Home
Languagevs


Tamil vs Sinhalese


Sinhalese vs Tamil


Countries

Countries
Malaysia, Mauritius, Puducherry, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Tamil Nadu  
Sri Lanka  

Total No. Of Countries
6  
9
1  
14

National Language
Singapore, Sri Lanka, Tamil Nadu  
Sri Lanka  

Second Language
Andaman and Nicobar Islands, kerala, Puducherry  
Sri Lanka  

Speaking Continents
Asia  
Asia  

Minority Language
Canada, Malaysia, Mauritius, Reunion, Seychelles  
Not spoken in any of the countries  

Regulated By
Official language Commission of Government of Tamil Nadu, Thanjavur Tamil University  
Hela Havula (හෙළ හවුල)  

Interesting Facts
  • Tamil is the oldest language in the world. Tamil was spoken in South India more than 5000 years ago.
  • The first legally recognized Classical Language of India is Tamil.
    •   
  • In Sinhalese language, there are many loanwords from Dravidian languages mainly Tamil, Portuguese, Dutch and English.
  • Sinhalese language has it own script/ writing system.
  

Similar To
Malayalam  
Maldivian Language  

Derived From
-  
Sanskrit Language  

Alphabets

Alphabets in
Tamil-Alphabets.jpg#200  
Sinhalese-Alphabets.jpg#200  

Alphabets
247  
99+
54  
33

Phonology
  
  

How Many Vowels
12  
9
18  
15

How Many Consonants
18  
8
36  
26

Scripts
Tamil  
Sinhala alphabet  

Writing Direction
Left-To-Right, Horizontal  
Left-To-Right, Horizontal  

Hard to Learn
  
  

Language Levels
3  
2
2  
1

Time Taken to Learn
44 weeks  
17
44 weeks  
17

Greetings

Hello
வணக்கம் (Vanakkam)  
හලෝ (halō)  

Thank You
நன்றி (Naṉṟi)  
ඔබට ස්තුතියි (obaṭa stutiyi)  

How Are You?
நீங்கள் எப்படி இருக்கிறீர்கள்? (Nīṅkaḷ eppaṭi irukkiṟīrkaḷ?)  
ඔබ කොහොමද (oba kohomada)  

Good Night
நல்ல இரவு (Good night) / irravu vanakkam (Good night)  
සුභ රාත්රියක් (subha rātriyak)  

Good Evening
நல்ல மாலை (Nalla mālai)/ மாலை (irravu vanakkam)  
සුබ සැන්දෑවක් (suba sændǣvak)  

Good Afternoon
பிற்பகல் வணக்கம் (perpagal vanakkam)  
සුභ සන්ධ්යාවක් (subha sandhyāvak)  

Good Morning
காலை வணக்கம் (Kaalai Vanakkam)  
සුභ උදෑසනක් (subha udǣsanak)  

Please
தயவு (Tayavu)  
කරුණාකර (karuṇākara)  

Sorry
மன்னிக்கவும் (Maṉṉikkavum)  
සමාවන්න (samāvanna)  

Bye
சென்று வருகிறேன் (Sendru Varukiren)  
බායි (bāyi)  

I Love You
நான் உன்னை காதலிக்கிறேன் (Naan Unnai Kadalikiren)  
මම ඔයාට ආදරෙයි (mama oyāṭa ādareyi)  

Excuse Me
என்னை மன்னியுங்கள் (Eṉṉai maṉṉiyuṅkaḷ)  
මට සමාවෙන්න (maṭa samāvenna)  

Dialects

Dialect 1
Kongu  
Vedda  

Where They Speak
Kongu  
Sri Lanka  

How Many People Speak
77,000,000.00  
10
19,000,000.00  
30

Dialect 2
Madurai Tamil  
Sri Lankan Sinhala  

Where They Speak
Madurai, South Tamil Nadu  
-  

How Many People Speak
77,000,000.00  
8
19,000,000.00  
27

Dialect 3
Tirunelveli Tamil  
Up-Country Sinhalese  

Where They Speak
South Tamil Nadu, Thoothukudi, Tirunelveli  
-  

How Many People Speak
77,000,000.00  
7
16,000,000.00  
27

Total No. Of Dialects
10  
10
1  
1

How Many People Speak

How Many People Speak?
78.00 million  
21
16.00 million  
99+

Speaking Population
1.06 %  
20
0.25 %  
99+

Native Speakers
70.00 million  
15
16.00 million  
39

Second Language Speakers
8.00 million  
99+
2.00 million  
99+

Native Name
தமிழ்  
සිංහල (sĩhala)  

Alternative Names
Damulian, Tamal, Tamalsan, Tambul, Tamili  
Cingalese, Singhala, Singhalese, Sinhala  

French Name
tamoul  
singhalais  

German Name
Tamil  
Singhalesisch  

Pronunciation
[t̪ɐmɨɻ]  
[ˈsiŋhəliːz]  

Ethnicity
Tamil people or Tamilans  
Sinhalese people  

History

Origin
300 BC  
3  

Language Family
Dravidian Family  
Indo-European Family  

Subgroup
-  
Indo-Iranian  

Branch
-  
Indic  

Language Forms
  
  

Early Forms
Old Tamil and Middle Tamil  
Sinhalese Prakrit  

Standard Forms
Modern Tamil  
Modern Sinhalese  

Language Position
18  
16
70  
99+

Signed Forms
Signed Tamil  
Signed Sinhalese  

Scope
Individual  
Individual  

Code

ISO 639 1
ta  
si  

ISO 639 2
  
  

ISO 639 2/T
tam  
sin  

ISO 639 2/B
tam  
sin  

ISO 639 3
tam  
sin  

ISO 639 6
tam  
sin  

Glottocode
tami1289, oldt1248  
sinh1246  

Linguasphere
tami1289  
No data available  

Types of Language
  
  

Language Type
Living  
Living  

Language Linguistic Typology
Subject-Object-Verb  
Subject-Object-Verb  

Language Morphological Typology
-  
Fusional  

Countries >>
<< All

Tamil and Sinhalese Language History

Comparison of Tamil vs Sinhalese language history gives us differences between origin of Tamil and Sinhalese language. History of Tamil language states that this language originated in 300 BC whereas history of Sinhalese language states that this language originated in 3. 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 Tamil and Sinhalese Language History.

Compare Most Spoken Languages

Tamil and Sinhalese 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 Tamil and Sinhalese greetings helps you to understand basic phrases in Tamil and Sinhalese language. Tamil word for "Hello" is வணக்கம் (Vanakkam) or Sinhalese word for "Thank You" is ඔබට ස්තුතියි (obaṭa stutiyi). Find more of such common Tamil Greetings and Sinhalese Greetings. These greetings will help you to be more confident when conversing with natives that speak these languages.

Tamil vs Sinhalese Difficulty

The Tamil vs Sinhalese difficulty level basically depends on the number of Tamil Alphabets and Sinhalese 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 Tamil and Sinhalese are the origin, speaking countries, language family, different greetings, speaking population of these languages. Want to know in Tamil and Sinhalese, which language is harder to learn? Time required to learn Tamil is 44 weeks while to learn Sinhalese time required is 44 weeks.

Most Spoken Languages

Most Spoken Languages

» More Most Spoken Languages

Compare Most Spoken Languages

» More Compare Most Spoken Languages