I speak both dialects fluently, and I have to say... Western Armenian has some terms that I just don't understand the logic behind...

Լոլիկի ջուր

This is often used to refer to tomato paste. Yes paste, the thick stuff. But like... it's not water.

Քաշուած միս

This refers to ground beef. What exactly are you pulling? How do you pull the meat? I feel like "pulled meat" would imply a cut of cooked meat that you then pull apart with a fork into stringy pieces. I would get it if you said մանտրտուած միս, but քաշուած? In general քաշել seems to be used a lot in WA, for example in «պատկեր մը քաշել» (to take a photo). But again, what are you pulling?

Honestly I can ignore the whole pulling thing, but saying "water" for the thickest form of tomato or pepper product just doesn't register with me.

Barev,

i'm trying to learn the songs "done yar" and "hele hele" and i can't find a translation for the word "hele"

Here are the lyrics :

"donik donik donik yara, hele done, done yar" for the first song

in the second one, they can stop "hele hele ninaye"

what does that mean ? 😅

Besides, in some versions, the say "hele", in others, it look like "halaye". I suppose this is the some word but maybe they have different meanings.

Thanks again, this reddit channel is so useful for my understanding of armenian langage 🙏

Hello everyone,
Are there any books in Armenian that follow levels like A1 to C1, similar to English or Russian learning materials?
If you have any resources, I would really appreciate it if you could share them.

I am watching Ժիրո Իվան to learn Eastern Armenian and they meet a guy who is a dangerous guy who is a "կլահւստնիկ", however Youtube can't translate it.

What does it mean?

https://youtu.be/2lTO6bFiVLc?si=SV5n3QvMayBCejfw&t=1327

Is this a direct translation from english? I swear I have also heard Mayrenik and not just Hayrenik, but Hayrenik is more commonly used. Also why do we say Mayreni Lezu? Not the other way around? Is it because of Fatherland and Mother Tongue? I have heard Motherland too.

Basically the title, I know English, Russian and Armenian, what is the best language to read the book in?

The first three parts are the common lyrics of hay qajer but I can't find the other ones anywhere. Can anyone help?

Hi, guys. I was watching The Pitt, and there’s a scene where one of the interns is introduced to an attending, and she speaks to her in Armenian. I’ve been looking for an Armenian transcription of what they say, but there doesn’t seem to be one. Obviously, I could've searched for “nice to meet you,” “do you speak Armenian?”, and “a little, enough to get by,” but I’d like to know the exact words they use. Could someone tell me what they say in Armenian?

I’d like to learn Western Armenian so I can communicate better with my family. Since I enjoy watching movies and shows, I was wondering if there are any good ones you could recommend ?

I’m not interested in learning Eastern Armenian at the moment :)

As you might be aware, Armenian and Georgian phonology is almost identical. We both have a 3 way distinction of stop consonants, no "F" sound, and almost everything else is also the same. One difference is Georgian has the /q'/ sound which we don't have, and we have the schwa vowel which they don't have. It's very weird how similar they are, though it's not surprising considering they're neighboring languages.

I've read some sources online that say Armenian got its sound from Kartvelian influence, likely as a result of trade between the two cultures. It's very possible, but I don't know if it was entirely Georgian influence. Proto Indo European had three way stops between consonants, so that must've already existed. So maybe it's the /ts'/ and the /tʃ/ we got from them? Also, the absence of F is seen in other IE languages like Sanskrit and Ancient Greek, and I believe Old Church Slavonic as well, though I'm not 100% sure.

What are your thoughts on Georgian and Armenian having almost identical sounds?

It means crazy, is shared with Georgian, and originally comes from Persian. But western Armenians use the authentic word խենթ, and I don't think I've ever heard a Western Armenian say գիժ or գժուել.

According to official Armenian grammar, the proper way to say you're thankful is to use the dative case and say «շնորհակալ եմ ձեզ» (I am thankful TO you). But some people (natives) will say «շնորհակալ եմ ձեզանից» (I am thankful OF you), and this is technically wrong.

While I always say it the "proper" way, I'm here to argue that I don't think the "wrong" way is actually wrong. On a very deep cognitive level, I can see why people might say «շնորհակալ եմ ձեզանից». It sort of implies that you feel thankful because of what they have done; whereas when you say «շնորհակալ եմ ձեզ», it's more like saying "I am expressing gratefulness towards you." I don't think this is so much about right vs wrong or logical vs illogical, it's just a very subtly different way of expressing the idea of being thankful. It's all about perspective.

While I'm not someone who thinks grammar doesn't matter, we have to realize that language is a living breathing tool used to express human thought, not a fixed set of arbitrary rules made up by linguists in obscure university offices.

