LingoflyArmenian
Armenian — Indo-European family, about 6–7 million speakers (estimate, Ethnologue). Script: Aybuben — the Armenian alphabet, 39 letters, created in 405 AD. This site has 4061 words and 39 letters with audio.
Try one word
Demo language: Armenian
Read the card and choose an answer. No sound or sign-up needed.
Բարև ձեզ
barev dzez
hello
Without JavaScript: read the card, choose an answer in your head and open the explanation.
1 / 2 · Choose an answer
Բարև ձեզ
barev dzez
- thank you
- hello
- please
- hi
Show the answer
Բարև ձեզ
hello
2 / 2 · Choose an answer
___, ես Աննան եմ
Hello, I am Anna
- Խնդրեմ · khndrem
- Բարև ձեզ · barev dzez
- Շնորհակալություն · shnorhakalut'yun
- Բարև · barev
Show the answer
Բարև ձեզ
hello
Two checks complete
Բարև ձեզ
hello
This is a choice based on text. Conversation and remembering over time still need practice and checking.
How answers are counted
Answers stay on this page. Statistics include the demo stage, overall result, interface language and saved counter consent choice, without answer text or a profile.
Where to start
- →Armenian alphabetAll letters with sound
- →Armenian wordsBy topic and alphabetically
- →PhrasebookPhrases ready to use
- →GrammarRules without jargon
- →Reading textsShort texts with translation
- →How to readThe writing course from zero
- →TransliterationThe table, both ways
- →PronunciationWhat you hear and what is hard
- →From scratchWhere to start, and in what order
- →How long to studyAn honest estimate, with caveats
First words
Every conversation starts with them — and so does the first impression: one greeting in the local language and you stop being a stranger within a second.
- Բարևbarevhisounds like ba-REV, stress on the last syllable, as in almost every Armenian word
- Բարև ձեզbarev dzezhellodzez means 'to you': the polite greeting for strangers and elders; barev alone is for friends
- Բարի լույսbari luysgood morningbari — kind, luys — light: literally 'kind light'
- Բարի օրbari orgood afternoonthe same bari as in barev; or means day
- Բարի երեկոbari yerekogood eveningyereko — evening. Morning, day and evening all follow one pattern: bari + the time of day
- Ցտեսությունtstesut'yungoodbyefrom tesnel — to see; literally 'until seeing', the same build as 'until we meet again'
- Հաջողhajoghbyethe informal send-off between friends; at root it means 'successful'
- Շնորհակալությունshnorhakalut'yunthank youlong word, but only one stress, on the last syllable: shnor-ha-ka-lu-TYUN
How it sounds
Five words spoken aloud: click the speaker and pick the translation. The sound works on any phone, and nothing needs to be installed.
- What is this word?
It is Բարև (barev) — hi.
- What is this word?
It is Շնորհակալություն (shnorhakalut'yun) — thank you.
- What is this word?
It is Ինչպե՞ս ես (inchpes es) — how are you?
- What is this word?
It is Դուք (duk') — you (plural).
- What is this word?
It is Բարի երեկո (bari yereko) — good evening.
Curiosities in Armenian
Until 1875 Armenian was classified as an Iranian language — so many Persian borrowings had piled up that they hid the family resemblance. Heinrich Hübschmann showed that Armenian is its own branch of the Indo-European family, and that everything Persian in it came in later: borrowed, not inherited.
H. Hübschmann, «Über die Stellung des Armenischen im Kreise der indogermanischen Sprachen», 1875
About the language
| Native name | Հայերեն (hayeren) · hayeren |
| Official in | Armenia |
| Also spoken in | Russia, the USA, Georgia, Iran and France |
| How many speakers | about 6–7 million speakers (estimate, Ethnologue) |
| Family | Indo-European family, its own branch with no close relatives |
| Script | Aybuben — the Armenian alphabet, 39 letters, created in 405 AD |
| Writing direction | left to right |
Hard: a brand-new alphabet, and stops in threes — plain, aspirated and voiced — where English tells words apart by only two.
Easy: no grammatical gender, stress almost always on the last syllable, many recognizable loanwords.
What people most often take it up for: moving to Yerevan, work, family, roots.
How lessons work
A lesson is up to half an hour a day, split into three to five short sessions. A word comes back not on the course's schedule but at the moment you are about to forget it: the interval is computed by an algorithm from your own answers.
- The longer you want to keep a word, the longer the gap before reviewing it can be. To hold it for a week, review it after a day or two; to hold it for a year, after about three or four weeks.checked many timesCepeda et al., 2008, Psychological Science 19(11) · Over 1,350 participants, tested after delays of up to a year. The best gap is about 20–40% of the target interval when you need to remember for a week, and 5–10% when for a year.
- Recalling beats re-reading. Covering the translation and trying to remember it does more than reading it ten more times.checked many timesAdesope, Trevisan & Sundararajan, 2017, Review of Educational Research 87(3) · 188 experiments, 272 comparisons. g = 0.61; against plain re-reading 0.51, against passive review 0.93.
- A material reward promised for doing a task lowers the wish to take it up of your own accord once the reward is gone. Praise for what was done, on the contrary, keeps that wish alive.checked many timesDeci, Koestner & Ryan, 1999, Psychological Bulletin 125(6) · 128 experiments. A material reward promised in advance and the time later spent on the task by free choice: d = −0.44 for finishing, −0.40 for taking part, −0.28 for performance; a reward unrelated to the task, −0.14, not significant. Praise: +0.33.
Frequently asked
Where to start learning Armenian?
With the script: 39 letters are worked through in a week or two, and after that words stop being pictures.
How many people speak Armenian?
About 6–7 million speakers — an estimate; source: Ethnologue. Nobody runs an exact census of languages, and sources disagree by noticeable amounts.
Is Armenian hard?
A brand-new alphabet, and stops in threes — plain, aspirated and voiced — where English tells words apart by only two. At the same time, no grammatical gender, stress almost always on the last syllable, many recognizable loanwords.
Where is Armenian spoken?
An official language in: Armenia. Noticeable communities: Russia, the USA, Georgia, Iran and France.
Is Armenian in Duolingo?
No. As of September 18, 2026, Duolingo’s catalogue has no such course at all, from any language. We have Armenian in full: 4061 words, with audio, the script explained, a phrasebook and grammar in plain words.