Այս
“Այս” (ays) — this in Armenian. Pronoun, level A1, topic — pronouns. three degrees of distance: ays is by me, ayd is by you, ayn is over there. In a live sentence: “Այս սուրճը շատ լավն է” — This coffee is very good. You can hear how it sounds right here. Written with the characters Ա, յ, ս. One of 25 words in the set “pronouns” in the Armenian course.
In short
| Written in Armenian | Այս |
| Read in Latin letters | ays |
| Translation | this |
| Part of speech | pronoun |
| Level | A1 |
- Այսaysthis
Why it looks that way
three degrees of distance: ays is by me, ayd is by you, ayn is over there
A word with a story stays in memory longer than one learned as a “spelling — translation” pair: memory holds on to meaning, not to a string.
In a live sentence
A single word almost never appears alone in conversation. A sentence shows where it fits and what stands next to it.
- Այս սուրճը շատ լավն էays surchə shat lavn eThis coffee is very good
Nearby words: pronouns
I, you, we, they. There is a handful of them, they turn up in every sentence, and politeness rides on them: most of these languages keep a formal “you” apart from a familiar one, and choosing the wrong one is noticed faster than a mispronounced word.
- ԵսyesIsounds like yes; the letter e at the start of a word gives a ye sound
- Դուduyoufor family, children and peers; with a stranger it is duk'
- Դուքduk'you (plural)one word for the polite 'you' and for 'you' about several people
- ՆաnaheArmenian has no gender: the same na means he, she and it
- Մենքmenk'wethe -k' ending marks the plural: yes → menk', du → duk', na → nrank'. All three pronouns are built the same way
- Նրանքnrank'theyna plus the same -nk' as in menk'. Sounds like nə-RANK': a little schwa sneaks in between the first letters
- Իմimmythe noun after it takes the article: im tunə. Plan B is a tail on the noun: tuns — the same thing
- Քոk'oyourthe tail version is -d: girk'd — your book. The polite 'your' is Dzer, with a capital
- Մերmerourdo not confuse with merr, the root of dying: one letter and the length of the rolled rr apart
- Ձերdzeryour (polite)in polite address it is written with a capital — Dzer — and so is Duk'
Test yourself
Five questions from the same set — “pronouns”. Recalling a spelling from meaning is harder than knowing a familiar word on sight, and therefore more useful.
- How do you say “this” in Armenian?
three degrees of distance: ays is by me, ayd is by you, ayn is over there
- How do you say “my” in Armenian?
the noun after it takes the article: im tunə. Plan B is a tail on the noun: tuns — the same thing
- How do you say “you (plural)” in Armenian?
one word for the polite 'you' and for 'you' about several people
- How do you say “your (polite)” in Armenian?
in polite address it is written with a capital — Dzer — and so is Duk'
- How do you say “they” in Armenian?
na plus the same -nk' as in menk'. Sounds like nə-RANK': a little schwa sneaks in between the first letters
How not to forget this word
Reading a word and remembering it are different jobs. A day later, little survives of a single reading — and that is not bad memory, that is how memory works.
- This has been tested on foreign words too. The difference shows up most when you test yourself a few days later rather than straight away.checked many timesKim & Webb, 2022, Language Learning 72(2) · 48 experiments, 3,411 participants, 98 comparisons.
- 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.
- An answer you worked out yourself sticks better than one handed to you.checked many timesBertsch et al., 2007, Memory & Cognition 35(2) · 86 studies, 445 comparisons, d = 0.40.
Frequently asked
How do you say “this” in Armenian?
«Այս», read “ays”. In a live sentence: “Այս սուրճը շատ լավն է” — This coffee is very good. You can hear how it sounds right on this page. Pronoun, level A1, from the set “pronouns”; written with the characters Ա, յ, ս.
How is “Այս” written in Latin letters?
ays. This is a practical spelling — you need it to read aloud and be understood, not to meet an academic standard.
Why does this word look the way it does?
three degrees of distance: ays is by me, ayd is by you, ayn is over there. A word with a story stays in memory longer than a “spelling — translation” pair: memory holds on to meaning, not to a string.
Can I hear how it sounds?
Yes, right on this page: click the word and it will play. The sound works on any phone, and nothing needs to be installed.