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Sinhalese
Sinhalese

Lao
Lao



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Sinhalese
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Lao

Sinhalese vs Lao

Lao
Lao
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Countries

Countries

Sri Lanka
Laos

Total No. Of Countries

11
0 46
👆🏻

National Language

Sri Lanka
Laos, Northeastern Thailand

Second Language

Sri Lanka
Not spoken in any of the countries

Speaking Continents

Asia
Asia

Minority Language

Not spoken in any of the countries
Not spoken in any of the countries

Regulated By

Hela Havula (හෙළ හවුල)
-

Interesting Facts

  • In Sinhalese language, there are many loanwords from Dravidian languages mainly Tamil, Portuguese, Dutch and English.
  • Sinhalese language has it own script/ writing system.
  • There is no space left between words, only between phrases or sentences in Lao language.
  • The Lao alphabets has been reformed many times over the past 50 years.

Similar To

Maldivian Language
Thai Language

Derived From

Sanskrit Language
Pali, Sanskrit and Old Khmer Languages

Alphabets

Alphabets in

Alphabets

5453
18 247
👆🏻

Phonology

How Many Vowels

1828
0 32
👆🏻

How Many Consonants

3627
9 60
👆🏻

Scripts

Sinhala alphabet
Thai and Lao Braille

Writing Direction

Left-To-Right, Horizontal
Left-To-Right, Horizontal

Hard to Learn

Language Levels

26
2 12
👆🏻

Time Taken to Learn

44 weeks44 weeks
3 88
👆🏻

Greetings

Hello

හලෝ (halō)
ສະບາຍດີ (sába̖ai-di̖i)

Thank You

ඔබට ස්තුතියි (obaṭa stutiyi)
ຂອບໃຈ (khàwp ja̖i)

How Are You?

ඔබ කොහොමද (oba kohomada)
ສະບາຍດີບ (sába̖ai-di̖i baw?)

Good Night

සුභ රාත්රියක් (subha rātriyak)
ໃນຕອນກາງຄືນ ທີ່ດີ (naitonkangkhun thidi)

Good Evening

සුබ සැන්දෑවක් (suba sændǣvak)
ສະ​ບາຍ​ດີ​ຕອນ​ແລງ (sa bai di ton aelng)

Good Afternoon

සුභ සන්ධ්යාවක් (subha sandhyāvak)
ສະ​ບາຍ​ດີ​ຕອນ​ສວາຍ (sa bai di ton suaai)

Good Morning

සුභ උදෑසනක් (subha udǣsanak)
ສະ​ບາຍ​ດີ​ຕອນ​ເຊົ້າ (sa bai di ton sao)

Please

කරුණාකර (karuṇākara)
ກະລຸນາ (kaluna)

Sorry

සමාවන්න (samāvanna)
ຂໍອະໄພ (khooaphai)

Bye

බායි (bāyi)
Sôhk dii der

I Love You

මම ඔයාට ආදරෙයි (mama oyāṭa ādareyi)
ຂ້ອຍ​ຮັກ​ເຈົ້າ (khony hak chao)

Excuse Me

මට සමාවෙන්න (maṭa samāvenna)
ຂໍ​ໂທດ (kho othd)

Dialects

Dialect 1

Vedda
Vientiane Lao

Where They Speak

Sri Lanka
Laos

How Many People Speak

19,000,000.003,000,000.00
1.5 960000000
👆🏻

Dialect 2

Sri Lankan Sinhala
Northern Lao

Where They Speak

-
Laos

How Many People Speak

19,000,000.003,000,000.00
700 274000000
👆🏻

Dialect 3

Up-Country Sinhalese
Central Lao

Where They Speak

-
Laos

How Many People Speak

16,000,000.003,000,000.00
2 230000000
👆🏻

Total No. Of Dialects

16
0 188
👆🏻

How Many People Speak

How Many People Speak?

16.00 million25.00 million
0 1200
👆🏻

Speaking Population

0.25 %0.22 %
0 89
👆🏻

Native Speakers

16.00 million25.00 million
0 873
👆🏻

Second Language Speakers

2.00 million3.00 million
0.01 400
👆🏻

Native Name

සිංහල (sĩhala)
ພາສາລາວ (pháasaa láo)

Alternative Names

Cingalese, Singhala, Singhalese, Sinhala
Eastern Thai, Lào, Lao Kao, Lao Wiang, Lao-Lum, Lao-Noi, Lao-Tai, Laotian, Laotian Tai, Lum Lao, Phou Lao, Rong Kong, Tai Lao

French Name

singhalais
lao

German Name

Singhalesisch
Laotisch

Pronunciation

[ˈsiŋhəliːz]
pʰáːsǎː láːw

Ethnicity

Sinhalese people
Lao people

History

Origin

3
1283 CE

Language Family

Indo-European Family
Tai-Kadai Family

Subgroup

Indo-Iranian
Tai

Branch

Indic
-

Language Forms

Early Forms

Sinhalese Prakrit
No Early forms

Standard Forms

Modern Sinhalese
Lao

Language Position

7043
1 120
👆🏻

Signed Forms

Signed Sinhalese
Lao Sign Language

Scope

Individual
Individual

Code

ISO 639 1

si
lo

ISO 639 2

ISO 639 2/T

sin
lao

ISO 639 2/B

sin
lao

ISO 639 3

sin
lao

ISO 639 6

sin
lao

Glottocode

sinh1246
laoo1244

Linguasphere

No data available
No data available

Types of Language

Language Type

Living
Living

Language Linguistic Typology

Subject-Object-Verb
Subject-Verb-Object

Language Morphological Typology

Fusional
Isolating

Sinhalese vs Lao Speaking Countries

There are plenty of languages spoken around the world. Every country has its own official language. Compare Sinhalese vs Lao speaking countries, so that you will have total count of countries that speak Sinhalese or Lao language.

  • Sinhalese is spoken as a national language in: Sri Lanka.
  • Lao is spoken as a national language in: Laos, Northeastern Thailand.

You will also get to know the continents where Sinhalese and Lao speaking countries lie. Based on the number of people that speak these languages, the position of Sinhalese language is 70 and position of Lao language is 43. Find all the information about these languages on Sinhalese and Lao.

Sinhalese and Lao Language History

Comparison of Sinhalese vs Lao language history gives us differences between origin of Sinhalese and Lao language. History of Sinhalese language states that this language originated in 3 whereas history of Lao language states that this language originated in 1283 CE. Family of the language also forms a part of history of that language. More on language families of these languages can be found out on Sinhalese and Lao Language History.

Sinhalese and Lao Greetings

People around the world use different languages to interact with each other. Even if we cannot communicate fluently in any language, it will always be beneficial to know about some of the common greetings or phrases from that language. This is where Sinhalese and Lao greetings helps you to understand basic phrases in Sinhalese and Lao language. Sinhalese word for "Hello" is හලෝ (halō) or Lao word for "Thank You" is ຂອບໃຈ (khàwp ja̖i). Find more of such common Sinhalese Greetings and Lao Greetings. These greetings will help you to be more confident when conversing with natives that speak these languages.

Sinhalese vs Lao Difficulty

The Sinhalese vs Lao difficulty level basically depends on the number of Sinhalese Alphabets and Lao Alphabets. Also the number of vowels and consonants in the language plays an important role in deciding the difficulty level of that language. The important points to be considered when we compare Sinhalese and Lao are the origin, speaking countries, language family, different greetings, speaking population of these languages. Want to know in Sinhalese and Lao, which language is harder to learn? Time required to learn Sinhalese is 44 weeks while to learn Lao time required is 44 weeks.