Lesson 2. Five consonants and two o letters: կ, տ, պ, լ, վ, ո, օ

Կ կ, Տ տ, Պ պ are [k], [t], [p] with no puff of air: like the k of “skin”, the t of “stop”, the p of “spin”. An English k, t, p at the start of a word (“kin”, “top”, “pin”) has a puff: that is another letter. Լ լ is [l], Վ վ is [v]. There are two letters for o, a pure o with no glide (not the o of “go”). Ո ո at the start of a word is read [vɔ]: ոսկի [vɔski] — “gold”; inside a word it is [ɔ]: նոր [nɔɾ] — “new”. Օ օ is [ɔ] at the start of a word: օր [ɔɾ] — “day”. The exception is ով [ɔv], “who”: it starts with ո but is read with no [v]. Learn which of the two letters to write together with the word. The familiar ու is ո plus a letter that never stands without ո. In a word typed in capitals only, ու looks like ՈՒ: ՏՈՒՆ (“house”). Careful: ո is not the Latin n, օ is not the Latin o, լ is not the Latin l. The same with capitals: Տ is not the Latin S, Ս is not U, Լ is not L, Օ is not O. Look-alike letters: ա and տ; ս, ո, and ն; կ and վ — look at them closely. More words from letters you know: մատիտ — “pencil”, տարի — “year”, կին — “woman”, պապ — “grandfather”, կա — “there is”, մոտ — “near, close”. Common mistakes: • NOT ոսկի with a plain o at the start — we read [vɔski]. • NOT օր with a [v] — օ is always [ɔ]. • NOT Latin n, o, and l instead of ո, օ, and լ — the checker won't accept them.

From this lesson on, you type some answers yourself, in Armenian letters. An answer in Latin letters won't count: type Armenian letters. You add the keyboard once; the steps are in the table below. The menu names in your version of the system may differ slightly. On a phone, the letters are shown on the keys: you don't need to learn the layout. On a computer, choose the phonetic layout: each letter sits on a Latin key that sounds like it. On a Mac (the “HM QWERTY” layout), ա is the a key, ն — n, մ — m, ս — s, ի — i, ր — r, կ — k, տ — t, պ — p, լ — l, վ — v, ո — o; օ — Option + o. Careful: the p, t, k keys give the unpuffed պ, տ, կ, not the puffed փ, թ, ք that English p, t, k sound like. ու is always two letters: on “HM QWERTY” it is the o key, then u. In a blank for ու, type both letters at once. On Windows (“Armenian Phonetic”), find the keys for օ and for the second letter of ու on the on-screen keyboard: they aren't listed here. Don't choose a layout with the word “Western”: in it, the voiced and voiceless consonants swap places — the p key doesn't give պ, and the t key doesn't give տ. That is another reading, the Western Armenian one. Capital or small letter: the checker doesn't mind.