Իր
“Իր” (ir) — one's own in Western Armenian. Pronoun, level A1, topic — pronouns. Points back at the subject: իր գիրքը — his own book, while անոր գիրքը would be somebody else's. English draws the same line with 'his own' against 'his'. In a live sentence: “Նա ունի իր գործը” — He has his own business. Written with the characters Ի, ր. One of 25 words in the set “pronouns” in the Western Armenian course.
In short
| Written in Western Armenian | Իր |
| Read in Latin letters | ir |
| Translation | one's own |
| Part of speech | pronoun |
| Level | A1 |
Why it looks that way
Points back at the subject: իր գիրքը — his own book, while անոր գիրքը would be somebody else's. English draws the same line with 'his own' against 'his'
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.
- Նա ունի իր գործըna uni ir kordzəHe has his own business
Nearby words: pronouns
I, you, we, they. There is a handful of them, they turn up in every sentence, and politeness rides on them: most of these languages keep a formal “you” apart from a familiar one, and choosing the wrong one is noticed faster than a mispronounced word.
- ԵսyesIsounds exactly like the English word 'yes': the letter ե at the start of a word gives 'ye'
- ԴուtuyouFor family, children and peers; strangers get
դուք. The դ sounds like t: say 'too'. One syllable — the shortest word you will say all day - Դուքtuk'you (plural, formal)One word for the polite 'you' to a stranger and the plural 'you' to a group — English needs two words here, Armenian makes do with one
- ԱնanheArmenian has no grammatical gender: the same
անmeans he, she and it. The Eastern standard spells the same wordնա— one sound, two spellings - Մենքmenk'weThe ending -ք is the plural flag:
ես→մենք,դուն→դուք,ան→անոնք. Pronounce the k, as at the end of 'ink' - Անոնքanonk'theyThe Western 'they'. The Eastern standard says
նրանքfor the same job — the two norms split even their pronouns - ԻմimmyThe noun after it takes the article:
իմ տունը— my house, literally 'my the-house'. The other way is the tail -ս:տունս - Քոk'oyourThe tail version is -դ:
գիրքդ— your book. The polite 'your' isՁեր, spelled with a capital Ձ - ՄերmerourWatch the long ռ:
մերwith one trill is 'our', while the near-lookalikeմեռbelongs to dying and has no place at the dinner table - Ձերtseryour (polite)In polite address it is written with a capital:
Ձեր, exactly likeԴուք— you, polite. The everyday pair isքոon the previous card
Test yourself
Five questions from the same set — “pronouns”. Recalling a spelling from meaning is harder than knowing a familiar word on sight, and therefore more useful.
- How do you say “one's own” in Western Armenian?
Points back at the subject: իր գիրքը — his own book, while անոր գիրքը would be somebody else's. English draws the same line with 'his own' against 'his'
- How do you say “my” in Western Armenian?
The noun after it takes the article: իմ տունը — my house, literally 'my the-house'. The other way is the tail -ս: տունս
- How do you say “you (plural, formal)” in Western Armenian?
One word for the polite 'you' to a stranger and the plural 'you' to a group — English needs two words here, Armenian makes do with one
- How do you say “your (polite)” in Western Armenian?
In polite address it is written with a capital: Ձեր, exactly like Դուք — you, polite. The everyday pair is քո on the previous card
- How do you say “they” in Western Armenian?
The Western 'they'. The Eastern standard says նրանք for the same job — the two norms split even their pronouns
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 “one's own” in Western Armenian?
«Իր», read “ir”. In a live sentence: “Նա ունի իր գործը” — He has his own business. Pronoun, level A1, from the set “pronouns”; written with the characters Ի, ր.
How is “Իր” written in Latin letters?
ir. 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?
Points back at the subject: իր գիրքը — his own book, while անոր գիրքը would be somebody else's. English draws the same line with 'his own' against 'his'. A word with a story stays in memory longer than a “spelling — translation” pair: memory holds on to meaning, not to a string.