Al MUKHTASAR

VOL 0.1
BASIC DARIJA RULES

ByMarouane 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 Islamicconquest, 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 Fushaarabic.

Part 2.
Masculine/Feminine in Darija :

Just like Fusha, every noun in Darijais 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,naturalphenomenon,orparts 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 prononcethe.

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

FUSHADarija English
Al Ma-e L Ma The water

AL Shamsiyah

FUSHADarija 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 ShamsiyahorAlQamariyah ?

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 HurufAlqamariyah 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 anAlif
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/NtayaRak:/ : You , You are (M)
Nti/NtiyaRaki:/ : You , You are (F)
Howa Rah :: He , He is (M)
HiyaRaha: : She , She is (F)
HomaRahom: : They , They are
NtomaRakom: : You , You are (P)
HnayaRana/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,Rahtwal..
My path,has becamelonger.

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:

FushaDarija
DroubDroub Masculine
TabibatTbibat Feminine

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

(S) (P)
Nta ; Takoul Ntoma ; TaKoulo
Howa ; YakoulHoma ; 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:
HadikFar+ 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,thatmeans they are added
after the targeted noun.

Example :
HadaTrigTwil : Thats a longWay.

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 Darijaare:

/ : 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 wenttothe Masjid/I WalkedtillThe 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 KaYekteb
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 dontknowanything :Maaarefhatashihaja

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 Darijaare:

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

WashNtaBiKhir
Areyouokay ? (literal translation : Are youwithgoodness ?)

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 :

ShkounHadArajel?
Who isthisman?
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+possessionexpression+possessor.

Example:

HadaLKtabDyalAhmed

Thatsthe bookofAhmed/ Ahmedsbook.

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 :

hadaKtabak
thatsyourbook

Differences between Darija and other dialects :

Ana Nafaal instead of Ana Afaal

In MaghrebiArabic,theAlif 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 FushaDarija
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.
Darijaspeakers 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 , Dirmeans 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 diffrentpronounciation of the arabic word Inhad
which has the samemeaning.

Hdar
it;eqns to speqk/totalk ,itsorigins are fromancientprearabiclanguagesthataffectedarabic .
in classicalarabicHadirmeans to Produce a noise .