Թանկ
“Թանկ” (t'ang) — expensive in Western Armenian. Adjective, level A1, topic — shopping and money. About prices and about people alike: թանկ ընկեր — a dear friend. English draws the same double line with 'dear'. In a live sentence: “Սա ինծի համար թանկ է” — This is expensive for me. Written with the characters Թ, ա, ն, կ. One of 88 words in the set “shopping and money” in the Western Armenian course.
In short
| Written in Western Armenian | Թանկ |
| Read in Latin letters | t'ang |
| Translation | expensive |
| Part of speech | adjective |
| Level | A1 |
Why it looks that way
About prices and about people alike: թանկ ընկեր — a dear friend. English draws the same double line with 'dear'
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.
- Սա ինծի համար թանկ էsa indzi hamar t'ang eThis is expensive for me
Nearby words: shopping and money
How much it costs, whether there is a smaller one, whether cards are accepted. A shop forgives mistakes: miss a word and they will show you the thing with their hands anyway.
- Խանութkhanut'storeThe ending -ութ turns a verb into the place where it happens:
խան-(to trade) +-ութ— the trading place. A pattern worth spotting - ՇուկայshugaymarketClassical spelling adds a final յ:
շուկայ. An old trade word you will recognize across the whole region — say shoo-GUY - ԲանկpangbankAn international word, but the բ sounds like p in the West: 'pangk'. Your first bank where the b reads p
- Վաճառասեղանvajarraseghanmarket counter
վաճառել(to sell) +սեղան(table): literally 'the selling table'. The ռ in the middle is a full rolled rr, and both halves will come back as words of their own - ՎաճառողvajarroghsellerSame root
վաճառ-as in the market counter. The ending -ող turns a verb into its doer: literally 'the selling one' - ԳնորդknortbuyerFrom
գնել, to buy. The same -ող doer-ending as inվաճառող, the seller — one buys, the other sells - Կշեռքgsherrk'scalesFrom
կշռել, to weigh. Armenian keeps it singular — oneկշեռք— where English insists on a pair of scales - ԿիլոգրամgilokramkilogramAt the market you will almost always hear the short form
կիլօ:մէկ կիլօ պոմիտոր— a kilo of tomatoes - Թարմt'armfreshStarts with the breathy թ, a t on an exhale. The key word of every market:
թարմ հաց, fresh bread,թարմ ձուկ, fresh fish - ՀասածhasadzripeFrom
հասնիլ, to arrive or to ripen: a ripe fruit is literally one that has 'arrived'. The -ած ending marks a finished state — you will see it again
Test yourself
Five questions from the same set — “shopping and money”. Recalling a spelling from meaning is harder than knowing a familiar word on sight, and therefore more useful.
- How do you say “expensive” in Western Armenian?
About prices and about people alike: թանկ ընկեր — a dear friend. English draws the same double line with 'dear'
- How do you say “scales” in Western Armenian?
From կշռել, to weigh. Armenian keeps it singular — one կշեռք — where English insists on a pair of scales
- How do you say “bank” in Western Armenian?
An international word, but the բ sounds like p in the West: 'pangk'. Your first bank where the b reads p
- How do you say “ripe” in Western Armenian?
From հասնիլ, to arrive or to ripen: a ripe fruit is literally one that has 'arrived'. The -ած ending marks a finished state — you will see it again
- How do you say “buyer” in Western Armenian?
From գնել, to buy. The same -ող doer-ending as in վաճառող, the seller — one buys, the other sells
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 “expensive” in Western Armenian?
«Թանկ», read “t'ang”. In a live sentence: “Սա ինծի համար թանկ է” — This is expensive for me. Adjective, level A1, from the set “shopping and money”; written with the characters Թ, ա, ն, կ.
How is “Թանկ” written in Latin letters?
t'ang. 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?
About prices and about people alike: թանկ ընկեր — a dear friend. English draws the same double line with 'dear'. A word with a story stays in memory longer than a “spelling — translation” pair: memory holds on to meaning, not to a string.