Դժվար է ասել
“Դժվար է ասել” (tzhvar e asel) — hard to say in Western Armenian. Phrase, level B1. An impersonal phrase: no doer, exactly like ցուրտ է, it is cold. What often follows is թէ: դժուար է ասել, թէ երբ — hard to say when. In a live sentence: “Դժվար է ասել, թե երբ կաւարտվի” — It is hard to say when this will end. Written with the characters Դ, ժ, վ, ա, ր, է, ա, ս, ե, լ.
In short
| Written in Western Armenian | Դժվար է ասել |
| Read in Latin letters | tzhvar e asel |
| Translation | hard to say |
| Part of speech | phrase |
| Level | B1 |
Why it looks that way
An impersonal phrase: no doer, exactly like ցուրտ է, it is cold. What often follows is թէ: դժուար է ասել, թէ երբ — hard to say when
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.
- Դժվար է ասել, թե երբ կաւարտվիtzhvar e asel, t'e yerp gavardviIt is hard to say when this will end
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 “hard to say” in Western Armenian?
«Դժվար է ասել», read “tzhvar e asel”. In a live sentence: “Դժվար է ասել, թե երբ կաւարտվի” — It is hard to say when this will end. Phrase, level B1; written with the characters Դ, ժ, վ, ա, ր, է, ա, ս, ե, լ.
How is “Դժվար է ասել” written in Latin letters?
tzhvar e asel. 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?
An impersonal phrase: no doer, exactly like ցուրտ է, it is cold. What often follows is թէ: դժուար է ասել, թէ երբ — hard to say when. A word with a story stays in memory longer than a “spelling — translation” pair: memory holds on to meaning, not to a string.