Al MUKHTASAR

By Marouane KAMIL
 Acknowledgement

We would like to give a special thanks to all those who helped to produce this book.
What is Darija?

Darija is a group of Arabic dialects; spoken by the populations of the western Arabian realms
(Maghreb). The differences between these dialects are few compared to the differences
between other Arabic dialects.
Although Arabic was first introduced to the region by Islamic conquest, Darija traces its
origins to the great Arab migrations to North Africa.

Classification.

Like every other Arabic dialect ,Darija belongs to The Afro-Asiatic family of languages, More precisely its
Central semitic. At the beginning Darija was established on a Berber/Puinic/Latin? Substratum influenced
by the languages of the people who lived or administered the countries of the region, it also contains
many loan words from different languages such as Spanish, Persian, French, Berber, Latin and Other
languages.

Levels of formality.

Unlike Al Fusha, Darija is not formal at all. Due to the fact that its a daily life language, Darija
does not require any formality. The fact that Darija is originated from another Bedouine
dialect makes it different than Al Fusha and Similar at the same time. It has a rich vocabulary
that traces its roots to the pre Islamic era which make it a very rich vivid language.

Usage of the Book.

This book can be used by individuals that seek learning the Maghrebi dialect and at the same
time by people that aim to study the dialect from a grammatical perspective in order to
compare it to other dialects. The book will focus on the grammatical aspect of the Maghrebi
dialect, but also we are going to provide information explaining the unique grammatical
strictures of the dialects.
Part 1:
The Semitic Root System :
Like every other Semitic Language, Arabic Dialects are based on a system of roots. Unlike
English , The concept of root in Semitic languages means the core meaning of each word. This
core meaning/root/Masdar usually consists of three consonants. For Example :

In the following examples:

Masdar/ : source.
/Sadir : originated.
The root word here is / S D R .

Notice that all the examples share the same root word ,the same consonant from the root
word and also the same core meaning .

In some rare cases the root word/Masdar consists of 4 consonants instead of 3 .

The word mkharbaq / " means messy.

The root word here is /Kh R B Q which consists of 3 consonants and means : To make
something messy.

Words of foreign origins usually have no core root even when they are Arabized.
Example : Tomobila/Lauto which means a car . The word cant have an arabic root word
simply because it has foreign origins (Auto-mobile/Lauto) although it has been Arabized but
it can work as a root word itself.

Note:
In all the cases above , we can always add additional vowels and consonants to change the
meaning of the root word just like Fusha arabic.
Part 2.
Masculine/Feminine in Darija :

Just like Fusha, every noun in Darija is either feminine or masculine..

Usually it is so easy to tell whether the noun is feminine or masculine, because feminine nouns
usually end with a which is usually pronounced as an ah or a in spoken Darija.

Example :

: Rock : Hajra
:Toy : Laabah
: Name : Smiya
: Nickname : Kniyah
: Doctor (f) : Tbiba

But in some rare cases, feminine words may not end with a . you know that a word is feminine
because its referring to a female or its the name of a country,natural phenomenon,or parts of the
body such as; hands,legs,eyes
Part 3
Darija Articles : Definite Article .

In arabic there is nothing such as an indefinite article, and since Darija is an arabic dialect the
same rule applies to it.
Arabic words are naturally indefinite so in order to rend a noun definite, you need to add
Al/ to the beginning of the word.

Example :

Marsa :
'l Marsa :

In arabic there is two types of definite articles, and three ways to prononce the.

There is Al Qamariyah ,which is pronounced as an Al if its at the beginning of the sentence,

and as L if its at the middle. When it comes to Darija it can only be pronounced as an L.

The second type is Al A-Shamsiyah, which is pronounced as an A if its at the beginning of

the sentence , and as a stress at the start of the word if the word was at the middle of the
sentence. In Darija its only pronounced as a stress in both cases .

Examples:

Al Qamariyah

FUSHA Darija English

Al Ma-e L Ma The water

AL Shamsiyah

FUSHA Darija English

A-Daw-e D-dow The light

NOTE:

When it comes to written Darija; its better to write in all cases just like Fusha.
How to know whether to use Al Shamsiyah orAl Qamariyah ?

In fact,, in all the arabic dialects including Al Fusha ,there is something that is called Al Hurouf
Al Shamsiyah and Al huruf Al Qamariyah.

Al Huruf Al Shamsiyah :

Al Huruf Al Qamariyah :

just like Al Fusha , When a word starts with one of Al Huruf Alqamariyah you should use An Al
Qamariyah, and when it starts with one of Al Huruf Al Shamsiyah you should use an Al Shamsiyah.

