The Armenian alphabet: all 39 letters, with audio

Armenian is written in its own alphabet, from left to right, with capital and lowercase letters like English. Good news: spelling is very regular. Once you know the letters, you can read almost any word out loud.

The 39 letters and their sounds

Tap a letter to hear it. Under each letter: its romanization and a similar English sound.

• Ա աaa as in father
• Բ բbb as in boat
• Գ գghard g as in go
• Դ դdd as in dog
• Ե եe / yee as in bed; ye at the start of a word
• Զ զzz as in zebra
• Է էeopen e as in bed (at the start of a word)
• Ը ըəsilent e, the schwa (like the a in about)
• Թ թt’aspirated t (with a puff of air)
• Ժ ժž (zh)zh as in measure
• Ի իii as in machine
• Լ լll as in lamp
• Խ խx (kh)rasping kh (like Scottish loch or German Bach)
• Ծ ծc (ts)crisp ts, unaspirated (like cats)
• Կ կkcrisp k, unaspirated (as in skip)
• Հ հhbreathy h as in hello
• Ձ ձzh (dz)voiced dz (as in adze)
• Ղ ղġ (gh)French guttural r (like the R in Paris)
• Ճ ճč (ch)crisp ch, unaspirated (like match, cut short)
• Մ մmm as in mum
• Յ յyy as in yoga
• Ն նnn as in night
• Շ շš (sh)sh as in shoe
• Ո ոo / voo; vo at the start of a word
• Չ չč’ (ch)aspirated ch (with a puff of air)
• Պ պpcrisp p, unaspirated (as in spin)
• Ջ ջǰ (j)j as in jeans
• Ռ ռṙ (rr)strongly rolled r (like Spanish perro)
• Ս սss as in sun
• Վ վvv as in vase
• Տ տtcrisp t, unaspirated (as in stop)
• Ր րrsoft tapped r (like Spanish pero)
• Ց ցc’ (ts)aspirated ts (breathy version of ծ)
• Ւ ւw / uRare on its own; the pair ու = oo
• Փ փp’aspirated p (with a puff of air)
• Ք քk’aspirated k (with a puff of air)
• Օ օoclosed o (mostly at the start of words)
• Ֆ ֆff as in fairy
• և ևevLigature yev = and

Sixteen centuries of history

The monk and scholar Mesrop Mashtots created the alphabet around 405 AD to translate the Bible and give Armenian its own script. It had 36 letters at the time. Two letters, Օ (o) and Ֆ (f), were added in the Middle Ages. The ligature և (yev, “and”) counts as a letter in the reformed spelling used in Armenia: hence 39 letters.

How to learn it in a week

1. Days 1 and 2: the vowels (ա, ե, է, ը, ի, ո, օ and the pair ու). They appear in every word.
2. Days 3 and 4: consonants that sound like English (b, g, d, z, l, m, n, s, v, f).
3. Day 5: sounds English doesn’t have: խ (kh), ղ (gh), ռ (rolled r), and the aspirated թ, փ, ք, չ, ց.
4. Days 6 and 7: read real words you already know, like Բարև (barev), մամա (mama) or Երևան (Yerevan).

Letters that look alike

• ա (a) and ո (o): look closely at the loop.
• ն (n), ղ (gh) and հ (h): three similar shapes, three very different sounds.
• ր (light r) and ռ (rolled r): two distinct r sounds.
• ու: these two letters together read “u”, as in դու (du), “you”.

What about Western Armenian?

The alphabet is the same. Western Armenian does not count և as a letter (it writes եւ) and pronounces some consonants differently: բ sounds like “p” and պ like “b”. Everything is explained in our guide to Eastern vs Western Armenian.

Frequently asked questions