I can recognize seven Armenian letters in their capital and small forms and read my first words: անուն, ամիս, միս, սար.
Armenian script: the first seven letters
Armenian script: the first seven letters
Armenian is written left to right, with spaces; a sentence and a name start with a capital, as in English. Every letter has a capital and a small form, often unlike each other: Ա ա, Մ մ. Learn them as pairs.
Today's seven letters: Ա ա [ɑ], as in “father”; Ն ն [n]; Մ մ [m]; Ս ս [s]; Ի ի [i], as in “see”; Ր ր [ɾ], one tap of the tongue, like the tt of American “butter”. The seventh, Ու ու, is two letters but one sound: [u]. The words are in the table below.
They already form words: անուն [ɑnun] — “first name”, ամիս [ɑmis] — “month”. And three short ones: իմ — “my”, մի — “a, one”, ու — “and”.
Stress falls on the last syllable: in անուն and ամիս it is on the second. Stress is not marked in writing.
Careful: ս looks like a Latin u, but it is the Armenian [s]. A hook on the left sets ն [n] apart: the two are easy to confuse.
Note: the alphabet has 39 letters. The course teaches Eastern Armenian, the standard of Armenia, in its modern spelling; Western Armenian and the old diaspora spelling are not covered.
Common mistakes:
• NOT ու as two sounds, “oh-oo” — it is one sound, [u].
• NOT ս as the Latin u — ս is read [s].
• NOT the English stress on the first syllable, “AH-noon” — անուն and ամիս are stressed on the last syllable.
• NOT “a capital is just a bigger small letter” — Ա and ա, Մ and մ look different.
Seven letters and the words you hear them in
You hear each letter in a word: press the tiles in the next block.
| Letter | Sound | Word | Translation |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ա ա | [ɑ] | ամիս [ɑmis] | month |
| Ն ն | [n] | նա [nɑ] | he, she |
| Մ մ | [m] | մաս [mɑs] | part |
| Ս ս | [s] | սա [sɑ] | this |
| Ի ի | [i] | միս [mis] | meat |
| Ու ու | [u] | անուն [ɑnun] | first name |
| Ր ր | [ɾ] | սար [sɑɾ] | mountain |
Lesson notes
Armenian script: the first seven letters
Armenian is written left to right, with spaces; a sentence and a name start with a capital, as in English. Every letter has a capital and a small form, often unlike each other: Ա ա, Մ մ. Learn them as pairs.
Today's seven letters: Ա ա [ɑ], as in “father”; Ն ն [n]; Մ մ [m]; Ս ս [s]; Ի ի [i], as in “see”; Ր ր [ɾ], one tap of the tongue, like the tt of American “butter”. The seventh, Ու ու, is two letters but one sound: [u]. The words are in the table below.
They already form words: անուն [ɑnun] — “first name”, ամիս [ɑmis] — “month”. And three short ones: իմ — “my”, մի — “a, one”, ու — “and”.
Stress falls on the last syllable: in անուն and ամիս it is on the second. Stress is not marked in writing.
Careful: ս looks like a Latin u, but it is the Armenian [s]. A hook on the left sets ն [n] apart: the two are easy to confuse.
Note: the alphabet has 39 letters. The course teaches Eastern Armenian, the standard of Armenia, in its modern spelling; Western Armenian and the old diaspora spelling are not covered.
Common mistakes:
• NOT ու as two sounds, “oh-oo” — it is one sound, [u].
• NOT ս as the Latin u — ս is read [s].
• NOT the English stress on the first syllable, “AH-noon” — անուն and ամիս are stressed on the last syllable.
• NOT “a capital is just a bigger small letter” — Ա and ա, Մ and մ look different.