Ամէն անգամ

In short

Why it looks that way

անգամ (ankam) is 'an occasion, a time'. Sentence-initial. With a clause it demands երբ (yerp): Ամէն անգամ (amen ankam), երբ (yerp) կու (gu) գաս, անձրեւ (antsrev) կու (gu) գայ (kay). Careful: a lone անգամ (ankam) already means 'even' — ես (yes) անգամ (ankam) չէի (chei) գիտեր (kider)

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.

• Ամէն անգամ նոյն բանը կը կրկնուի

  amen ankam noyn panə gə grgnui

  Every time the same thing repeats

Nearby words: time, days and hours

Today, tomorrow, in the morning, at six. You cannot arrange to meet without these — let alone understand the answer.

• Ժամ

  zham

  hour

  Both 'hour' and 'time' in general: ժամը (zhamə) ինին (inin) — at nine o'clock. Hence ժամադրութիւն (zhamatrut'yun), a date — an appointed hour. The ժ is zh, as in 'vision'
• Օր

  or

  day

  Same root in օրացոյց (oratsuyts), a calendar — literally a 'shower of days'. One syllable, and it looks like English 'or'
• Այսօր

  aysor

  today

  այս- (this) + օր (or) (day): 'this day'. Its partners երէկ (yereg) (yesterday) and վաղը (vaghə) (tomorrow) complete your first timeline
• Առաւօտ

  arravod

  morning

  Classical spelling writes աւ and օ: առաւօտ (arravod); the Eastern reformed spelling gives առավոտ. 'In the morning' grows a tail: առաւօտեան (arravodean)
• Երեկոյ

  yerego

  evening

  The կ sounds like g and the classical final յ stays silent: eh-reh-GO. 'In the evening' is երեկոյեան (yeregoyean)
• Գիշեր

  kisher

  night

  It appears in բարի գիշեր (pari kisher), good night. Same root in գիշերօթիկ, a boarding school. Say KISH-er
• Երէկ

  yereg

  yesterday

  Do not confuse երէկ (yereg), yesterday, with երեկոյ (yerego), evening
• Ե՞րբ պիտի գաք

  yerp bidi kak'

  when will you come?

  The future is built with պիտի (bidi): պիտի (bidi) գաք (kak) — you will come. Note the question mark ՞ sitting over ե՞րբ (yerp), not at the end of the line
• Ժամը քանիսի՞ն

  zhamə k'anisin

  at what time?

  Literally 'the hour at which one': ժամ (zham) is the hour
• Կ'ուշանամ

  g'ushanam

  I'm running late

  ուշ (ush) is late. In messages this is the most-sent phrase of them all

Test yourself

Five questions from the same set — “time, days and hours”. Recalling a spelling from meaning is harder than knowing a familiar word on sight, and therefore more useful.

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 times
  Kim & 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 times
  Adesope, 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 times
  Bertsch et al., 2007, Memory & Cognition 35(2) · 86 studies, 445 comparisons, d = 0.40.

Next

• Time, days and hours136 words on the topic
• Ժամանակ առ ժամանակ (zhamanag arr zhamanag) — from time to timeread “zhamanag arr zhamanag”
• Մինչ այժմ (minch ayzhm) — until nowread “minch ayzhm”
• Յանկարծ (hangardz) — suddenlyread “hangardz”
• Նախապէս (nakhabes) — in advanceread “nakhabes”
• All Western Armenian wordsIndex by topic
• Why a word list doesn't sticka note