Պ պ — pe
«pe» is a consonant of Western Armenian, the “The aybuben” script, read as “b”. Read "b" — the former voiceless turned voiced. The Western Armenian alphabet has 40 letters in total. Պանիր is "banir", cheese. In the eastern standard the same letter reads "p". It appears, for example, in the word “Ինչպէ՞ս ես” — how are you?
In short
| Character | Պ պ |
| Name | pe |
| Sound | b |
| What it is | a consonant |
In our course the character comes 28th of 40: the order here is not alphabetical but from familiar to unfamiliar, its neighbours in the course are փ and ք, appears in 450 words of this site.
How it sounds
Read "b" — the former voiceless turned voiced
The character in the “triplets: where the western reading turns the letters over” group
Five triplets, fifteen letters — and in each triplet the norms read them differently. The former voiced բ, դ, գ, ձ, ջ now sound like plain p, t, k, ts, ch. The former voiceless պ, տ, կ, ծ, ճ turned voiced: b, d, g, dz, j. The aspirated փ, թ, ք, ց, չ kept their puff of air. If you have seen the eastern norm, these ten letters have to be turned over.
Words with this character
How to remember this character
A single letter is the hardest thing to remember: memory has nothing to hold on to — a character has no meaning. A three-step loop works: see the character, try to recall the sound, see the right answer.
And come back to it the next day, not in an hour: a check a day or two later beats a check the same day. Nobody holds the whole alphabet — 40 letters — at once.
- 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.
Frequently asked
How does the Western Armenian character պ read?
As “b” — it is a consonant of the “The aybuben” script. Read "b" — the former voiceless turned voiced.
What is the letter պ called?
Pe. A character's name and its sound are different things in the Western Armenian script: it is called “pe” and reads as “b”. Learn the second one: the name only helps when the alphabet is recited aloud.
What can պ be confused with?
Պանիր is "banir", cheese. In the eastern standard the same letter reads "p". Similar characters are best studied side by side and deliberately compared: learned on different days, they stay separate and get mixed up at their first meeting inside a word.