Ուզում եմ
“Ուզում եմ” (uzum em) — I want in Armenian. Verb, level A0, topic — at a café and a restaurant. from uzel. The present tense is uniform everywhere: stem + -um + the little linking verb. The politer kuzenayi means 'I would like'. In a live sentence: “Ես ուզում եմ թեյ” — I want tea. You can hear how it sounds right here. Written with the characters Ո, ւ, զ, ո, ւ, մ, ե, մ.
In short
| Written in Armenian | Ուզում եմ |
| Read in Latin letters | uzum em |
| Translation | I want |
| Part of speech | verb |
| Level | A0 |
- Ուզում եմuzum emI want
Why it looks that way
from uzel. The present tense is uniform everywhere: stem + -um + the little linking verb. The politer kuzenayi means 'I would like'
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.
- Ես ուզում եմ թեյyes uzum em t'eyI want tea
Nearby words: at a café and a restaurant
Order, ask the price, ask for the bill. A short and entirely predictable conversation — a convenient place to test yourself for the first time.
- Սուրճsurchcoffeedrinking is one verb for everything: surch khmel, t'ey khmel, jur khmel
- Թեյt'eyteawritten with t', a t on the exhale; with plain t it would be a different word
- Աղցանaghtsansaladfrom agh — salt: literally 'the salted thing'. The same root in aghi — salty
- Ապուրapursoupstress on the last syllable: a-PUR. Broth needs no separate word — just msi apur, 'meat soup'
- Հաշիվը, խնդրեմhashivə, khndremthe check, pleasehashiv — bill, -ə — the article: 'that very bill'. The same root in hashvel — to count, and hashvich — calculator
- Սրճարանsrcharancoffee shopsurch — coffee, but the u drops out in the derivative: srch-. The -aran ending marks a place: degharan, chasharan, gradaran
- Ճաշարանchasharancanteenfrom chash — lunch. It names both a factory canteen and an inexpensive place with hot food
- Սրճարանsrcharancafeyou already know this word as 'coffee shop': the place where coffee is drunk and friends sit is one word for an Armenian
- ԿրուասանkruasancroissantA borrowing spelled exactly as it sounds: k-r-u-a-s-a-n. The general word for sweet pastry is khmoreghen; the croissant is picked out of it by this very word
- ԿապուչինոkapuchinocappuccinoDoes not decline: only the article at the very end changes — kapuchino em uzum, kapuchinon tak e
Test yourself
Five questions from the same set — “at a café and a restaurant”. Recalling a spelling from meaning is harder than knowing a familiar word on sight, and therefore more useful.
- How do you say “I want” in Armenian?
from uzel. The present tense is uniform everywhere: stem + -um + the little linking verb. The politer kuzenayi means 'I would like'
- How do you say “canteen” in Armenian?
from chash — lunch. It names both a factory canteen and an inexpensive place with hot food
- How do you say “salad” in Armenian?
from agh — salt: literally 'the salted thing'. The same root in aghi — salty
- How do you say “cappuccino” in Armenian?
Does not decline: only the article at the very end changes — kapuchino em uzum, kapuchinon tak e
- How do you say “coffee shop” in Armenian?
surch — coffee, but the u drops out in the derivative: srch-. The -aran ending marks a place: degharan, chasharan, gradaran
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 “I want” in Armenian?
«Ուզում եմ», read “uzum em”. In a live sentence: “Ես ուզում եմ թեյ” — I want tea. You can hear how it sounds right on this page. Verb, level A0, from the set “at a café and a restaurant”; written with the characters Ո, ւ, զ, ո, ւ, մ, ե, մ.
How is “Ուզում եմ” written in Latin letters?
uzum em. 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?
from uzel. The present tense is uniform everywhere: stem + -um + the little linking verb. The politer kuzenayi means 'I would like'. 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.