LingoflyArmenian alphabet
The Armenian alphabet has 39 letters. Mesrop Mashtots' 39 letters — and triplets of consonants where you expect pairs. The characters are grouped: vowels, triplets: voiced — voiceless — aspirated, the other consonants. Every character on this page can be played: the sound is stored as a file and does not depend on the voices installed on your system.
All 39 letters in one list
ա, բ, գ, դ, ե, զ, է, ը, թ, ժ, ի, լ, խ, ծ, կ, հ, ձ, ղ, ճ, մ, յ, ն, շ, ո, չ, պ, ջ, ռ, ս, վ, տ, ր, ց, ու (u), փ, ք, և, օ, ֆ
The tables on this page also include ւ: this character is needed for reading but does not count as a letter of the alphabet.
Vowels
Eight signs. Two of them — ե and ո — are read with a y-glide and a v at the start of a word. Ես (yes) reads 'yes', Ոչ (voch) reads 'voch'. And ը is a fleeting murmur that in writing is often not written at all.
Triplets: voiced — voiceless — aspirated
The main difficulty of Armenian. Where you are used to two sounds (b and p), Armenian has three. Take բ 'b', պ 'p' without a puff, փ 'p' with a puff. Five such triplets, fifteen letters.
- Բ բb (as in bed)ben
- Պ պp (no puff of air)pe
- Փ փp' (with a puff)pyur
- Գ գg (as in go)gim
- Կ կk (no puff of air)ken
- Ք քk' (with a puff)ke
- Դ դd (as in door)da
- Տ տt (no puff of air)tyun
- Թ թt' (with a puff)to
- Ձ ձdz (one sound)dza
- Ծ ծts (no puff of air)tsa
- Ց ցts' (with a puff)tso
- Ջ ջj (as in jam)jheh
- Ճ ճch (no puff of air)che
- Չ չch' (with a puff)cha
The other consonants
Sixteen signs, and no triplets anywhere. Fifteen have a sound of their own; ւ lives only inside ու (u) and և. The pair ր and ռ differs by rolling: ր is a soft single tap, ռ is a full trill.
- Զ զz (as in zoo)za
- Ժ ժzh (as in measure)zhe
- Լ լl (soft, near ly)lyun
- Խ խkh (as in Bach)khe
- Հ հh (as in hello)ho
- Ղ ղgh (a throaty, gargled g)ghat
- Մ մm (as in map)men
- Յ յy (as in yes)yi
- Ն նn (as in nose)nu
- Շ շsh (soft)sha
- Ռ ռrr (fully rolled)ra
- Ս սs (as in sun)se
- Վ վv (as in van)vev
- Ր րr (a light single tap)reh
- Ւ ւwhyun
- Ֆ ֆf (loans only)fe
Ligature
ե and ւ grown together. It has no uppercase form: at the start of a word write Եվ (yev).
What to know about this script
There are 39 letters: thirty-five of the thirty-six Mashtots letters, the later օ and ֆ, and ու (u) and the ligature և. The last two became letters in the spelling reform, and the thirty-sixth, ւ, left the alphabet. On its own this sign never appears, only inside ու (u) and in the ligature և. There is a register — uppercase and lowercase differ. The alphabet order has been fixed since the 5th century, and the Armenian numerals follow it. Ա is one, Ժ is ten, Ճ is a hundred.
Where this script came from and why it looks the way it does
The Armenian alphabet has an author and a date — Mesrop Mashtots, around the year 405. Only a handful of the world's alphabets can name both: the Latin, Cyrillic and Greek scripts grew on their own, with no single person and no single year.
Encyclopædia Britannica, the article “Armenian language”; Koryun, “Life of Mashtots”, 5th century
Test yourself
Five characters at random. No need to answer aloud — just pick; the answer appears at once.
- Which character reads as “ah (as in father)”?
A pure ah, open and steady
- Which character reads as “yev at the start, ev after a consonant”?
ե and ւ grown into one letter. It has no uppercase form: at the start of a word write Եվ (yev)
- Which character reads as “ye at the start, e inside”?
Ես (yes) reads 'yes', not 'es'; Մեկ (mek) reads 'mek'. The rule works without exceptions
- Which character reads as “s (as in sun)”?
An ordinary s
- Which character reads as “oo (as in food)”?
The only digraph in Armenian: ո and ւ together read 'oo'. On its own ւ is almost never met
How to learn letters so they stay
You cannot learn a table by staring at it. What works: see a character, try to recall its sound, get it wrong, see the right answer — and come back to that character in a day, not in an hour.
- 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.
- 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.
That is why the alphabet in the app is learned a few characters at a time, not all at once: nobody holds 39 signs in one sitting.
Frequently asked
How many letters in the Armenian alphabet?
39 letters — Armenian alphabet: ա, բ, գ, դ, ե, զ, է, ը, թ, ժ, ի, լ, խ, ծ, կ, հ, ձ, ղ, ճ, մ, յ, ն, շ, ո, չ, պ, ջ, ռ, ս, վ, տ, ր, ց, ու (u), փ, ք, և, օ, ֆ. The tables on this page also include ւ: this character is needed for reading but does not count as a letter of the alphabet. The characters have capital and small forms.
Can I listen to how the Armenian letters sound?
Yes. 40 signs on this page have sound: click a character to hear it. The sound works on any phone, and nothing needs to be installed.
How long does it take to learn the Armenian alphabet?
A few characters a day — one to two weeks, if you come back to what you covered. The whole alphabet crammed in an evening is remembered for an evening: without reviews the next day and three days later, the characters are almost entirely gone.
Where to start: letters or words?
With the letters. A word in an unfamiliar script cannot be read at all, and a word card tells you no more than a picture.