Texts in Western Armenian
Short texts in Western Armenian with a translation alongside and comprehension questions, levels A1–B1. The first ones need two or three hundred everyday words; the B1 texts need about three thousand. The translation stands next to it whole, not word by word: stopping at every other word tears the sentence apart.
All texts
- 📖A morning in YerevanA1 · Good morning. I am Anna. I live in Yerevan. In the morning I drink coffee and eat bread…
- 📖At the marketA2 · On Saturday we go to the market. The market is close — ten minutes on foot. There are…
- 📖The market or the shopA2 · I love the market. The fruits there are fresh and cheaper than in the shop. The seller…
- 📖My apartmentA1 · I rented an apartment in Yerevan. It is on the third floor, and there is no lift. The…
- 📖At the doctor'sA2 · Yesterday I felt bad. My head ached; there was a fever. In the morning I made an…
- 📖The seasons of the yearA1 · Winter in Yerevan is cold but sunny. In January it snows, and the city turns white. In…
- 📖My working dayA2 · I am a teacher at a school. My working day starts at eight o'clock. On Mondays and…
- 📖Two nights in GyumriA2 · Last week I went to Gyumri by train. The ticket was one-way, and I had a seat by the…
- 📖A day on the shore of Lake SevanA2 · On Sunday my friends and I went to Sevan. On the beach the sand was hot, and the water…
- 📖A new coatA2 · Winter is coming, and I need a new coat. In the shop there were black and gray coats. The…
- 📖My friendA2 · Aram is my oldest friend. He is tall, with a beard, and he always laughs. By character he…
- 📖Dinner at a restaurantA2 · Yesterday my friend and I had dinner in old Yerevan. The waiter brought the menu and…
- 📖I left my phone at homeA2 · In the morning I was in a hurry and forgot my phone at home. At work I realized I could…
- 📖The barbershop and the workshopA2 · On Saturday morning I went to the barbershop, because my hair was very long. I asked for…
- 📖A concert by the CascadeA2 · A friend said that on Friday evening there would be a free concert by the Cascade. I love…
- 📖A feast at a monasteryA2 · On Sunday our whole family went to Geghard — an ancient monastery in the mountains. On…
- 📖Grandmother's yardA2 · My grandmother's house in the village has a low roof and a big yard. In the yard, by the…
- 📖The exams of the first semesterA2 · In January the exams of the first semester began. The hardest was chemistry, and I…
- 📖The monthly budgetA2 · At the beginning of the month my wife and I sit down and draw up the family budget. We…
- 📖Two days in hospitalA2 · On Monday morning my stomach ached badly, and my wife called an ambulance. At the…
- 📖The first month at a new jobB1 · For two months I looked for work and replied to ten advertisements. From three places I…
- 📖The new apartment in the third entranceB1 · The realtor showed us three apartments, and the last one was the best. The apartment we…
- 📖Four days by carA2 · In summer we rented a car for four days and drove around Armenia. On the first day we…
- 📖The news not worth believingB1 · Yesterday I saw a post on a social network: the headline was screaming, and thousands of…
- 📖An application to the policeB1 · On Tuesday evening my bag was stolen in the metro. Inside were my passport, my ID card…
- 📖Two jobs, one decisionB1 · Last month I received two job offers and could not decide for a long time. On the one…
- 📖An ordinary morningA2 · Usually I wake up at seven, but on Thursday I overslept. First I drink coffee, then I…
- 📖Two sisters, two charactersA2 · Ani and Lusine are sisters, but not at all alike. Ani is tall and slim, with curly hair…
- 📖Two weeks of silenceB1 · Last month my friend and I quarrelled and did not speak for two weeks. It all began with…
- 📖My grandmother's eggplants in the ovenA2 · On Sunday I cook eggplants by my grandmother's recipe. First I clean the vegetables and…
- 📖The shoes that didn't fitB1 · Last week I bought shoes at the mall. In the shop window they were very beautiful, of…
- 📖The washing machine is making a noiseB1 · Two weeks ago the washing machine began to make a noise and heat up. At first I thought a…
- 📖A thunderstorm in the villageA2 · In August I was in my grandmother's village. In the morning it was sunny, and we went to…
- 📖In the new districtB1 · Last month we moved to the outskirts of the city. It is calmer here, the air is clean and…
- 📖How I am learning ArmenianB1 · I have been learning Armenian for a year, and the progress is noticeable. At first I…
- 📖Two cities, one lifeB1 · I was born in a small city, and my childhood passed in my grandmother's garden. In my…
- 📖A call not understoodA2 · Yesterday I received a call from an unknown number, and the connection was very bad. I…
- 📖The first day at the factoryA2 · The first day at the factory began with a safety briefing. The guard at the entrance gave…
- 📖The contract I didn't readB1 · I signed the internet contract without reading a single clause to the end. I thought the…
- 📖Cleaning the riverbankB1 · In spring the residents of our block decided to clean the river bank. The volunteers…
- 📖The book I rememberB1 · The novel I read at twelve I remember to this day. The cover was torn, and the first…
- 📖My first marathonA2 · I signed up for my first marathon at forty. For three months I trained every morning…
- 📖The measurements didn't matchA2 · We ordered a table for the kitchen and measured the wall — a meter and a half. The seller…
- 📖I got infected at the officeB1 · On Monday my roommate was coughing, but he did not put on a mask. On Wednesday I too…
- 📖The housewarmingA2 · The neighbors bought a new apartment and on Sunday held a housewarming. We brought bread…
- 📖The dispute that was settledB1 · At the meeting there were two points of view: some wanted to move to the centre, others…
- 📖If I had knownB1 · On Friday evening I decided to go to Gyumri, although the weather was spoiling. A friend…
- 📖The restoration of an old chairA2 · Grandmother's chair stood on the balcony and was already worn out. The wood had faded…
- 📖Lost in the forestA2 · On Saturday we went to the forest and decided to go straight across. Half an hour later…
- 📖The market calculationB1 · Every week the seller counts how much goods to bring. In summer peach sales double, and…
- 📖The decision that dragged onB1 · The roof of the house had to be replaced back in spring, but we put it off. In summer the…
- 📖The test at the laboratoryB1 · The scientists studied the water of the river for three months. Every week they took a…
- 📖The village over the yearsA2 · My grandfather was born in this village in the middle of the last century. In those years…
- 📖The river that was cleanedB1 · For twenty years the factory's waste waters flowed into the river, and the fish almost…
- 📖One day at the workshopB1 · In the morning everyone gathers for the briefing, then puts on the work clothes. The…
- 📖The train that was delayedA2 · Once I was going to my parents and was late for the station. Just at that moment it was…
- 📖The neighbor who kept silentB1 · The new neighbor was reserved and hardly spoke to us. In the yard they gossiped that he…
How to read a text in a language you barely know
First pass — all the way through, without peeking at the translation. The goal is not to understand but to catch familiar words: there will be more of them than you expect, and that feeling matters more than any rule.
Second pass — with the translation beside you. Now it becomes clear what exactly was in the way: an unknown word, a construction you did not get, or just reading speed.
Third pass — all the way through again. The second pass brings noticeably more, and this step is what makes reading useful: it turns analysis into recognition.
Frequently asked
What level do you need to read texts in Western Armenian?
A1–B1. For the first texts the letters and two or three hundred everyday words are enough; the B1 texts need about three thousand. The translation sits next to it, so an unknown word does not stop the reading.
How many times should you reread the text?
Three times: without the translation, with it, and without it again. The third pass is what all of this is for — the second time you recognize noticeably more.