Part 4
Pronouns:
like every other arabic dialect, Darija has less pronouns than Al Fusha due to its nature as a
daily life language.
The pronounce are mainly same as Fusha, except the fact that they lack an Alif at the start,
since the Alif in Darija is always merged and assimilated when its at the beginning of the
word.

List of Darija Pronouns :

Ana/Anaya: / : Me, I , I am
Nta/Ntaya:/ : You , You are (M)
Nti/Ntiya :/ : You , You are (F)
Howa : : He , He is (M)
Hiya : : She , She is (F)
Homa : : They , They are
Ntoma : : You , You are (P)
Hnaya : : We , We are

For the pronoun it you either use Hiya, or Howa.

Usually when talking about present continuous, we add Rah ( m) /Raha ( f) / Rahom
(p) after the pronoun. It is the same as Tarah in Bedouin dialects, and the same as the
Auxilary verb to be in present continuous.

Ana/Anaya Rani : / : Me, I , I am

Nta/Ntaya Rak :/ : You , You are (M)
Nti/Ntiya Raki :/ : You , You are (F)
Howa Rah : : He , He is (M)
Hiya Raha : : She , She is (F)
Homa Rahom : : They , They are
Ntoma Rakom : : You , You are (P)
Hnaya Rana/Rahna: : We , We are

It does not only work as an auxilary verb, it also can be used as a meaningless
addition to gain time, or to gain attract attention to what you are saying.

Example :
Trigi,Rah twal. .
My path, has became longer.
Part 5
Plural

The plural Form in darija is similar to Fusha.

when it comes to nouns it follows the exact same rules as Al Fusha

Examples:

Fusha Darija
Droub Droub Masculine
Tabibat Tbibat Feminine

When it comes to verbs, its enough to add an O sound at the end of the verb to turn it into the
plural form.

Examples:
verb :

(S) (P)
Nta ; Takoul Ntoma ; TaKoulo
Howa ; Yakoul Homa ; Yakoulo

There is no Feminine plural pronouns in Darija.

Part 6
Demonstrative pronouns in Darija

Just like we mentioned in the earlier lesson, there is less pronouns in dialectical arabic than there is
in Al Fusha. This rule includes demonstrative pronouns as well.

Demonstarative pronouns Of Darija are the following:

Examples :

Pronoun It is used for Examples

Hada: Close+Masculine + singular :
Hadak: Far+ Masculine + singular:
Hadi: Close+Feminine + singular:
Hadik Far+ Feminine + singular:
Hado: Close+Masculine + plural:
Hadok: Far+ Masculine + plural:

Hna/Hnaya: Here :
Lhih/Lhiha: There :

Generally, pronouns in dialectical arabic are similar. In dialects that are originated from a
Bedouine dialects, pronouns might be slightly different from Al Fusha.
Part 7
Adjectives

In Darija there is plenty of different Adjectives. Adjectives usually have a at the beginning .

examples :

:Mdawar :Round
:Mkawar :Round
:Mzawar ;Fake
:M7amar :Redish
:Mnawar :Bright
:Mzioun :Pretty

There is also commonly used adjectives that does not follow this rule, such as ;

:Ziin :Beautiful
:Zwiin :Cute
:Kbir :Big
:Twiil :Tall
:Khfiif : Not heavy
:Driif :Nice
:Aali :High
:Khayeb :Bad/Ugly

Adjective in Darija are used the same way as in Al Fusha,that means they are added after the
targeted noun.

Example :
Hada Trig Twil : Thats a long Way.
Part 8
Describing positons

In Darija, and like most of the arabic dialects, words used to describe position (Dhuruf Al Makan) are
same as words used in Al Fusha for the same purpose.

Dhuruf Al Makan in Darija are:

/ : Fi/Fe : In
: Aala :On

: Teht :Under

: Foug :Above
/ :Goddam/Gobalet :In front of
//; Menwrah/Aagbeh/Mowrah : Behind
/ :Jenb/Had :Next to
/ :Biin/Biinat :Between
:Mn :From
/ :L/Liin :To

The Darija positional sentences work in a similar way to English ,and should be written not
separately (do not link to other words) .

Examples:
/ : I went to the Masjid/I Walked till The Masjid
Note: The word Liin/ is usually used for long distances.

Part 9
Ka/Ta/Shi
Ta/Ka:
By listening to native Darija speakers, you may notice that there is some odd short words added to
sentences .Usually these words hold no meaning more than confirming the meaning of the
sentence.
Ka/Ta is used sometimes along side with Rah in present tense, but unlike the word Rah this
additional word has no meaning. It is the same as the addition in the Hijazi dialect () ,
and it is only used to confirm that the action is happening in the present. Expressions like this can be
found in almost every arabic dialect but cant be found in Al Fusha.

