և — yev
«yev» is a digraph of Western Armenian, the “The aybuben” script, read as “yev”. Read "yev"; at the end of a word — "ev". For example, in the word “Բարեւ” — hello. The Western Armenian alphabet has 40 letters in total. ե and ւ grown into one letter. It has no uppercase form: at the start of a word one writes Եւ. It appears, for example, in the word “Բարև” — hi.
In short
| Character | և |
| Name | yev |
| Sound | yev |
| What it is | a digraph |
In our course the character comes 4th of 40: the order here is not alphabetical but from familiar to unfamiliar, its neighbours in the course are ր and վ.
How it sounds
Read "yev"; at the end of a word — "ev"
The character in a word
A lone character is hard to remember: memory holds on to meaning, and a letter has none. The word it stands in provides that anchor.
- Բարեւparevhello
The character in the “the ligature” group
ե and ւ grown together. It has no uppercase form of its own: at the start of a word one writes Եւ.
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 (for «yev» it is “yev”, as in the word “Բարեւ”), 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 և read?
As “yev” — it is a digraph of the “The aybuben” script. Read "yev"; at the end of a word — "ev". For example, in the word “Բարեւ” — hello.
What is the letter և called?
Yev. A character's name and its sound are different things in the Western Armenian script: it is called “yev” and reads as “yev”. Learn the second one: the name only helps when the alphabet is recited aloud.
What can և be confused with?
ե and ւ grown into one letter. It has no uppercase form: at the start of a word one writes Եւ. 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.