Here is the short answer, and then the part nobody tells you.
The short answer is Ես քեզ սիրում եմ — yes kez sirum em. That is Eastern Armenian, the language of Armenia itself. But if you say it to a Lebanese Armenian grandmother in Glendale, she will understand you perfectly and then gently correct you, because in her Armenian it is Քեզ կը սիրեմ — kez gě sirem.
Neither of you is wrong. Armenian split into two standard branches roughly a century and a half ago, and the diaspora carries both. Which one you use says something about where your family came from, which is exactly the kind of thing worth knowing before you say something this important.
Below: the phrase itself in both dialects, then twenty five more, from the ones you will hear at every family dinner to the one you say once, on one knee.
Saying It Outright
The difference is entirely in the verb. Eastern builds it from two words, sirum em, roughly "am loving." Western uses the particle կը in front of the verb instead. Same sentiment, same weight, and no Armenian alive will hold the wrong dialect against you.
The word that changes is the little one meaning "also": էլ in the East, ալ in the West. Worth memorizing, because this is the one you will need at speed.
A step past "I love you," and used the same way English uses it: for the falling, not the settled. Sirahar comes from sirt, heart, and carries the sense of being struck by it.
The Everyday Ones
These are not grand declarations. They are what Armenians actually say, dozens of times a day, to partners and children and people they have known for forty minutes. Learning these will do more for you than any full sentence.
The single most useful word here. You tack it onto a name, or onto almost any word, and it turns that word warm. Ani jan. Mama jan. Sirun jan. There is no English equivalent, though "dear" gets close and undersells it. Borrowed from Persian, adopted so completely that it now feels native.
The word for love, ser, with a possessive ending stuck on the back. Armenian does this constantly, which is why so many endearments below are one word in Armenian and three in English.
Slightly more formal and more romantic than jan. This is the one you write at the top of a letter, or say when you mean it deliberately rather than habitually.
Notice the pronunciation shift: the same letter that opens with a hard k in Eastern softens to a g in Western. That single sound change accounts for most of the difference you hear between the two dialects.
Identical in writing, different in the mouth. Western Armenian voices that final consonant, turning t into d. Same word on the page, two accents in the room.
Heavier than "my heart" and used that way. Armenian reaches for the soul often, and rarely lightly.
Anush means sweet, and it doubles as one of the most common Armenian women's names. Which means the compliment and the name land at the same time, and yes, people play with that.
Sirun is the everyday word for pretty or good looking, and it works for anyone. Pair it with jan and you have sirun jan, which is close to untranslatable and gets used on everyone from a spouse to a toddler.
Built from the word for expensive. Armenian is comfortable saying outright that a person has worth, in the literal sense, and does not find that unromantic at all.
Related to achkt luys, "light to your eye," which Armenians say as congratulations. Here it is turned into a name for a person: you are the thing that lets me see.
The Dramatic Ones
Armenian does not measure love in adjectives. It measures it in what you would give up. These three are the reason Armenian affection sounds alarming in translation and feels enormous in practice.
The most Armenian sentence there is. Whatever hurts you, hand it to me instead. It gets used as casually as "sweetheart," which somehow makes it more moving rather than less. We wrote about this one and ten of its cousins in Armenian sayings that don't translate.
Said lightly, constantly, and without a trace of melodrama. To an English ear it is a vow. To an Armenian ear it is Tuesday.
The tenderest of the group. Not your face, not your laugh, your soul. It says the essence of who you are is worth a life, and it says it in three syllables.
Compliments
Armenian does not gender its adjectives, so this works for anyone. Note the Western pronunciation doing its thing again: d hardens to t at the front, g to k.
Given how many Armenian expressions run through the eyes, this is a safer compliment than it looks. Eyes are where Armenian keeps its light, its luck, and most of its affection.
Ashkharh is one of those words worth learning for its own sake. It means world in every sense: the planet, your circle, everything you have.
Longer, and it sounds it. Save this one for when the short phrases have run out.
Yerjanik is happiness of the settled kind, not the momentary kind. It is the word in the wedding toast, not the word for a good afternoon.
Missing Someone
The root is karot, longing, and it is arguably the most Armenian noun in the language. A people scattered across a dozen countries built an entire emotional vocabulary around missing something.
A mouthful, and deliberately so. Nobody says this casually in any language.
The Big Ones
Short, direct, and used far less often than English uses it. Which is precisely what gives it weight when someone does.
If you are proposing to someone whose family speaks Armenian, learning it in their dialect is the whole point. It says you paid attention to where they are from, which is the thing Armenian families notice most.
Worth knowing that Armenians have their own love holiday too. Trndez, in mid February, is an ancient feast where couples leap over a bonfire together for luck and fertility. Many Armenian families in Los Angeles celebrate both, which is a good deal by any measure.
Eastern or Western: Which Should You Learn?
If your partner's family came from Armenia, Iran, or Russia, learn Eastern. If they came from Lebanon, Syria, Turkey, or arrived in the United States before the 1970s, learn Western. Los Angeles has enormous communities of both, sometimes in the same building.
If you genuinely do not know, ask. It is a good question, and the answer usually comes with a story about a grandparent and a city that no longer has Armenians in it. Western Armenian is currently classified by UNESCO as endangered, which is a large part of why families guard it so closely and why using it correctly lands the way it does.
And if you get the dialect wrong, nothing happens. You will be corrected, warmly, at length, probably over food. That is not a failure. That is the language doing exactly what it is supposed to do.
Keep Going
- The dramatic cousins of these phrases: 11 Armenian sayings that don't translate to English.
- Start from the beginning: Armenian words everyone should know, with book recommendations.
- Why the language is worth the effort: how the diaspora is keeping Armenian alive.
- Planning something bigger? Browse Armenian event venues and Armenian jewelers in the directory.
Say it with something more than words
Armenian jewelers, florists, and venues across Los Angeles, all Armenian owned.