I can ask a yes/no question, answer it in a full sentence, say what I'm not, and name a nationality — mine and the other person's.
Questions and “not”: the question mark and the negative linking verb
Questions and “not”: the mark ՞ and չեմ
What for: to ask “are you Armenian?”, answer “yes” or “no”, and correct the other person.
A yes/no question keeps the word order of a statement: no “do”, no swapping of words. The voice rises on the word you ask about; in writing, ՞ sits over its last vowel, and the sentence ends with the full stop ։: Դու ուսանո՞ղ ես։ In ու the sign goes between the two letters: ռո՞ւս.
The answer is Այո (“yes”) or Ոչ (“no”) plus a full sentence: Այո, ես ուսանող եմ.
“Not” is the negative linking verb: add չ- to the linking verb, and it stays at the end: Ես հայ չեմ. The forms are in the table; for he or she, չէ.
իսկ — “and” when you compare two people (Նա բժիշկ է, իսկ դո՞ւ։); բայց — “but” (something unexpected about the same person); էլ — “too”, after the word: Դու էլ ուսանող ես.
Nationalities: հայ, ռուս; many end in -ացի or -ցի (վրացի, ամերիկացի): see the table. One word for a man and a woman, with a small letter, unlike English.
Ճիշտ է — “that's right”, Սխալ է — “that's wrong”; իհարկե — “of course”.
Common mistakes:
• NOT “Ես ոչ ուսանող եմ” → Ես ուսանող չեմ (ոչ is only the answer “no”).
• NOT “Ոչ, ես ուսանող” → Ոչ, ես ուսանող չեմ (the negative needs the linking verb too).
• NOT “Դուք հայ եք?” → Դուք հա՞յ եք։ (the sign over the word, the full stop at the end).
• NOT “Նա հայ չե” → Նա հայ չէ.
The linking verb and its “not”
The negative linking verb goes where the ordinary one does: at the end.
| Pronoun | Linking verb | “Not” |
|---|---|---|
| ես | եմ | չեմ |
| դու | ես | չես |
| նա | է | չէ |
| մենք | ենք | չենք |
| դուք | եք | չեք |
| նրանք | են | չեն |
Who comes from where
You write հայ and ռուս yourself; the other words you only need to recognize.
| Word | Who is it |
|---|---|
| հայ | Armenian (a man or a woman) |
| հայուհի | Armenian (only a woman) |
| ռուս | Russian (person) |
| վրացի | Georgian (a man or a woman) |
| ուկրաինացի | Ukrainian (a man or a woman) |
| ամերիկացի | American (a man or a woman) |
| ֆրանսիացի | Frenchman, Frenchwoman |
| գերմանացի | German (a man or a woman) |
| իրանցի | Iranian (a man or a woman) |
| բելառուս | Belarusian (a man or a woman) |
| ղազախ | Kazakh (a man or a woman) |
| թուրք | Turk (a man or a woman) |
| քաղաքացի | citizen (a man or a woman) |
Lesson notes
Questions and “not”: the mark ՞ and չեմ
What for: to ask “are you Armenian?”, answer “yes” or “no”, and correct the other person.
A yes/no question keeps the word order of a statement: no “do”, no swapping of words. The voice rises on the word you ask about; in writing, ՞ sits over its last vowel, and the sentence ends with the full stop ։: Դու ուսանո՞ղ ես։ In ու the sign goes between the two letters: ռո՞ւս.
The answer is Այո (“yes”) or Ոչ (“no”) plus a full sentence: Այո, ես ուսանող եմ.
“Not” is the negative linking verb: add չ- to the linking verb, and it stays at the end: Ես հայ չեմ. The forms are in the table; for he or she, չէ.
իսկ — “and” when you compare two people (Նա բժիշկ է, իսկ դո՞ւ։); բայց — “but” (something unexpected about the same person); էլ — “too”, after the word: Դու էլ ուսանող ես.
Nationalities: հայ, ռուս; many end in -ացի or -ցի (վրացի, ամերիկացի): see the table. One word for a man and a woman, with a small letter, unlike English.
Ճիշտ է — “that's right”, Սխալ է — “that's wrong”; իհարկե — “of course”.
Common mistakes:
• NOT “Ես ոչ ուսանող եմ” → Ես ուսանող չեմ (ոչ is only the answer “no”).
• NOT “Ոչ, ես ուսանող” → Ոչ, ես ուսանող չեմ (the negative needs the linking verb too).
• NOT “Դուք հայ եք?” → Դուք հա՞յ եք։ (the sign over the word, the full stop at the end).
• NOT “Նա հայ չե” → Նա հայ չէ.