Armenian Present Tense Explained for Beginners
A clear guide to the Armenian present tense: how to build the -um form, the six forms of the auxiliary, how to make negatives and questions, and the mistakes learners make most.
The Armenian present tense is the first real piece of grammar most learners meet, and it is a friendly one. There is one main pattern, it works for almost every verb, and once you have it you can talk about your job, your day and your plans. This guide walks through how it is built, how to make it negative, how to ask questions, and the mistakes to avoid.
How the Armenian present tense is built
The Armenian present tense has two parts:
- A verb form ending in -ում (-um), sometimes called the present participle.
- A small helper word, the auxiliary, which is the present tense of "to be" and shows who is doing the action.
That is all. There are no separate endings to learn for each verb group, and the same form covers both "I speak" and "I am speaking".
Step one: the -um form
Take the infinitive, drop the ending -ել (-el) or -ալ (-al), and add -ում:
- խոսել (khosel) – to speak → խոսում (khosum)
- ապրել (aprel) – to live → ապրում (aprum)
- կարդալ (kardal) – to read → կարդում (kardum)
- հասկանալ (haskanal) – to understand → հասկանում (haskanum)
A couple of very short verbs use -իս (-is) instead: գալ (gal) – to come → գալիս (galis), and տալ (tal) – to give → տալիս (talis).
Step two: the auxiliary
The auxiliary has six forms, one for each person. Here they are with khosum:
| Armenian | Transliteration | English |
|---|---|---|
| Ես խոսում եմ | yes khosum em | I speak |
| Դու խոսում ես | du khosum es | you speak (informal) |
| Նա խոսում է | na khosum e | he / she speaks |
| Մենք խոսում ենք | menk khosum enk | we speak |
| Դուք խոսում եք | duk khosum ek | you speak (plural or polite) |
| Նրանք խոսում են | nrank khosum en | they speak |
Because the auxiliary already tells you who is speaking, the pronoun is often dropped. Խոսում եմ։ (khosum em) on its own means "I speak".
Watch out for ես: it means "I" as a pronoun (yes) and "you are" as an auxiliary (es). Its position in the sentence keeps them apart.
Word order: where the auxiliary goes
This is the part that feels new to English speakers. The auxiliary likes to sit right after the most important word in the sentence, which is often the word just before the verb.
- Ես Երևանում եմ ապրում։ (yes Yerevanum em aprum) – I live in Yerevan.
- Ես հայերեն եմ սովորում։ (yes hayeren em sovorum) – I am learning Armenian.
- Նա հիվանդանոցում է աշխատում։ (na hivandanotsum e ashkhatum) – She works at a hospital.
With a question word, the auxiliary comes straight after it:
- Որտե՞ղ ես ապրում։ (vortegh es aprum?) – Where do you live?
- Ի՞նչ ես անում։ (inch es anum?) – What are you doing?
If there is nothing to focus on, the auxiliary simply follows the verb: Երեխան քնում է։ (yerekhan knum e) – The child is sleeping.
Making it negative
To make a present tense sentence negative, add չ- (ch-) to the auxiliary and put it in front of the -um form:
- չեմ (chem), չես (ches), չի (chi), չենք (chenk), չեք (chek), չեն (chen)
Examples:
- Ես չեմ հասկանում։ (yes chem haskanum) – I don't understand.
- Նա սուրճ չի խմում։ (na surch chi khmum) – He doesn't drink coffee.
- Կիրակի օրը չենք աշխատում։ (kiraki orə chenk ashkhatum) – We don't work on Sunday.
Notice that the third person form is չի (chi). You will also see չէ (che), but that is used with "to be" on its own, as in Սա սուրճ չէ։ (sa surch che) – This is not coffee.
Asking questions
A yes or no question uses the same words as a statement. In speech you raise your voice, and in writing you put the Armenian question mark ՞ over the stressed vowel of the word you are asking about:
- Անգլերեն խոսո՞ւմ եք։ (angleren khosum ek?) – Do you speak English?
- Դուք սուրճ խմո՞ւմ եք։ (duk surch khmum ek?) – Do you drink coffee?
A few irregular verbs
A small number of very common verbs don't use -um at all in the present:
- լինել (linel) – to be: just the auxiliary, as in Ես ուսանող եմ։ (yes usanogh em) – I am a student.
- ունենալ (unenal) – to have: ունեմ (unem) – I have.
- գիտենալ (gitenal) – to know: գիտեմ (gitem) – I know.
Common mistakes
- Forgetting the auxiliary. Ես խոսում on its own is incomplete. You always need em, es, e and so on.
- Using che instead of chi with the -um form.
- Adding -um to unenal or gitenal. Say unem and gitem.
- Always putting the auxiliary after the verb. It isn't wrong, but it can sound stiff. Let it move to the word you want to stress.
Where to go next
Once the present feels natural, the past continuous is an easy step, because it only swaps the auxiliary: Ես խոսում էի։ (yes khosum ei) – I was speaking. If you want to practise the present tense with audio, exercises and feedback, the beginner course on Haylingua covers it step by step.
