LingoflyThe verb "to be": em, yes, e
The verb "to be" is a set of little words — em, yes, e. They hook onto the word in front of them and are pronounced together with it. "Yes lav em" — I am fine — is really one breath: yeslavem. For example: “Ես (yes) ուսանող (usanogh) եմ” (em) — I am a student. A rule from the Western Armenian course: worked out on examples, not memorized as a wording.
How it works
The verb "to be" is a set of little words — em, yes, e. They hook onto the word in front of them and are pronounced together with it. "Yes lav em" — I am fine — is really one breath: yeslavem.
It almost always comes after the word it agrees with, working like the 's in "she's". That is why "Inchbes es" ("how are you") sounds like a single word, inchbeses.
The verb itself is the same in the western and the eastern standard. The two norms part ways further on, in the present tense of full verbs.
Table
By example
How the rule settles in your head
A rule is not memorized from an explanation. It is memorized from an attempt to use it and a mistake — that is why the app delivers it mixed in with words, not as a separate lesson: it resurfaces exactly where you forgot it.
Frequently asked
Yes lav em meaning?
The verb "to be" is a set of little words — em, yes, e. They hook onto the word in front of them and are pronounced together with it. "Yes lav em" — I am fine — is really one breath: yeslavem.
What does em mean at the end of a sentence?
The verb "to be" is a set of little words — em, yes, e. They hook onto the word in front of them and are pronounced together with it. "Yes lav em" — I am fine — is really one breath: yeslavem.
How to say i am fine?
The verb "to be" is a set of little words — em, yes, e. They hook onto the word in front of them and are pronounced together with it. "Yes lav em" — I am fine — is really one breath: yeslavem.
Verb to be present tense endings?
The verb "to be" is a set of little words — em, yes, e. They hook onto the word in front of them and are pronounced together with it. "Yes lav em" — I am fine — is really one breath: yeslavem.
What does it look like in a Western Armenian example sentence?
“Ես (yes) ուսանող (usanogh) եմ” (em) (yes usanogh em) — I am a student. A rule is easier to test on sentences like this than to memorize as a wording: what surfaces in conversation is the sentence.