Կարողանալ
“Կարողանալ” (garoghanal) — to know how to in Western Armenian. Verb, level A2. This verb covers both 'can' and 'manage to' — there is no third. Skill, though, is said with գիտեմ plus the infinitive: լողալ գիտեմ — I know swimming, i.e. I can swim. In a live sentence: “Մեքենա վարել կրնամ” — I know how to drive a car. Written with the characters Կ, ա, ր, ո, ղ, ա, ն, ա, լ. A word from the everyday Western Armenian course, level A2.
In short
| Written in Western Armenian | Կարողանալ |
| Read in Latin letters | garoghanal |
| Translation | to know how to |
| Part of speech | verb |
| Level | A2 |
Why it looks that way
This verb covers both 'can' and 'manage to' — there is no third. Skill, though, is said with գիտեմ plus the infinitive: լողալ գիտեմ — I know swimming, i.e. I can swim
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.
- Մեքենա վարել կրնամmek'ena varel grnamI know how to drive a car
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 know how to” in Western Armenian?
«Կարողանալ», read “garoghanal”. In a live sentence: “Մեքենա վարել կրնամ” — I know how to drive a car. Verb, level A2; written with the characters Կ, ա, ր, ո, ղ, ա, ն, ա, լ.
How is “Կարողանալ” written in Latin letters?
garoghanal. 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?
This verb covers both 'can' and 'manage to' — there is no third. Skill, though, is said with գիտեմ plus the infinitive: լողալ գիտեմ — I know swimming, i.e. I can swim. A word with a story stays in memory longer than a “spelling — translation” pair: memory holds on to meaning, not to a string.