Pronunciation guide

How to read and say Armenian

Letters, sounds and stress from Wikivoyage's Armenian phrasebook. Then hear the phrases and practice them, free.

Armenian language has its own unique alphabet of 39 letters (not rather similar to Hebrew characters) invented by Mesrop Mashtots in 405 AD. The appearance of it seems quite complex compared to Latin, but unlike English and many other languages, the spelling of Armenian is quite phonetic, so once you know the pronunciation of each letter, reading should not be a problem. On the other hand the reproduction of some sounds may be a bit difficult for foreigners, since Armenian has several unique consonants.

Words are stressed on the last syllable.

Here are the uppercase and lowercase versions of each letter, followed by its name in English and a pronunciation hint.

Vowels

Ա/ա ayb: like father
Ե/ե yech: like pet, but like yet when at the beginning of the word
Է/է eh: like pet
Ը/ը ət: like about (schwa)
Ի/ի eeni: like meet
Ո/ո vo: like dog, but like voice when at the beginning of the word
Ու/ու oo: like soon

Semi-Vowels

Յ/յ hee: like yes
Հ/հ hoh: like horse

Consonants

Բ/բ ben: like big
Գ/գ gim: like goat
Դ/դ da: like dark
Զ/զ za: like zoo
Թ/թ toh: like tiger, aspirated
Ժ/ժ zhe: like measure
Լ/լ lyun: like light
Խ/խ kheh: like Scottish loch or German Aachen
Ծ/ծ tsa: like cats
Կ/կ ken: like keep, unaspirated
Ձ/ձ dza: like beds
Ղ/ղ ghat: like French guttural "r", alternatively like Baghdad

Ճ/ճ tcheh: like church
Մ/մ men: like mouse
Ն/ն noo: like north
Շ/շ sha: like shark
Չ/չ cha: like chicken
Պ/պ peh: like sport, unaspirated
Ջ/ջ jeh: like jar
Ռ/ռ ra: rolled "r" as in Spanish
Ս/ս seh: like swim
Վ/վ vev: like vote
Տ/տ tyoon: like stop, unaspirated
Ր/ր reh: soft "r", like rest
Ց/ց tsoh: like tsunami
Փ/փ pyoor: like pot, aspirated
Ք/ք qeh: like question, aspirated
Ֆ/ֆ feh: like fork

Letter և (yev)

ԵՎ/և yev: like devil, but read yev when at the beginning of the word