sorting starts with vowels: අ, ආ, ඇ, ඈ, ඉ, ඊ, උ, ඌ, ඍ, ඎ, ඏ, ඐ , එ, ඒ, ඓ, ඔ, ඕ, ඖ, ංං, ං ,. Words starting with vowels are then combined with the consonants in alphabetical order.
Consonants are combined with the first primary vowels and arranged in alphabetical order.
Then consonants are combined with the secondary symbols of the vowels.
Then consonants are combined with consonants in alphabetical order, that is cluster formation.
Then consonants are combined with the secondary symbols of the consonants.
Consonants: ඗, ඘, ඙, ක, ඛ, ග, ඝ, ඞ, ඟ, ච, ඡ, ජ, ඣ, ඤ, ඥ, ඦ, ට, ඨ, ඩ, ඪ, ණ, ඬ, ත, ථ, ද, ධ, න, ඲, ඳ, ප, ඵ, බ, භ, ම, ඹ, ය, ර, ඼, ල, ඾, ඿
Char/dec: අ 3461, ආ 3462, ඇ 3463, ඈ 3464, ඉ 3465, ඊ 3466, උ 3467, ඌ 3468, ඍ 3469, ඎ 3470, ඏ 3471, ඐ 3472, එ 3473, ඒ 3474, ඓ 3475, ඔ 3476, ඕ 3477, ඖ 3478, ංං 3458, ං 3459, ඗ 3482, ඘ 3483, ඙ 3484, ක 3485, ඛ 3486, ග 3487, ඝ 3488, ඞ 3489, ඟ 3490, ච 3491, ඡ 3492, ජ 3493, ඣ 3494, ඤ 3495, ඥ 3496, ඦ 3497, ට 3498, ඨ 3499, ඩ 3500, ඪ 3501, ණ 3502, ඬ 3503, ත 3504, ථ 3505, ද 3507, ධ 3508, න 3509, ඲ 3510, ඳ 3511, ප 3512, ඵ 3513, බ 3514, භ 3515, ම 3517, ඹ 3520, ය 3521, ර 3522, ඼ 3523, ල 3524, ඾ 3525, ඿ 3526
Examples of sorted words: අම්පශ, අල඼, ආඹශ඼බ, ඉඦප, ඉඬම, ඊඪමබ, ඗ඦබ, බේඤබ, ඙඼, කශථශඹ, ඝන්ද්භබශ, ඞන්ඬබ, ඟබේභලඨබ, ජශථබ, ඤ඗බ, ඦක්ගිඹ, ඨබ, ඪභලඹ, ඬලඹම, ථභ඗, ධශධන්නි, ඲මඹත්, ඳබ, පං඼න්ධිබ, බ඗ඦ, භත්භන්, ම඼ව඼ථ, ඹප, යේඬබ, ඼ලථබ, ඾බ, ඿සන්

Geopolitical concerns¶

Resolve geopolitical issues for the target market. The localized product must fit the situation in the target country or region.
Sensitive or offensive material may occur in maps, flags, country/region, city and language names, art and graphics, and cultural content such as encyclopedia content and text with historical or political references.
Keep the most current information available. Check maps and other graphic representations of countries and regions for accuracy and existing political restrictions. Country/region, city, and language names change regularly. Check them even if previously approved.
Understand the culture of the target market to check cultural content, clip art, and visual representations of religious symbols, body and hand gestures.
Country and city names change. Use the most up-to-date Sinhala list for every release.

Adjectives¶

Adjectives (ථශප විබයේරඨ) are placed just before the noun, as in English.
(+) යවලෑ මං඗ශඹ බඳි ළින්ඬභ භඤකි. (Sri Lanka is a beautiful country)
(+) එභබට් ඲හුඪභබ ඼භම ඙ෂමි මිනිළින්බ. (The majority is simple and rural people)
Possessive adjectives work the same way as in English. They come before any adjectives.
(+) පබේ භදි ධසථ (My red pen)
(+) ඔබේ ඗ශ඾ෑණි඗ ඹඝථ (your kind words)

