Armenian Corner

Sevag Tateosian
staff writer

Hello and Parev to all. Welcome to this easy class on how to speak Western Armenian!

It is very easy to learn Armenian. In the following section, I will be teaching you basic phrases that you would hear in Western Armenian. If you are excited about what you read, and would like to learn more of this beautiful language, feel free to register for the Armenian 1A language course that is offered at Fresno State in the fall semester. The instructor for this course is Barlow Der Mugrdechian. Professor Der Mugrdechian has been teaching Armenian Language for about twenty years. Along with this course he teaches many other courses in the Armenian Studies Program. You don’t have to know a word of Armenian to enroll in this course. The course will slowly teach you the basics of the Armenian language as well as teach you how to read and write using the Armenian alphabet, which was developed over sixteen hundred years ago. OK! Let’s begin.

To say hello in Armenian, you simply say Parev

To ask how the individual is doing? You say Inch Bes Es?

A common response to inch bes es would be Lav em Which means I am good. If you aren’t good that day you would say Lav chem. I am not good. If you are sick, you would say hevant em Hevant means sick and em means I am.

If you see a friend of yours out walking, you could ask Oor gertas Which means, Where are you going? Oor means where and gertas means are you going.

If your friend is going home, he/she would say Doon gertam Doon means home and gertam means I am going.

If your friend is going shopping for clothes he/she would say Hackousty khanout gertam Hackousty means of clothing, khanout means store and we know that gertam means I am going, so I am going to a store of clothing.
Well I thank you for taking the time to learn these simple phases. Until next time Ge des na veenk we will see each other.