Գոտին կապել
“Գոտին կապել” (gotin kapel) — to fasten the seat belt in Armenian. Verb, level B1. Armenian does not say 'fasten oneself' in one word: the bookish amragotiavorvel lives only in the rules; in the car you hear gotin kapir, literally 'tie the belt' — the everyday form. In a live sentence: “Հետևի նստատեղին էլ պետք է գոտին կապել” — In the back seat you have to fasten the seat belt too. You can hear how it sounds right here.
In short
| Written in Armenian | Գոտին կապել |
| Read in Latin letters | gotin kapel |
| Translation | to fasten the seat belt |
| Part of speech | verb |
| Level | B1 |
- Գոտին կապելgotin kapelto fasten the seat belt
Why it looks that way
Armenian does not say 'fasten oneself' in one word: the bookish amragotiavorvel lives only in the rules; in the car you hear gotin kapir, literally 'tie the belt' — the everyday form
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.
- Հետևի նստատեղին էլ պետք է գոտին կապելhetevi nstateghin el petk' e gotin kapelIn the back seat you have to fasten the seat belt too
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 “to fasten the seat belt” in Armenian?
«Գոտին կապել», read “gotin kapel”. In a live sentence: “Հետևի նստատեղին էլ պետք է գոտին կապել” — In the back seat you have to fasten the seat belt too. You can hear how it sounds right on this page. Verb, level B1; written with the characters Գ, ո, տ, ի, ն, կ, ա, պ, ե, լ.
How is “Գոտին կապել” written in Latin letters?
gotin kapel. 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?
Armenian does not say 'fasten oneself' in one word: the bookish amragotiavorvel lives only in the rules; in the car you hear gotin kapir, literally 'tie the belt' — the everyday form. 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.