Unit 1: Foundations of Armenian - Alphabet, Sound System, and First Structures
What Unit 1 asks you to know
Unit 1 builds the base on which all later units rest: the 38-letter Armenian alphabet (the aybuben), the distinction between capital (metsatar) and lowercase (pokratar) letters, and the fact that Armenian is written left to right in its own script. You must be able to name letters in alphabetical order, recognise the three letters added in the medieval period (օ, ֆ, and the ligature և), and understand that some letters represent sounds English spells with several letters (e.g. խ, ղ, ձ, ջ, ց, չ). Learn the seven-vowel system (ա, ե, է, ը, ի, ո, ու) and the rule that ը is often unwritten in speech but appears in writing to break up consonant clusters.
Grammar foundations
Expect the present tense of em (to be), personal pronouns, definite and indefinite articles (the suffix -ը/-ն and the word մի), singular and plural noun formation (-եր/-ներ), and basic word order (subject–object–verb). Recognise the difference between the nominative and the accusative-dative case, since this distinction drives later grammar.
Traps to watch
- Confusing ե and է, or ո and օ - these are separate letters with different histories, not spelling variants.
- Forgetting that ու is a single letter, not a combination of ո and ւ.
- Treating the Armenian plural as automatic: some nouns take -եր, others -ներ, depending on the final sound.
- Assuming English word order; Armenian verbs typically come last.
Worked example
Take the sentence "The student reads a book." Build it as Ուսանողը գիրք է կարդում - subject with definite suffix -ը, object in the accusative, and the auxiliary է placed before the participle. Rule of thumb: identify the definite subject first, then place the verb complex at the end.