Լսելով հասկանալ
“Լսելով հասկանալ” (lselov hasganal) — to understand by ear in Western Armenian. Phrase, level B1. The instrumental -ով on an infinitive means 'by way of': լսելով, by listening. Built the same way: կարդալով, by reading, խոսելով, by speaking. In a live sentence: “կը Կարդամ լաւ, բայց լսելով դժուար եմ հասկանում” — I read well, but I understand by ear with difficulty. Written with the characters Լ, ս, ե, լ, ո, վ, հ, ա, ս, կ, ա, ն.
In short
| Written in Western Armenian | Լսելով հասկանալ |
| Read in Latin letters | lselov hasganal |
| Translation | to understand by ear |
| Part of speech | phrase |
| Level | B1 |
Why it looks that way
The instrumental -ով on an infinitive means 'by way of': լսելով, by listening. Built the same way: կարդալով, by reading, խոսելով, by speaking
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.
- կը Կարդամ լաւ, բայց լսելով դժուար եմ հասկանումgə Gartam lav, payts lselov tzhuar em hasganumI read well, but I understand by ear with difficulty
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 “to understand by ear” in Western Armenian?
«Լսելով հասկանալ», read “lselov hasganal”. In a live sentence: “կը Կարդամ լաւ, բայց լսելով դժուար եմ հասկանում” — I read well, but I understand by ear with difficulty. Phrase, level B1; written with the characters Լ, ս, ե, լ, ո, վ, հ, ա, ս, կ, ա, ն.
How is “Լսելով հասկանալ” written in Latin letters?
lselov hasganal. 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?
The instrumental -ով on an infinitive means 'by way of': լսելով, by listening. Built the same way: կարդալով, by reading, խոսելով, by speaking. A word with a story stays in memory longer than a “spelling — translation” pair: memory holds on to meaning, not to a string.