Level 1 / Lesson 2 / The Letter "S"

Learn

Now let’s learn another letter of the Armenian alphabet, the letter “S”. It isn't the 2nd letter of the alphabet (it's the 29th) but you will learn it easier now as the form of "S" is similar to the form of “A”.

Typed forms:

Capital Letter: Ս

Small Letter: ս

Pronunciation: [s] (like "s" in English word "sit") in all cases

You can see different typed forms of "Ս" on the photo below. Here you can also compare the letters Ա and Ս. As you see they have a lot in common.

The letter of the Armenian alphabet "S" has the same shape as the English "U".

In ancient Armenian manuscripts the letters (especially the first letters of the page) are usually decorated with ornaments, flowers, animals, etc. Here you can see the letter we have just learned decorated with lions and Armenian ornaments.
Many of those manuscripts now are cept at Matenadaran in Yerevan.

As you know 2 Armenian letters you can make words. So, you can learn an Armenian word "սա" (pronunced [sa]) which means "this". Though you haven't learned the Armenian letter "R", you may also learn the word "սար" (pronunced [sar]) which means "mountain".

Write

Let’s start from the capital letter. You will need to do 2 simple steps to write this letter.
1. Draw a curve above the line like it is shown on the picture below (step 1). This is the same curve like the first curve of the capital letter “A” (you can compare the curves, number 2 on the picture below). Start from the top, then go down and turn the line to the right. Don’t write it straight (vertical). In written forms of the Armenian alphabet the letters are a little bit tilted to the right. The height of this curve is equal to the height of the capital letters in other languages, for example the capital letter “M” in English.
2. Then draw another particle: start from the level of the top of the curve, then go down and at the end turn the line to the right like it is shown on the picture below (number 3).

Now you know how to write the capital letter “S” of the Armenian alphabet (number 4 on the picture above).

Let’s learn how to write the small letter “s” of the Armenian alphabet. You again will need to do 2 simple steps to write this letter. I think you already know how to do it, as it’s just first 2 steps of the small letter “a”. Let’s just repeat it briefly.
1. Draw a small curve above the line (like the first part of the written form of English “w”), like it is shown on the picture below (step 5). The height of this particle should be the same as the height of the small curve of the capital letter “A”. Compare those heights (6 on the picture below).
2. Draw the same particle again. The second particle should touch the end of the first one, like it is shown on the picture below (step 7).

Now you know how to write the small letter “s” of the Armenian alphabet (number 8 on the picture above).

It’s easier to write the Armenian letters if you compare the written forms and the typed letters. Please, compare these two types of the letter “S”.

Review

Now you know:

2 Armenian letters: Ա and Ս.

2 Armenian words: սա-[sa] this

սար-[sar] mountain

You may also want to repeat the whole writting process, so, here it is.