Articles¶

English articles a, an, the are not used in Sinhala. a chair = බිඩිඹක්, a book = බධොඪක්, the door = බඬොභ.
a and the are not clearly visible in Sinhala.
Unlocalized product names and non-translated feature names take no definite or indefinite article.
Do not attach a genitive s to trademarked product names. It reads as a modification of the name. Add to a product or component name with a hyphen, or use a periphrastic construction: (-) Microsoft‟s products, Microsoft products, Products by Microsoft
Treat product names and unlocalized feature names as proper nouns.
en Windows Mail shares your Internet Connection settings with Internet Explorer -> si (+) Windows Mail පඟින් ඔබේ අන්ඪර්ඟශම ඼ම්඲න්තඪශ ධළිඪම Internet Explorer ඼පග හුඹපශ඾ෑ ඗භ ඙඲ි
en Website addresses will be sent to Microsoft -> si (+) බඹේ අඦවි ලිපිථබන් Microsoft බඹඪ බෂබඹඳි ඇඪ
Translated feature names take a definite or indefinite article. They are not proper names.
en Activate a window by hovering over it with the mouse -> si (+) පෂි඼බබන් ඗භ඗ඹමින් වින්බඦෝඹක් ඼ක්‍඼ෑබ ඗භ ඙න්ථ
en Select a location closest to your office -> si (+) ඔබේ ඗ශර්බශමබඤ ආ඼න්ථඪප ඼වණශථබක් බඪෝභශ ඙න්ථ
For an English loan word already used before, check motivation (does the English word have formally motivated features that integrate into the Sinhala noun class system), analogy (is there an equivalent Sinhala term whose article could be used), and frequency (is the term used in other technical documentation, and with which article). The internet can help.

Capitalization¶

Does not apply to Sinhala.

Compounds¶

Keep compounds understandable and clear. Avoid overly long or complex compounds. Unintuitive compounds are an intelligibility and usability issue.
en Internet Accounts -> si (+) අන්ඪර්ඟශම ගිණුම්
en Workgroup Administrator -> si (+) ඗ශර්බ ඗ණ්ඦශබම් ධ඼ෑධශම඗
en Internet News Server Name -> si (+) අන්ඪර්ඟශම බිඹත් ඼ල ඼ර්ඹර් ථප

Gender¶

Sinhala has three genders: masculine බි඾ෑර ලිං඙, feminine ඼වත්ලෑ ලිං඙, neutral ථබි඼ං඗ ලිං඙.
(+) ඔහු ඞි඾ෑඹභබබකි (He is a teacher)
(+) ඇබ බලදිබකි. (She is a nurse)
(+) ඙඼ උ඼බ. (The tree is tall)

Genitive¶

Genitive marks a noun as modifying another noun, often as possessor, but it can mark other relationships. Certain verbs take genitive arguments. It can have adverbial uses.
Form the genitive by adding suffixes to the end of a noun.
(+) නිභ඗ණථබේ ඇන්බඤථශඹ (Phone‟s antenna)
(+) ඗ශපභබේ බදිභ (Room‟s key)
(+) පිබශබේ ධ඼ෑ඙ඨ඗බ (Father‟s computer)

Modifiers¶

Does not apply to Sinhala.

Nouns¶

Many languages divide nouns into classes by animacy, shape, gender, and so on. Integrate English loan words into the Sinhala noun class system.
Where the noun class is your choice, keep translations consistent across the product. Agree the noun class with your translation team lead and team members.
en Delete it from server. -> si (+) Server බඹතින් එබ ප඗න්ථ
en Enter a password to log into the server -> si (+) Server දි඾ඤ ඇදිල් ශිපඤ භල඼ව අං඗බක් ඇදිල් ඗භන්ථ.
en DNS cannot resolve the server IP address -> si (+) DNS ඤ server IP ලිපින ගැටළුව විසඳිය නනොහැක.
en Verify the name of the server‟s certificate -> si (+) Server ඼ලති඗බේ ථප ඪලෂි඾ෑ ඗භ ඙න්ථ.
Inflection of English loanwords for number: en Websites -> si (+) බඹේ ලිපිථබන්
en Downloads -> si (+) ඲ශ඙ෂ඲ිම්
en Proxies -> si (+) ප්‍බභොක්සි
Plural formation by addition of hal akura: (+) ඙඼ - ඙඼ව, (+) පම- පල්
By removing the last letter of singular nouns: (+) 1. බිඩිඹ - බිඩි, (+) 2. නිඹශ඼බ - නිඹශ඼, (+) 3. බිත්තිබ - බිත්ති
By addition of some words: (+) බේ - බ඙ඹල්, (+) ඾ද - ළිදඹල්

Prepositions¶

Use the correct preposition. Do not omit it or change word order under English influence.
Translate English prepositional phrases according to context. Turn a prepositional phrase into a postpositional phrase.
en From John -> si (+) න ෝන්නගන්
en To John -> si (+) න ෝන්හට
en by John -> si (+) න ෝන් විසින්
Sinhala has no preposition. Use a postposition instead.

