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Learning Darijaالدارجة

Lesson 13 · A1

What there is on your street

Nineteen words for the neighbourhood: the corner shop, the baker's oven, the hammam. And kayn, which does the job of “there is”, except that it changes with what is there.

  • Say what there is and what there isn't in a street.
  • Ask whether there is a pharmacy or a hammam nearby.
  • Choose kayn, kayna or kaynin for what follows.
  • Say “there isn't” with ma kaynsh, never with mashi.
1

Nineteen words

The neighbourhood as Moroccans live it: the shops you walk to, not the ones you drive to. Several of these have no single English word.

The street

  • الزّْنْقَة z-zenqa the street

    Feminine. And you are in it, not on it: f z-zenqa.

  • الدَّرْبْ d-derb the alley, the lane

    A narrow street, and in Casablanca the name of whole districts.

  • الْحُومَة l-7uma the neighbourhood

    Your part of town, the one people are loyal to. wlad l-7uma are the local lads.

  • الْجَارْ l-jar the neighbour
  • الْجِيرَانْ l-jiran the neighbours

    A broken plural: the word changes inside instead of adding an ending. Lesson 15 shows the patterns; for now, learn it whole.

Shops and services

  • الْحَانُوتْ l-7anut the corner shop

    The tiny grocer on every street, open all hours. “Shop” undersells it.

  • الْحْوَانْتْ l-7wanet the shops

    The plural of the word above. Another broken plural.

  • الْفَرْمَاسْيَانْ l-farmasyan the pharmacy

    From French pharmacien. It means the shop, not the person.

  • الْحَمَّامْ l-7emmam the hammam, the public baths

    Starts with ح, not your h.

  • الْفَرَّانْ l-ferran the neighbourhood oven

    The public oven where people bring their bread to be baked. English has no word for it because it has no such thing.

  • الْخَضَّارْ l-kheddar the greengrocer
  • الْڭَزَّارْ l-gezzar the butcher

    The ڭ is a hard g, as in “go”. Darija needs the letter because standard Arabic has no g.

Exactly where

  • قْدَّامْ qeddam in front of
  • مُورَا mura behind
  • فْ الْقَنْتْ f l-qent on the corner

    f again, where English says “on”.

How much there is

  • شِي shi any, some

    Your “any” in questions: wash kayn shi 7emmam?, “is there any hammam?” The noun after it has no article.

  • بْزَّافْ دْ bezzaf d- a lot of

    Before it, kayn stays masculine singular, even for a plural: kayn bezzaf d n-nas, “there are lots of people”.

  • غِيرْ ghir only

    kayn ghir l-7anut: there's only the corner shop.

  • وَاحْدْ wa7ed a, one

    The number one, used as “a”: wa7ed l-7anut, “a shop”. Yes, with the article after it. It never changes for gender.

2

“There is” that agrees

Four sentences about a street. The first word of the first three changes each time.

  1. كَايْنْ وَاحْدْ الْحَانُوتْ فْ الزّْنْقَةkayn wa7ed l-7anut f z-zenqa
  2. كَايْنَة وَاحْدْ الْمْدْرَسَة قْدَّامْ الدَّارْkayna wa7ed l-mdrasa qeddam d-dar
  3. كَايْنِينْ جُوجْ دْ الْحْوَانْتْ فْ الْقَنْتْkaynin juj d l-7wanet f l-qent
  4. مَا كَايْنْشْ الْحَمَّامْ فْ هَادْ الدَّرْبْma kaynsh l-7emmam f had d-derb

Why kayn, then kayna, then kaynin?

The rule

kayn means “there is”, and it agrees with what comes after it. A masculine noun: kayn. A feminine noun: kayna. A plural: kaynin.

The negative is one form for everything: ma kaynsh. It is ma…sh from lesson 11 wrapped round kayn, because kayn behaves like a verb.

To ask: wash kayn shi…? With walu, the -sh drops as it did in lesson 11: ma kayn walu, “there's nothing”.

kayn and its forms

DarijaSayMeans
كَايْنْ وَاحْدْ الْحَانُوتْkayn wa7ed l-7anutthere's a shop — masculine
كَايْنَة وَاحْدْ الْمْدْرَسَةkayna wa7ed l-mdrasathere's a school — feminine
كَايْنِينْ جُوجْ دْ الْحْوَانْتْkaynin juj d l-7wanetthere are two shops — plural
مَا كَايْنْشْ الْحَمَّامْma kaynsh l-7emmamthere's no hammam — one negative for all
وَاشْ كَايْنْ شِي حَمَّامْ؟wash kayn shi 7emmam?is there any hammam?
مَا كَايْنْ وَالُوma kayn waluthere's nothing — walu, no -sh

You will also hear kayn before a plural, and always before bezzaf d-. Recognise it; when you build a sentence yourself, make it agree.

