Eastern vs Western Armenian: what changes, and which to learn

The short answer

Their geography today is not symmetrical. Eastern Armenian is the language of the Republic of Armenia and of the Armenian communities of Iran, Georgia and Russia. Western Armenian was the language of Armenian Anatolia; the genocide of 1915 killed or deported its speakers, and it survives only in the diaspora born of those deportations: Lebanon, Syria, Istanbul, France, and the older Armenian communities of the United States. That is why, for most people asking this question, the answer is a family one before it is a practical one.

Before the letters and the grammar, hear a native speaker of the side Panglotive teaches:

Each card below is a sentence you would say or hear on day one. Type the missing word, reveal the answer, and read the grammatical breakdown.

What you would say on day one

The first word you learn is already a tell. Hello is written with the same letters on both sides, but an Eastern speaker says barev and writes it with the ligature և, yev, a Western speaker says parev and writes Բարեւ, parev. Two of the three differences on this page, the consonants and the spelling, are in that one word.

Three differences you can hear and see

How the verb says “I am doing”

Eastern Armenian builds its present tense in two pieces: a participle in -ում, um, which never changes, and the auxiliary verb to be, which carries person and tense. I am reading is կարդում եմ, kardum yem.

In Western Armenian, the same thing is said with a particle, կը, gə, in front of a one-word verb: կը կարդամ, gə gardam I read. That one-word verb is the trap for an Eastern ear: on its own, կարդամ, kardam in Eastern Armenian is a future or a wish, I will read, that I read. The fastest tell in speech is this: if you hear a short gə before verbs, you are listening to Western Armenian.

To go to the past, only the auxiliary moves: I was reading is կարդում էի, kardum ei, the participle unchanged. Western Armenian puts the tense on the verb itself, կը կարդայի, gə gardayi.

The same pattern applies across all persons. Notice how the 3rd person plural uses են, yen in the present and էին, ein in the imperfect, while the participle լսում, lsum remains unchanged:

Same letters, swapped consonants

The Armenian alphabet has three letters where English has p and b: բ, b, պ, p, փ, p’, and the same three-way set for t (դ տ թ, d t t’), k (գ կ ք, g k k’), ts (ձ ծ ց, dz ts ts’) and ch (ջ ճ չ, j ch ch’). Eastern Armenian pronounces all three differently: բ, b is b, պ, p is a p without a puff of air (the p in “spin”), փ, p’ is a p with one (the p in “pin”).

Western Armenian keeps only two of the three sounds, and swaps them: բ, b is pronounced like փ, p’, and պ, p is pronounced b. So the same written word comes out differently. պար, par dance is par in Yerevan and bar in Beirut; բարակ, barak thin is barak in the East and parag in the West. The aspirated letters, փ ք թ, p’ k’ t’, sound the same on both sides: քար, k’ar stone and թարմ, t’arm fresh do not move.

This is why the same Armenian first name has two Latin spellings: Petros and Bedros, Tigran and Dikran, Karapet and Garabed. In Armenian letters they are identical.

Two spellings of the same word

Armenia reformed its spelling in 1922 and adjusted it in 1940. Western Armenian (and, notably, the Eastern-speaking Armenians of Iran) kept the classical orthography. So spelling tells you where a text was printed, not always which variety it is in.

The most visible mark is the ligature և, yev. The reformed orthography writes it as a letter of its own, inside words too (Երևան, Yerevan Yerevan, արև, arev sun, and the word and itself), where classical spelling writes the two letters եւ, yev: Երեւան, Yerevān, արեւ, arev. The pronunciation does not change.

The ligature is also used on its own for the conjunction and:

Classical spelling also keeps a յ, y at the start of words where the reform writes հ, h (Յակոբ, Hagop / Հակոբ, Hakob) and ոյ, oy where the reform writes ույ, uy (յոյս, hoys / հույս, huys hope). And it writes է, é in many words where the reform has ե, ye: ինչպէս, inchpés / ինչպես, inch’pes how, which is the spelling half of the greeting above. Not every է, e is a spelling difference, though: the էք, ék' of you are is grammar.

Which should I learn?

• Your family or community speaks it. Learn theirs, full stop. Roots in Lebanon, Syria, Istanbul, or the older diaspora of France and the United States usually mean Western Armenian. Roots in Armenia, Iran, Georgia or Russia, or a family that emigrated recently, mean Eastern Armenian.
• You are going to Armenia, or working with people there. Eastern Armenian. It is the state language, the language of schools, television, and nearly everything published online today.
• No family tie, just the language. Eastern Armenian is the practical default: more speakers, more material, an official standard to check yourself against. Western Armenian is listed by UNESCO as definitely endangered; learning it is a smaller and more deliberate choice, and a meaningful one.

Whichever you choose, the alphabet, the core vocabulary and most of the grammar are shared. Switching later means adjusting your ear and a few paradigms, not starting again.

Panglotive teaches Eastern Armenian only. If what you need is Western Armenian, this is not the place to learn it, but this page shows, on actual sentences, what you would be choosing between.

Start with the Eastern Armenian present tense

Panglotive teaches Eastern Armenian. Open the conjugation tree with the -ում present already selected and practise it on sentences of your own level.