Pronouns¶

Sinhala has many pronouns. The same words differ in pronunciation.
(+) අපි, ඔෂින්, ඔහු, ඇබ, එබ,

Punctuation¶

English punctuation rules apply to Sinhala.
Comma , separates several names or items written consecutively, and marks short pauses.
(+) බලඩ්බ඼ට්, යවභේබ උධ඗භඨ, ඼ල ශිඩිබබෝ උධ඗භඨ නිභ඗ණථබේ අපඪභ බ඗ොඤ඼වඹමඤ නිඬළින් බේ.
(+) අපඪභ බ඗ොඤ඼ව නිභ඗ණථබඤ ඼ම්඲න්ත ඗භ, නිබමිඪ යේඬ ධ඼ෑපශඹ බඹඪ එබ ඼඗඼ව ඗භ ඗බඨහි ධ඾ඳින්ථ.
Colon : shows that what follows proves, clarifies, explains, or enumerates what was referred to. Do not use colons in inappropriate places.
Hyphen divides words between syllables, links parts of a compound word, and connects the parts of an inverted or imperative verb form: (+) ලඬ-඲ෂඳි-ඝි
En dash is the minus sign, usually with spaces before and after. It is also used in number ranges, such as page numbers, with no spaces around it. Sinhala usually does not use the en dash. If required, follow the source.
Em dash emphasizes an isolated element or introduces an element not essential to the meaning. It indicates a break in thought or sentence structure, or introduces an added phrase. Sinhala usually does not use the em dash. If required, follow the source.
Ellipses: does not apply to Sinhala.
Period: English rules apply. (+) බධොත්‍඼඾ගිඨ‍බඹඪ‍ඤෂ඙බක්‍ධඹභන්ථ.
Quotation marks are used when referring to Sinhala. “” denotes speech or a quotation. „‟ denotes speech or a quotation.
(+) “ඔ඲බේ ප්‍රිබඪප බධොඪ ගිපක්ඬෂයි” ඞි඾ෑඹභබශ ශිරයබශබ඙න් විපහිබ
Parentheses: no space between the parentheses and the text inside them.
(+) දිථධඪශ ධඬථමින් )඼සප දිථ඗ප( නිභ඗ණථබ පි඼ෑසිනි ඗භන්ථ.

Singular and plural¶

Follow general Sinhala grammar rules for singular and plural forms.
Singular number: (+) 12,2,
Singular form of a word: (+) නිභ඗ණථබ, ඞශබශ඿ෑධබ
Plural form of a word: (+) නිභ඗ණථ, ඞශබශ඿ෑධ, මිනි඼වළි

Split infinitive¶

Does not apply to Sinhala.

Subjunctive¶

Does not apply to Sinhala.

Symbols and non-breaking spaces¶

Does not apply to Sinhala.

Syntax¶

Does not apply to Sinhala.

Verbs¶

Sinhala has several kinds of verbs. විධි ක්඼ෑබශ, මියවභ ක්඼ෑබශ ඼ල බිර්ඹ ක්඼ෑබශ are examples.
English expresses continuous operations with a gerund. Translate it as මියවභ ක්඼ෑබශ.
(+) නිභ඗ණථබබන් ඗ණශ ඗භමින් ඼ෑබ ධෂඬශිප බථො඗භන්ථ.

Word order¶

Sinhala word order is Subject Object Verb (SOV).
(+) නිභ඗ණථක්඼ෑබශ඗඾ෑනිභ඗ණථබපි඼ෑසිනි඗බ඾ේබ.

Style and tone considerations¶

Sinhala has pitch contours. They change the meaning of a word by the way it sounds. These tones are of three types: low, high, and level. The low tone lowers the voice below normal pitch, then rises back in the following syllable.
Audience: the end user of the product. Examples: computer user, electronic equipments user, mobile user.
Style: keep writing simple to understand. No colloquial, slang, local, poetic, or rare words and expressions, or any expression outside standard literary language.
Tone: use a formal or semi-formal tone. In online materials the tone can be more informal.
Voice: use active or passive voice depending on context. Passive voice is frequent in newspapers and news bulletins.
en You are now connected to the Internet. -> si (+) ඬෂන්ඔ඲අන්ඪර්ඟශමබබඹඪ඼ම්඲න්තශිතිබේ.

