For learning Sinhalese language it is necessary to know alphabets in Sinhalese. You have to know alphabets in Sinhalese to learn writing in Sinhalese language. Sinhalese alphabets are the building blocks of Sinhalese language. There are 54 characters in Sinhalese alphabets. Sinhalese alphabets are made up of Sinhalese vowels and Sinhalese consonants. The Sinhalese alphabets contain 18 vowels and 36 consonants. Sinhalese vs German gives a comparison between Sinhalese and German alphabets.
Sinhalese script is also known as Sinhalese writing system or Sinhalese orthography. The set of visible signs used to represent units of Sinhalese language in a systematic way is called Sinhalese Script. The Sinhalese language uses Sinhala alphabet i.e. Sinhalese alphabets are derived from Sinhala alphabet script. The script decides the writing direction of the any language, hence the writing direction of Sinhalese is Left-To-Right, Horizontal. Learn Sinhalese Greetings where you will find some interesting phrases.
Is Sinhalese hard to learn? The answer to this question is that it depends on one's native language. One should start learning Sinhalese language with Sinhalese alphabets and Sinhalese phonology.
Time taken to learn any language that is mentioned here is the approximate time required to learn specific language for the person who is proficient in English. You can also go through all Indian Languages and find if Sinhalese is one of the language of India.