Ծ ծ — tsa
«tsa» is a consonant of Armenian, the “Armenian alphabet” script, read as “ts (no puff of air)”. A sharp ts without a puff of air. The Armenian alphabet has 40 letters in total, and this character can be played right here. The partner of ց. It appears, for example, in the word “Հասած” — ripe.
In short
| Character | Ծ ծ |
| Name | tsa |
| Sound | ts (no puff of air) |
| What it is | a consonant |
In our course the character comes 31st of 40: the order here is not alphabetical but from familiar to unfamiliar, its neighbours in the course are ց and չ, appears in 266 words of this site.
How it sounds
A sharp ts without a puff of air
The character in the “triplets: voiced — voiceless — aspirated” group
The main difficulty of Armenian. Where you are used to two sounds (b and p), Armenian has three: բ 'b', պ 'p' without a puff, փ 'p' with a puff. Five such triplets, fifteen letters.
Words with this character
How to remember this character
A single letter is the hardest thing to remember: memory has nothing to hold on to — a character has no meaning. A three-step loop works: see the character, try to recall the sound, see the right answer.
And come back to it the next day, not in an hour: a check a day or two later beats a check the same day. Nobody holds the whole alphabet — 40 letters — at once.
- It is better to test yourself the next day than at the end of the same session. That is why a word comes back to you tomorrow.checked many timesAdesope, Trevisan & Sundararajan, 2017, Review of Educational Research 87(3) · g = 0.82 when tested a day or two later, against 0.56 on the same day.
- Studying a little every day gets more into your head than spending the same total time in one sitting.checked many timesDonovan & Radosevich, 1999, Journal of Applied Psychology 84(5) · 63 studies compared, difference d = 0.46 — a sizeable figure for a learning effect.
Frequently asked
How does the Armenian character ծ read?
As “ts (no puff of air)” — it is a consonant of the “Armenian alphabet” script. A sharp ts without a puff of air.
What is the letter ծ called?
Tsa. A character's name and its sound are different things in the Armenian script: it is called “tsa” and reads as “ts (no puff of air)”. Learn the second one: the name only helps when the alphabet is recited aloud.
What can ծ be confused with?
The partner of ց. Similar characters are best studied side by side and deliberately compared: learned on different days, they stay separate and get mixed up at their first meeting inside a word.