Abbreviations¶

You might need to abbreviate some UI words (mainly button or option names) for lack of space. Translate Home, Profile, People, Mail consistently.
en Home -> si (+) යිල් පිඩිඹ
en Profile -> si (+) ධෂති඗ඦ
en People -> si (+) මිනිළින්
en Mail -> si (+) බම්ල්
නිභ඗ණථබ: (+) නිභ. නිභ඗ණ.
ධණිෂිඦ: (+) ධණි.
ඞශබශ඿ෑධබ: (+) ඞශබශ.
පිළිදි඾ෑ: (+) පිළි.
Form abbreviations by taking the first letter of the word plus a full stop ., or the first letter or first syllable of the word. Example: ඗඾ෑ abbreviates ඗඾ෑඨශ඗භ.
Use a non-breaking space (CTRL+SHIFT+SPACEBAR) in any abbreviation.
Where non-breaking spaces cannot be used, as in Help files, write these abbreviations without a space, so one letter does not move to the start of the next line.
Do not abbreviate words such as පප, ඔ඲ that have two words, or that give an erroneous expression when abbreviated.

Accessibility¶

More accessible products and services for people with disabilities (single-handed, or with hearing or motion disabilities) may not be available in Sinhala. Check, and remove these references from Sinhala text if necessary.

Acronyms¶

Acronyms are words made of the initial letters of the major parts of a compound term. Examples: WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get), OLE (Object Linking and Embedding), RAM (Random Access Memory).
These English acronyms are used very frequently in Sinhala in the forms below.
(+) ඼ශර්ක් ඬගිණුආසිබශඳි඗මශඵිබ඼ලබබෝඝිඪශ඼ංවිතශථබ „SAARC‟
(+) එක්඼ත්ඟශථින්බේඅධ්බශධනි඗,විද්බශත්ප඗ලශ඼ං඼ව඗ෘති඗඼ංවිතශථබ „UNESCO‟
(+) එක්඼ත් ඟශථින්බේ අන්ඪර්ඟශති඗ ඾පශ ලදිසි අඹ඼වණශ අභයිඬම „UNICEF‟
(+) බමෝ඗බ඼ෞේබ඼ංවිතශථබ „WHO‟
Many acronyms are standardized and stay untranslated. Add the full English spelling only when the acronym needs explaining. For common acronyms, adding the spelled-out form only confuses users; use the acronym alone.
Commonly understood acronyms, do not localize or spell out: ANSI (American National Standards Institute), ISO (International Standards Organization), ISDN, DOS, DSL, CD, DVD
Do not put a generic term after an acronym or abbreviation when one of the letters already stands for that term. Correct this in the localized version even when the US English has it.
(-) RPC call
(-) HTML language
(-) TCP/IP-Protocol
(-) PIN Number

Applications, products, and features¶

Application and product names are often trademarked and are rarely translated. Feature names are sometimes trademarked too (IntelliSense™). Verify a name is translatable and not protected before translating it.
For Sinhala, do not translate product and feature names unless the product or feature is localized with its name. This applies to application names too.
Mistakes with product names and trade marking are accuracy errors.

Frequent errors¶

Do not localize product names.
en The Microsoft Feedback Tool is unable to send feedback. -> si (+) Microsoft ප්භතිබධෝරඨ උධ඗භඨබඤ ප්භතිබධෝරඨ බෂවිබ බථොලෂ඗.
en The Microsoft Feedback Tool is unable to send feedback. -> si (+) Microsoft ප්රතින ෝෂණ උ කරණයට ප්රතින ෝෂණ යැවිය නනොහැක.

Glossaries¶

Find translations of terms and UI elements in approved terminology.

Fictitious information¶

Fictitious content is legally sensitive. It is not a pure terminology or localization issue.
Vendors and localizers must not create their own fictitious names. Use the source names, or the list of legally approved names.
Ask the product team representative how to handle fictitious companies, names, addresses, email addresses, and phone numbers, and whether localized fictitious content is required.

Recurring patterns¶

Does not apply to Sinhala.

Standardized translations¶

Standardized translations are compiled under: Verbs, Word Order, Messages, Error Messages, Error Messages Containing Placeholders, Shortcut Keys, Titles.

