Must-know Armenian Words and Phrases
I've been to Armenia twice now and stayed with an Armenian family, so I've compiled the words and phrases I found myself using most. Check them out!
There are differing levels of formality in the Armenian language, but going for informal speech has never been a problem for me (since I was among the family and friends of my best friend), so I'll only point out basic formal phrases (that you might use with strangers and the like). Also, formally one says "e" for "it", but in East Armenia colloquially "a" is more often used. I have used here the formal version ("tsurt e" rather than "tsurt a", etc).
Yes - Ayo, Այո (formal) / ha, Հա (informal) No - Voch, Ոչ (formal) / che, Չէ (informal) Good day - Barev dzez, Բարև Ձեզ (formal) / Barev, Բարև (informal) Good night - Bari gisher, Բարի գիշեր How are you - Inchpes ek, Ինչպե՞ս եք (formal) / vonts es, Ո՞նց ես (informal) Thank you - Shnorhakalutyun, Շնորհակալություն (formal) / merci, Մերսի (informal) You're welcome - Khntrem, Խնդրեմ I don't know - Chgitem, Չգիտեմ I know - Gitem, Գիտեմ I don't understand - Yes chem haskanum, Ես չեմ հասկանում I understand - Haskanum em, Հասկանում եմ Of course - Iharkeh, Իհարկէ It's cold - Tsurt e, Ցուրտ է I'm cold - Mrsum em, Մրսում եմ It's hot - Shoq e, Շոգ է I'm hot - Shoqum em, Շոգում եմ I'm tired - Hoqnats em, Հոգնած եմ I'm hungry - Sovats em, Սոված եմ Very - Shat, Շատ It tastes good - Hamov e, Համով է Water - Djur, Ջուր Food - Uteliq, ՈՒտելիք To eat - Utel, ՈՒտել I love you - Yes qez sirum em, Ես քեզ սիրում եմ Don't go - Mi gna, Մի գնա Come back soon - Shut kygas, Շուտ կգաս Come here - Ari stegh, Արի ստեղ (conversational) / Ari aystegh, Արի այստեղ (grammatically correct) One minute - Mi rope, Մի րոպե
My dear - ջան, jan (added to the end of names, words, etc - Sophie jan, akhchik jan (dear girl))
I will likely update this post sometime soon with an audio file so that you can hear the correct pronunciation of these various words and phrases, so stay tuned!
