Բարև
“Բարև” (parev) — hi in Western Armenian. Interjection, level A0, topic — greetings and goodbyes. pa-REV, with the stress on the last syllable — where Armenian puts it almost always. In a live sentence: “Բարեւ, ի՞նչ նորութիւն” — Hi, what's new? Written with the characters Բ, ա, ր, և. One of 10 words in the set “greetings and goodbyes” in the Western Armenian course.
In short
| Written in Western Armenian | Բարև |
| Read in Latin letters | parev |
| Translation | hi |
| Part of speech | interjection |
| Level | A0 |
How to pronounce it
pa-REV, with the stress on the last syllable — where Armenian puts it almost always
Why it looks that way
Literally բարի (good) + արեւ (sun) — 'good sun'. The opening letter բ sounds like a plain p in the West: your first taste of Western reading
A word with a story stays in memory longer than one learned as a “spelling — translation” pair: memory holds on to meaning, not to a string.
In a live sentence
A single word almost never appears alone in conversation. A sentence shows where it fits and what stands next to it.
- Բարեւ, ի՞նչ նորութիւնparev, inch norut'yunHi, what's new?
Nearby words: greetings and goodbyes
Every conversation starts here, and so does every first impression: say hello in the local language and you stop being a stranger in about a second.
- Բարեւ ձեզparev tsezhelloEnds with
ձեզ— 'to you'. The version for strangers, elders and anyone you would not call by their first name - Բարի լոյսpari luysgood morningBuilt like every daypart hello:
բարի(good) +լոյս(light) — 'good light'. The classical spelling writes ոյ but you say 'ooee': loo-EESS - Բարի օրpari orgood afternoonThe neutral daytime greeting. Same opener
բարիas inբարեւandբարի լոյս;օրis 'day' - Բարի երեկոյpari yeregoygood evening
երեկոյis 'evening', and կ sounds like g here: eh-reh-GO. Morning, afternoon and evening all build the same way:բարի+ the time of day - Ցտեսութիւնtsdesut'yungoodbyeFrom
տեսնել, to see: literally 'until we see each other'. The full, formal farewell — the casual parting isհաջող - ՀաջողhachoghbyeThe informal parting between friends. The letter ջ sounds like ch as in 'church' here: ha-CHOGH, never with a j — and the final gh is a light throat scrape
- Ինչպէ՞ս եսinchbes yeshow are you?Classical spelling writes է where the Eastern standard writes ե:
ինչպէս. The question mark ՞ does not wait for the end of the sentence — it sits over the stressed syllable of the word being asked about - Ինչպէ՞ս եքinchbes ek'how are you? (formal)The verb ends in -ք, the polite turn: elders and strangers get this one. The
-եսform is for your own circle - Բարի գիշերpari kishergood nightThe same
բարի, good, as in good morning and good evening — said when parting for sleep, not when meeting in the evening
Test yourself
Five questions from the same set — “greetings and goodbyes”. Recalling a spelling from meaning is harder than knowing a familiar word on sight, and therefore more useful.
- How do you say “hi” in Western Armenian?
Literally բարի (good) + արեւ (sun) — 'good sun'. The opening letter բ sounds like a plain p in the West: your first taste of Western reading
- How do you say “how are you?” in Western Armenian?
Classical spelling writes է where the Eastern standard writes ե: ինչպէս. The question mark ՞ does not wait for the end of the sentence — it sits over the stressed syllable of the word being asked about
- How do you say “good evening” in Western Armenian?
երեկոյ is 'evening', and կ sounds like g here: eh-reh-GO. Morning, afternoon and evening all build the same way: բարի + the time of day
- How do you say “hello” in Western Armenian?
Ends with ձեզ — 'to you'. The version for strangers, elders and anyone you would not call by their first name
- How do you say “how are you? (formal)” in Western Armenian?
The verb ends in -ք, the polite turn: elders and strangers get this one. The -ես form is for your own circle
How not to forget this word
Reading a word and remembering it are different jobs. A day later, little survives of a single reading — and that is not bad memory, that is how memory works.
- This has been tested on foreign words too. The difference shows up most when you test yourself a few days later rather than straight away.checked many timesKim & Webb, 2022, Language Learning 72(2) · 48 experiments, 3,411 participants, 98 comparisons.
- Recalling beats re-reading. Covering the translation and trying to remember it does more than reading it ten more times.checked many timesAdesope, Trevisan & Sundararajan, 2017, Review of Educational Research 87(3) · 188 experiments, 272 comparisons. g = 0.61; against plain re-reading 0.51, against passive review 0.93.
- An answer you worked out yourself sticks better than one handed to you.checked many timesBertsch et al., 2007, Memory & Cognition 35(2) · 86 studies, 445 comparisons, d = 0.40.
Frequently asked
How do you say “hi” in Western Armenian?
«Բարև», read “parev”. pa-REV, with the stress on the last syllable — where Armenian puts it almost always. In a live sentence: “Բարեւ, ի՞նչ նորութիւն” — Hi, what's new? Interjection, level A0, from the set “greetings and goodbyes”; written with the characters Բ, ա, ր, և.
How is “Բարև” written in Latin letters?
parev. This is a practical spelling — you need it to read aloud and be understood, not to meet an academic standard.
Why does this word look the way it does?
Literally բարի (good) + արեւ (sun) — 'good sun'. The opening letter բ sounds like a plain p in the West: your first taste of Western reading. A word with a story stays in memory longer than a “spelling — translation” pair: memory holds on to meaning, not to a string.