Բարև
“Բարև” (barev) — hi in Armenian. Interjection, level A0, topic — greetings and goodbyes. sounds like ba-REV, stress on the last syllable, as in almost every Armenian word. In a live sentence: “Բարև, ի՞նչ նորություն” — Hi, what's new? You can hear how it sounds right here. Written with the characters Բ, ա, ր, և. One of 10 words in the set “greetings and goodbyes” in the Armenian course.
In short
| Written in Armenian | Բարև |
| Read in Latin letters | barev |
| Translation | hi |
| Part of speech | interjection |
| Level | A0 |
- Բարևbarevhi
How to pronounce it
sounds like ba-REV, stress on the last syllable, as in almost every Armenian word
Why it looks that way
bari means kind, arev means sun — literally 'kind sun'. Sounds like ba-REV.
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.
- Բարև, ի՞նչ նորությունbarev, inch norut'yunHi, what's new?
Nearby words: greetings and goodbyes
Every conversation starts here, and so does every first impression: say hello in the local language and you stop being a stranger in about a second.
- 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'
- Ինչպե՞ս եսinchpes eshow are you?the little hook above a letter is the Armenian question mark: it sits on the stressed syllable of the asked word, not at the end of the phrase
- Ինչպե՞ս եքinchpes ekhow do you do?the ek form is the polite one, for elders and strangers; es is for your own circle
- Բարի գիշերbari gishergood nightthe same bari — kind — as in bari luys and bari yereko. It is said when parting to sleep; meeting in the evening calls for bari yereko
Test yourself
Five questions from the same set — “greetings and goodbyes”. Recalling a spelling from meaning is harder than knowing a familiar word on sight, and therefore more useful.
- How do you say “hi” in Armenian?
bari means kind, arev means sun — literally 'kind sun'. Sounds like ba-REV.
- How do you say “how are you?” in Armenian?
the little hook above a letter is the Armenian question mark: it sits on the stressed syllable of the asked word, not at the end of the phrase
- How do you say “good evening” in Armenian?
yereko — evening. Morning, day and evening all follow one pattern: bari + the time of day
- How do you say “hello” in Armenian?
dzez means 'to you': the polite greeting for strangers and elders; barev alone is for friends
- How do you say “how do you do?” in Armenian?
the ek form is the polite one, for elders and strangers; es is for your own circle
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 “hi” in Armenian?
«Բարև», read “barev”. sounds like ba-REV, stress on the last syllable, as in almost every Armenian word. In a live sentence: “Բարև, ի՞նչ նորություն” — Hi, what's new? You can hear how it sounds right on this page. Interjection, level A0, from the set “greetings and goodbyes”; written with the characters Բ, ա, ր, և.
How is “Բարև” written in Latin letters?
barev. 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?
bari means kind, arev means sun — literally 'kind sun'. Sounds like ba-REV. 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.