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Beginning Armenian Grammar


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OK Kazza, this is for you and anyone else who may need it. For those of you who are fluent: any corrections, additions, exceptions and comments are welcomed, encouraged, warranted, appreciated,...

 

From Pratical Textbook of Western Armenian by Haroutiun Kurkjian

 

CONJUGATING VERBS

Add the following suffixes to the end of the verb.

 

I -em

You (singular) -es

He/She/It -e

We -enk

You (plural) -ek

They -en

 

So, I eat, you eat, he eats, etc. are: gootem, gootes, goote, gootenk, gootek, and gooten.

 

Note: you do not have to have a subject pronoun in there. For example, to say "I eat", "Gootem" is sufficient. You do not need to say, "Yes gootem"

 

BIG NOTE: "Yes" is either "I" or "You are". The context of the sentence will indicate which.

 

PLURALIZATION

The suffix "-er" is added to the end of monosyllabic nouns. Day: "Or" becomes "Oren"

 

The suffix "-ner" is added to the end of polysyllabic nouns. Dish: "Aman" becomes "Aman-ner"

 

POSSESSIVE

The suffix "-s" is added to the end of noun. So "Aman" would be spelled "Amans", but it is pronounced with an approximate schwa e inbetween the "n" and the "s". The "e" sounds like it does in the word, "term". That is, you actually say "Amanes".

 

This "e" is inserted in between certain consonant groups such as "nm", "ns", and "ss".

 

PROPER NOUNS AND THE DEFINITE ARTICLE

Unless you are addressing them directly, proper nouns get the definite article "-n". So, "I am Ara" is actually "Yes Aran-em". Or literally, "I am the Ara."

 

 

Confused??? Well, don't give up. I can follow all of this fine in the book, even though I don't explicitly know these rules for English!!

 

 

 

 

[This message has been edited by Pilafhead (edited January 14, 2001).]

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Another Harout wrote this eh?

 

Thank you Plaifhead, I find this really useful, becasue I know quite a few words, but I didnt really know how to connect them , as such, or when reading, make out what the little words in between were.

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Glad you liked it. Learning and studying Armenian (language, grammar, and even the written characters) is one new year's resolution I've been keeping up with. I'll post more of these as I get further into my text book. You'd be proud, I've even made flash cards!

 

P.S. I've been out of town the last few days, so I haven't been able to respond to the e-mail you sent to my work. I'll do it tomorrow.

 

[This message has been edited by Pilafhead (edited January 16, 2001).]

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  • 2 weeks later...

Pilafhead,

 

Do you have the cassettes (5 in total) that accompany this textbook? If your answer is YES then where did you purchase them? I also have this textbook but would like the cassettes.

 

Thanks in advance for your help.

 

 

quote:
Originally posted by Pilafhead:

Glad you liked it. Learning and studying Armenian (language, grammar, and even the written characters) is one new year's resolution I've been keeping up with. I'll post more of these as I get further into my text book. You'd be proud, I've even made flash cards!

 

P.S. I've been out of town the last few days, so I haven't been able to respond to the e-mail you sent to my work. I'll do it tomorrow.

 

[This message has been edited by Pilafhead (edited January 16, 2001).]


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quote:
Originally posted by Arev:
Do you have the cassettes (5 in total) that accompany this textbook?


Welcome!

No I do not have them either. Sorry. Did you get the textbook as part of a class, or did you just buy it on your own?

Mike
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The book Arev and I have is the same way.

 

It's pretty cool to drive down the street in Glendale and be able to pronounce some words on signs based on the 10-12 letters I've learned so far. At this point though, it is hard when the font varies from the standard Roman or Italic. Baby steps, though. As long as I'm getting somewhere, I'm happy.

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quote:
Originally posted by Pilafhead:


No I do not have them either.



I think I have located the cassettes for Kurkjian!!

Sardarabad Book Service
1111 S Glendale Ave #106
Glendale CA 91205-3266
Tel: 818-500-0790
Contact person: Rita Demirjian

The book costs $25 and with cassettes $35

I forgot to include their website www.sardarabad.com
and their email address
sardarabadbooks@aol.com

[ February 19, 2001: Message edited by: Arev ]
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I'm there! Although, I wonder if the cassettes are available separately???

 

That's a good store to check out if someone's ever in Glendale. There is also Abril Books which recently re-located to Glendale, but I have not been there since they moved from Hollywood.

 

[This message has been edited by Pilafhead (edited February 15, 2001).]

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