LESSON 3B - WESTERN ARMENIAN PLURAL AND DEFINITE/INDEFINITE ARTICLE

Plural
In Western Armenian, as in Eastern, the plural is formed by adding the suffix եր (er) to the noun if it is a one syllable word or by adding the suffix ներ (ner) to the noun if it has more than one syllable.

Examples:
- տուն * doun * house, տուներ * douner * houses
- գիրք * kirk * book, գիրքեր * kirker * books
- շուն * shoun * dog, շուներ * shouner * dogs
- սենյակ * senyag * room, սենյակներ * senyagner * rooms
- սեղան * seghan * table, սեղաններ * seghanner * tables

Definite Article
The definite article is the letter ը (uh) added to the end of the noun if the last letter of the noun is a consonant. If the last letter of the noun is a vowel, then the definite article is formed by adding the letter ն (n) at the end of the noun. However, if the noun is followed by a word which begins with a vowel then the letter ն is sometimes used for the definite article, even if the noun ends in a consonant. This is always the case if the noun is followed by the verb 'to be', eg. եմ, ես, է, ենք, էք, են or by the word ալ - meaning also.

Indefinite Article
The indefinite article is the word մը (më) which is placed after the noun, for example: գավաթ մը թեյ (kavat më tey - a cup of tea). The indefinite article is not always used, however, but a noun which is not in the definite article is assumed to be indefinite.