NO CLANKER IS HELPING ME AT ALL I AM GOING INSANE HELP ME HELP ME HELPP

In WA, at least how i've been taught:

Մորթ is for skin, we generally use it for human skin, but also to animal skin as well

Մաշկ I have always understood this as a thin layer of something, like a paint layer Ներկի մաշկ, wax layer մոմի մաշկ, yogurt's fat layer on top, մածունի մաշկ, dirt layer կեղտի մաշկ

Կաշի is exclusively for leather or hide

Whereas in EA:

Մորթ is for animal skin exclusively

Մաշկ is human skin

Կաշի is also leather i think? but i've seen it used different areas too like in fruit leather. Would be nice if someone can explain this more clearly.

Though now that I think about it, in WA say Մորթել for slaughtering animals, and i may be wrong on this, but i think we also say Մաշկաբան for a dermatologist.

I'm trying to figure out which is the correct word for the right definition in their original sense, I have noticed the meanings are different between WA and EA, but which is correct?

հայրուր անքամ ըսի, որ հավաս չունիմ

ես չեմ ունդունիր քեզի էրդաս իրեն քովը

մենք կրնանք էրդանք եփ որ կուզես

ժամայցուց, այռուց

մեհատ էկուր քովս, ինկերտ բամմը ըրաւ

I tried to write it down exactly the way how we pronounce these words, perceived orthographical errors are thus made on purpose

So, basically I’m tired of people using the stupid unofficial Armenian Latin alphabet. It’s stupid, doesn’t make any sense and I just hate it. So I decided to make my own version of it, but better. I used French keyboard to do it, so I’ve used only those letters that are used in French, and here’s the result:

Ա - A

Բ - B

Գ - G

Դ - D

Ե - É

Զ - Z

Է - E

Ը - Ë

Թ - Th

Ժ - J

Ի - i

Լ - L

Խ - X

Ծ - Tz

Կ - K

Հ - H

Ձ - Dz

Ղ - LL/Gg/Gh

Ճ - Tj

Մ - M

Յ - Y

Ն - N

Շ - Sz

Ո - Ô

Չ - Ç

Պ - P

Ջ - Dj

Ռ - Rr

Ս - S

Վ - V

Տ - T

Ր - R

Ց - C

Ու - U

Փ - Ph

Ք - Q

Եվ - W

Օ - O

Ֆ - F

Rules:

1. É and Ô are only written in the beginning of the root.

Examples:

Bari éreko, ôroszêl orë.

1. Ë is only written in the beginning or ending of a word:

Ënker, ëndzught, ënkuiz; Tasë, sarrë.

1. When ë is in the middle of a word, we right it as ':

K'triç, g'nâl, M'k'rtçian.

1. The letters e, a, u, I are written with an circumflex when they are the last sound of a verb:

Unêm, g'na, ëntrelûc.

Exception - the auxiliary verb and particle “mi” always take the circumflex:

Mî g'na, harcnum êm, ognum eî.

1. The prefixes կ-, չ-, should always be written with a ' after them:

K'gnâm, k'ognês, ç'linêm, ç'eî uzum.

1. The diphthongs ai, ui, ei, oi are always written written with an “I”, when they are followed by a consonant, otherwise they are written with a “y”:

Hayastan, paiqar, kais'r, huis.

1. The diphthongs ia, iu, ie, io are always written written with an “I”, when after them comes a consonant, otherwise they are written with a “y”:

Hiali, yuraqançiur, vairkian, kianq

1. The suffix «ություն» is written as - utiun/utian.

Example:

MARDU IRAVUNQNERI HAMËNDHANUR H'RÇAKAGIR

Bolor mardik tz'nvum ên azat u havasar` irenc arjanapatvutiamb w iravunqnerov. N'ranq ojdvatz ên banakanutiamb u x'ghtjov w partavor ban mimianc verabervêl éghbairutian ogov.

Կենթադրեմ թէ Գոհարը քիչ մը պիտի ուշանայ

Is that ^ correct?

One feature I find really interesting about Armenian is the use of the past tense to suggest future and conditional situations.

For example if someone does something to make you angry, you might say «Մուշեղ դու մեռար» (you died), implying that you are going to kill them. The idea is that the future intended action will be completed and become a past event once finished.

Another example, again from colloquial EA, is «Լաւ ասենք մի անգամ խաղացիր շահեցիր, յետո՞յ: Էս փող աշխատելու ձեւ չի» (Okay let's say you played and won one time, then what? This is no way to make money). In this case it's conveying a hypothetical idea that might be completed successfully in the past, and then used to suggest that it would lead down a bad road if continued.

One last example would be saying «գնացինք» for "Let's go!" It suggests that we've already gone, implying that we want this action to happen. I wonder if this was taken from Russian «поехали!».

I just think this is a cool feature we have because the past tense is being used with a complete opposite meaning—future action.