User interface¶

Translating UI items is hard because context and the exact function of an item are often missing.
Use all available resources to establish the context for UI items. In EDBs these are the columns Instructions, Resource ID, String ID, and sometimes Previous Source and Term Note.
en New -> si (+) ථඹ
en Open -> si (+) විඹෘඪ ඗භන්ථ
en Save -> si (+) ළිභකින්ථ
en Save as -> si (+) බම඼ ළිභකින්ථ
en Print -> si (+) යිද්‍භඨබ ඗භන්ථ
en Prepare -> si (+) ෆිඬශථම් ඗භන්ථ
en Send -> si (+) බඹන්ථ
en Publish -> si (+) යිද්‍භඨබ ඗භන්ථ
en Close -> si (+) ඹ඼න්ථ
en Copy -> si (+) පිඤධත් ඗භන්ථ
en Paste -> si (+) අමඹන්ථ
en Insert -> si (+) ඇදිල් ඗භන්ථ
en Table -> si (+) ඹඞිඹ
en View -> si (+) බධන්ඹන්ථ
en Reference -> si (+) ධ඼ෑෂිමථබ
en find -> si (+) බ඼ොබන්ථ
en full screen -> si (+) ඼ම්බිර්ඨ තිභබ

Messages¶

Keep the tone formal and easy to understand.
en If you click download, you will be redirected to another page. -> si ඔ඲ ඲ශ඙න්ථ බන්ථ ක්ලික් ඗඾බලොත්, ඔ඲ බඹථත් පිඩිඹක් බඹඪ බබොයි බ඗බභඳි ඇඪ.
A status bar message informs about the active document, a selected command, or any active or selected interface item. It appears in the status bar at the bottom of the window after the user chooses a menu, command, or item, or starts a function. Status bar messages refer to actions being performed or already complete.
In English, status bar messages take different forms depending on the information. In Sinhala, follow the format below for menu and command status bar messages.
Edit: si (+) බඹථ඼ව ඗භන්ථ, menu, en Contains editing commands -> si (+) බඹථ඼ව කිලෑබම් නිබබෝ඙ අඦංඞි බේ
Copy to Folder...: si (+) ... බ඿ෝල්ඦභබ බඹඪ පිඤධත් ඗භන්ථ, menu, en Copies the selected items to a new location -> si (+) බඪෝභශ඙ත් අයිඪපබ ථඹ පිහිඨිපක් බඹඪ පිඤධත් ඗භයි
New: si (+) ථඹ, command, en Creates a new document -> si (+) ථඹ බල්඘ථබක් ඼ශඬයි
en Make object visible? -> si (+) ඹ඼වදිඹ ධෂලෂදිලි ඗භන්ථඬ?
en Word is converting the document. Press Esc to stop. -> si (+) Word බල්඘ථබ ධ඼ෑඹර්ඪථබ ඗භයි. ථෂඹෂත්ශිපඤ Esc ඔ඲න්ථ.
en Datasheet View -> si (+) ඬත්ඪ ධත්඼ෑ඗ශ බධඳිප
en Done -> si (+) ඉඩි ඗඾ශ
The US product often phrases messages differently for the same meaning. Avoid this. Use one standard translation.
en Press F1 to get Help / If you want Help press F1 / To get Help press F1 -> si (+) උධ඗ශභ ම඲ශ ඙ෂ඲ිපඤ F1 ඔ඲න්ථ
en Not enough memory / Insufficient memory / There is not enough memory -> si (+) පඪ඗බ ප්භපශඨඹත් ථෂඪ
en Save changes to %1? / Do you want to save changes to %1? -> si (+) බඹථ඼ව඗ම් %1 බඹඪ ළිභකින්ථඬ?

