If you’ve just started to learn Armenian, looking at the alphabet for the first time might seem like a big step.

It looks completely different from the English alphabet, and it has a few extra letters to memorize!

But the Armenian alphabet is highly logical.

Just like English, Armenian reads from left to right, uses both vowels and consonants, and features uppercase and lowercase letters. Once you learn the letters and their sounds, you can read almost any word exactly as it’s written.

In this guide, I’ll walk you through the Armenian letters, the differences between Eastern and Western pronunciation, and the best ways to memorize them quickly.

A brief history of the alphabet

The Armenian alphabet was invented in 405 AD by a linguist and cleric named Mesrop Mashtots.

Before this, Armenians mostly used Greek or Syriac scripts, which didn’t fully capture the unique sounds of the Armenian spoken language. Mashtots created an entirely new 36-letter alphabet to accurately represent the language and to help translate the Bible.

Later, in the 12th century, three more letters (և, օ, ֆ) were added to accommodate new sounds from foreign words.

Today, the alphabet consists of 39 letters!

The letters and sounds

To make this easy to digest, I’ve put together a table of all 39 characters.

You’ll notice two different columns for pronunciation. This is because the Armenian language has two main branches: Eastern Armenian (spoken primarily in the Republic of Armenia and Iran) and Western Armenian (spoken primarily by the Armenian diaspora).

Here’s your complete guide to the letters:

Eastern vs. Western pronunciation

If you look closely at the table above, you’ll notice that several consonants change sounds depending on whether you’re learning Eastern or Western Armenian.

Linguists call this a “consonant shift.”

To put it simply, Western Armenian softened many of the hard consonant sounds found in Eastern Armenian.

For example, the second letter of the alphabet, Բ բ, is pronounced like a hard English “b” in Eastern Armenian. But in Western Armenian, it shifts to a soft “p” sound.

This means that the most common greeting in Armenian is spelled exactly the same way, but pronounced differently depending on the region!

Another example is the word for “thank you” (merci), which uses the letters Մ (m), ե (e), ր (r), ս (s), and ի (i). Since none of these letters are affected by the consonant shift, it sounds exactly the same in both dialects!

Tips for memorizing the alphabet

Memorizing 39 new shapes can take a little time, but I have a few specific strategies to help you speed up the process.

• Stop using transliteration as soon as possible: Transliteration is when you use English letters to read Armenian words (like writing “Barev” instead of Բարև). It feels like a helpful crutch at first, but it actually delays your brain from recognizing the true letters. Force yourself to read the actual Armenian script.
• Find “false friends” and English look-alikes: Some Armenian letters look like English letters but make different sounds. For example, Ս looks like an English “U”, but makes an “s” sound. Տ looks like a “S”, but makes a “t” or “d” sound. Making these mental notes helps you remember them faster.
• Write them out by hand: Don’t just look at a screen. Get a notebook and physically write each letter out. The physical act of writing builds muscle memory, which is deeply tied to how our brains learn new languages.
• Learn them in small groups: Trying to memorize 39 letters in one day is overwhelming. Break them down into groups of 5 or 6. Master the first group before moving on to the next one.

The Armenian alphabet is a beautiful, ancient script. Take it one letter at a time, and practice reading everyday street signs or simple words online.