LingoflyՑ ց — tso
«tso» is a consonant of the Western Armenian script, the aybuben, read as “ts'”. A ts with a noticeable puff of air. The Western Armenian alphabet has 38 letters in total. It sounds the same as ձ: the two are kept apart in writing, not by ear. It appears, for example, in the word “Ցտեսութիւն” (tsdesut'yun) — goodbye.
In short
| Character | Ց ց |
| Name | tso |
| Sound | ts' |
| What it is | a consonant |
In our course the character comes 30th of 40: the order here is not alphabetical but from familiar to unfamiliar, its neighbours in the course are ք and ծ, appears in 483 words of this site.
How to type Ց ց
- On a phone: add the Armenian keyboard in the keyboard settings (Gboard on Android; Keyboards in the iPhone settings).
- In Word on Windows: type U+0581 and press Alt+X right after it — the code turns into the character.
- On a Mac: switch to the Unicode Hex Input source, hold Option and type 0581.
- Unicode code points: ց — U+0581, Ց — U+0551. With them, the characters can be found in the character map of any system.
How it sounds
A ts with a noticeable puff of air
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 p, t, k, ts, ch with a puff of air. 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 read 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 — 38 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 ց read?
As “ts'” — it is a consonant of the Western Armenian script, the aybuben. A ts with a noticeable puff of air.
What is the letter ց called?
Tso. A character's name and its sound are different things in the Western Armenian script: it is called “tso” and reads as “ts'”. Learn the second one: the name only helps when the alphabet is recited aloud.