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hookabet

ՀայերենIn development

The Armenian alphabet

38 letters. We are writing a memory hook for each one, for English speakers, and checking them. The course opens here once they are ready.

Meanwhile, learn the Georgian alphabet →

The Armenian language

GeorgiaIranTürkiyeRussiaFranceLebanonSyriaUnited StatesArgentinaArmeniaArmenia

5.3M native speakers

Armenia: the official language
Also spoken in Georgia, Iran, Türkiye, Russia, France, Lebanon, Syria, United States, and Argentina

Family: Indo-European, but a branch of its own: no other living language is a close relative.

Native speakers, estimate of 2013–2021. Source

A short history

  1. 405

    Mesrop Mashtots creates the alphabet: 36 letters.

  2. 5th c.

    The Bible is translated into Armenian, the oldest Armenian text that survives.

  3. Middle Ages

    Two letters join, օ and ֆ, for sounds from other languages: 38 in all.

  4. 1922–24

    Soviet Armenia reforms the spelling. Western Armenian, and Armenians in Iran, keep the classical one.

  5. 2019

    UNESCO lists Armenian letter art and its cultural expressions as intangible cultural heritage.