Examples:
Mohammed Rah Ka Yekteb
Mohammed Rah Ta Yekteb


Mohammed is writing

Shi:
The word Shi is usually used to confirm something , It is documented that this word was used in Al
Andaluss. The Word is a Bedouin pronunciation to The Fusha term .

Examples:

: I dont know anything : Ma aaref hata shi haja

Its enough to say ,but the word here is added to confirm the fact that the
speaker knows nothing

Part 10
Forming Questions.

Forming questions In Darija is as easy as it is in any other language, it is enough to just say a normal
sentence in a certain tone.
But the proper way to ask a question in Darija/Fusha is to use a question marker/ Question words
.

The Question Markers in Darija are:

:Wash ; it works the same way as the verb to be in Questions.

Wash Nta Bi Khir
Are you okay ? (literal translation : Are you with goodness ?)

Fiin/Wiin : it literally means Where.

Shkoun : it means Who, and this word can be found only in Algerian and Moroccan dialects. It is a
fast pronunciation of two words ; Sho+Yakoun . The O+Y is assimilated to form a new unique word
that is Shkoun.

Sometimes the word Shkoun can be replaced by the word Mana Howa, which has the exact same
meaning.

Washda/Shno:What: /
Aalash/Liyah : Why: /
Imta/Waqtash:When:/
Kif/Kifash:How:/
She Hal:How much/many:
mana:which:

Examples :

Shkoun Had Arajel?
Who is this man?
Part 11
Possession and attached pronouns.

Possession:

To express possession, Semitic languages put words usually directely together in the order
possessed+possessor.
In Almost every arabic dialect there is an expression that shows possession .
In Darija there is ,, . These three expressions if used, imply that possessed belong to the
possessor.
Theses possession expressions are usually used in the following order:

Possessed+possession expression+possessor.

Example:

Hada LKtab Dyal Ahmed

Thats the book of Ahmed/ Ahmeds book.

Note: The word Dyal , is not of Arab origins. Its of Latin origins and most likely Spanish or
Italian.

Attached pronouns:
In Darija, attached pronouns is the same way as Al Fusha. There is specific endings attached to
words that are being reffered to :

Example :

hada Ktabak
thats your book

Differences between Darija and other dialects :

Ana Nafaal instead of Ana Afaal

In Maghrebi Arabic,the Alif of the verb when its in first person continuous ,is usually replaced by a
Noun. This only exists in the Maghrebi dialects and Sinai Dialects which suggests it treces its origions
to an Old Najdi dialect.

Example :

Al Fusha Darija
Ana Akol Ana Nakol

Ndir instead of Nafaal:

Ndir is a word that means to do. Its only used By the speakers of Maghrebi dialects and Bedouin of
Sinai.

Assimilating vowels and sounds:

Assimilating vowels is what makes Darija pretty hard to understand. This phenomena exists in Sinai
dialect as well but less noticeable.
Darija speakers may start words with a Sooun. This phenomena exists in all the other Bedouin
dialects but in darija its more noticeable.

Assimilating and merging the Alif and Hamza:

Darija speakers usually pronounce a weak Alif/Hamza or merge it with other sounds, which is Due to
its Bedouin origins.
Special Vocabulary:

Darija speakers use a very unique Arabic vocabulary that differ from a region to another but shares a lot of
common words. These words cant be found in any other none maghrebi dialect (Except Sinai dialect).
Here are some of the most used words.

Dir :
in maghrebi/sinai dialects , Di ris a verb that means to do , but in every other arabic dialect , Dir means to turn
something on or to move it in a round shape.

Bezaf :
only used in morocco and Algeria. This word comes from the ancient Arabic word Bi juzaf which has the
same meaning.

Daba / Dork /:
This is only used in morocco and Algeria too, it means Now. The origins of the word Daba might not be clear, but
Dork might be originated from the Arabic word

Safi :
this is usually used to agree on something or to end an argument. It keep its same meaning as in classical Arabic
which is clear .

bgha :
As every other arabic dialect , bgha means to want in maghrebi dialects. However it also may mean to love or
to wish.

Nod .
This simply means to get up. It is a diffrent pronounciation of the arabic word Inhad which has the same
meaning.

Hdar
it ;eqns to speqk/totalk ,its origins are from ancient pre arabic languages that affected arabic . in classical arabic
Hadir means to Produce a noise .