What English hands you, and what it charges you

Free: English already agrees in number. “There is a shop”, “there are two shops”: that is kayn and kaynin. A Spanish or French speaker has one invariable form, hay or il y a, and has to learn to agree. You only have to add gender.

Free: “any”. wash kayn shi 7anut? is “is there any shop?”, word for word.

Charged: gender. “There is” does not care whether a school is feminine. kayn does: kayna wa7ed l-mdrasa.

Your mistake, not someone else's

“There isn't a hammam.” English puts a loose “not” after the verb, and in lesson 11 you learned that a loose “not” is mashi. But kayn works like a verb, and verbs are wrapped.

×مَاشِي كَايْنْ الْحَمَّامْA loose “not” in front of a verb.

✓مَا كَايْنْشْ الْحَمَّامْ“There's no hammam.”

And “there's a shop” without kayn at all: wa7ed l-7anut f z-zenqa. English “there” is empty, a placeholder, so it feels skippable. kayn is not empty. Without it, you have a list, not a sentence.

3

What there is in the lane

An inventory of an invented lane, the sort of list a newcomer jots down in the first week. It is ours, written for this lesson. Below it, the question a neighbour is asked, and the answer.

دَرْبْ الْيَاسْمِينْ

كَايْنْ وَاحْدْ الْحَانُوتْ

كَايْنْ وَاحْدْ الْفَرَّانْ

كَايْنَة وَاحْدْ الْمْدْرَسَة

كَايْنِينْ تْلَاتَة دْ الْحْوَانْتْ

مَا كَايْنْشْ الْفَرْمَاسْيَانْ

مَا كَايْنْشْ الْحَمَّامْ

Inventory of Derb l-Yasmin

Did you follow it?

  1. How many shops are there in the lane?

    Show answers

    Three: kaynin tlata d l-7wanet. Plural, so kaynin. The corner shop has a line of its own.

  2. Why kayna on the school line and kayn on the oven line?

    Show answers

    l-mdrasa is feminine and l-ferran is masculine.

  3. What is missing from the lane?

    Show answers

    A pharmacy and a hammam. Both with ma kaynsh: the negative does not change.

  4. Where is the nearest hammam?

    Show answers

    Nearby, behind the mosque: mura l-jame3.

4

Check

The rule is already in front of you. These tell you whether it has stuck.

Exercises 1 and 2 are here, with answers. Exercises 3 to 5 are in the A1 book, the PDF this site lives on: you can see the first item of each below.

1Sort them

Which form of kayn goes in front of each word?

الْحَانُوتْالْمْدْرَسَةالْحْوَانْتْالْفَرَّانْالْمْحَطَّةالْجِيرَانْالْحَمَّامْالْبَانْكَةجُوجْ دْ الْحْوَانْتْ

kayn

kayna

kaynin

2True or false

Check each sentence against the inventory and the dialogue.

  1. كَايْنْ وَاحْدْ الْحَانُوتْ فْ الدَّرْبْ There is a corner shop in the lane.
  2. كَايْنْ الْحَمَّامْ فْ الدَّرْبْ There is a hammam in the lane.
  3. كَايْنِينْ تْلَاتَة دْ الْحْوَانْتْ There are three shops.
  4. الْحَمَّامْ مُورَا الْجَامَعْ The hammam is behind the mosque.

3Put the vowels back

Add the marks: fatḥa, kasra, ḍamma, sukūn, shadda.

  1. كاينة

The rest is in the A1 book

4 more items, with the answers.

The A1 book

4Put it in order

Build the sentence from its pieces.

  1. فْ الدَّرْبْكَايْنْالْفَرَّانْوَاحْدْ

The rest is in the A1 book

2 more items, with the answers.

The A1 book

5Write

An inventory of your own street in four lines. Use at least two forms of kayn and one ma kaynsh.

كَايْنْكَايْنَةكَايْنِينْمَا كَايْنْشْقْدَّامْ

The rest is in the A1 book

The A1 book
Show answers
1. Sort themkayn: الْحَانُوتْ · الْفَرَّانْ · الْحَمَّامْ / kayna: الْمْدْرَسَة · الْمْحَطَّة · الْبَانْكَة / kaynin: الْحْوَانْتْ · الْجِيرَانْ · جُوجْ دْ الْحْوَانْتْ
2. True or false1-True, 2-False, 3-True, 4-True

The A1 book: In preparation

Write and I will tell you the day it is out. One email, no list.

Tell me when it is out

I can now

  • Say what there is in my street, and what there isn't.
  • Ask for a pharmacy or a hammam with wash kayn shi…?
  • Make kayn agree with what follows.
  • Say “there isn't” with ma kaynsh.