Error messages¶

Error messages inform the user that an error must be corrected for the program to keep running. They can prompt an action or report an error that needs a reboot.
Use consistent terminology and language style. Do not just translate messages as they appear in the US product.
US English error messages are occasionally inconsistent. Use one standard phrase for error messages with the same meaning and purpose.
en Cannot … / Could not … -> si (+) බථොලෂකිබ; examples File cannot be found, File could not be found. These constructions are used for "unable to affect an outcome".
en Failed to … / Failure of … -> si (+) අ඼පත්; examples Failed to connect, Failure of connect
en Cannot find … / Could not find … / Unable to find … / Unable to locate … -> si (+) බ඼ොබශ඙ඪ බථොලෂ඗; examples Cannot find driver software, Could not find driver software, Unable to find driver software, Unable to locate driver software
en Not enough memory / Insufficient memory / There is not enough memory / There is not enough memory available -> si (+) පඪ඗බ ප්භපශඨඹත් ථෂඪ; examples No sufficient memory on disk, Not enough memory on disk, No enough memory is available on disk
en ... is not available / ... is unavailable -> si (+) බථොපෂඪ; examples ... enough space is not available, ... enough space is unavailable
For messages with placeholders, find out what replaces the placeholder so the sentence stays grammatical.
%d, %ld, %u, %lu mean <number>
%c means <letter>
%s means <string>
"Checking Web %1!d! of %2!d!" means "Checking Web <number> of <number>".
"INI බ඙ොඳිඹ "%1!-.200s!" section" means "INI බ඙ොඳිඹ "<string>" section".
Sinhala has agreement between adjectives and nouns. When the noun is a placeholder, know the exact string so a preceding adjective can be inflected accordingly.
Most source strings are already worded to avoid this, with a syntax where no adjective modifies a placeholder. Stay mindful of it.
en Replace invalid %s? (user sees Replace invalid data?, Replace invalid file?) -> si (+) ඹෂභදි %s පශ඾ෑ ඗භන්ථඬ?
en %s already exists (user sees File already exists, Name already exists) -> si (+) %s ඬෂථඤපත් තිබේ.
en %s is now set as your personal contact. (user sees Regina is now set as your personal contact, Mr. Kim is now set as your personal contact) -> si (+) %s ඬෂන් ඔබේ බිද්඙ලි඗ ඼඲දඪශඹ බම඼ ඼ෂ඗හි තිබේ.
en %s stopped working and was closed (user sees The application stopped working and was closed, The program stopped working and was closed) -> si (+) %s ක්‍඼ෑබශ කිලෑප ථඹත්ඹශ ඇති අඪභ ඹ඼ථ මදි.

Keys¶

The keyboard is the primary input device for text input. Most actions can also be done with the keyboard, for accessibility and efficiency. You use keys, key combinations, and key sequences.
In English, key names such as arrow keys, function keys, and numeric keys appear in normal text, not small caps.
Do not translate names of keys that appear on the keyboard.
Examples: ALT, CTRL, END, ENTER, ESC, HOME, INS, NUMPAD ENTER, NUM LOCK, BACKSPACE, BREAK, CAPS LOCK, CLEAR

Access keys / hot keys¶

Underlined or highlighted letters in menu options, commands, or dialog boxes are access keys, also called hot keys. They run commands and perform tasks faster.
Slim characters such as I, l, t, r, f as hot key: yes. But Sinhala characters cannot be called slim compared to Roman ones.
Characters with down strokes such as g, j, y, p, q as hot keys: no.
Extended characters as hot keys: no. Sinhala conjuncts, which combine two consonants, cannot be hot keys.
An additional letter in brackets after the item name as hot key: no.
A number in brackets after the item name as hot key: yes.
A punctuation sign in brackets after the item name as hot key: no. Punctuation marks are not needed; many clear and simple letters are available.
Duplicate hot keys when no other character is available: yes, in special cases only.
No hot key assigned when no more characters are available (minor options only): no.
The Sinhala keyboard format is the Wijesekera keyboard, standardized as the Sri Lanka Standard (2004).
Sinhala has its own keyboard layout. Suggestion: do not localize. Sinhala physical keyboards are not widely available in Sri Lanka. People prefer soft (onscreen) versions of the Sinhala wijesekara keyboard for input. Few transliteration softwares are available and they are not much used.

Titles¶

Titles must carry as much information as possible about the text that follows, so readers find information quickly.
If the English heading begins with a gerund, use a nominalized form in Sinhala.
en Sending a file -> si (+) බ඙ොඳිඹ බෂබේ.
en Using Styles -> si (+) ධන්හිද බෂබේ.

Copyright¶

Copyright protection covers any original work of authorship fixed in a tangible medium of expression from which it can be perceived, reproduced, or communicated.
en Copyright -> si (+) ප්‍භ඗ශයථ හිමි඗ප

Local usage¶

Use established Sinhala terminology and preserve protected names. Resolve unfamiliar concepts through understandable local wording and review, rather than assuming an English-shaped translation is fluent.