Lesson 18 · A1
Quarter to six
The time, the seven days and the date, and a train timetable to read them off. This lesson closes A1, and its exercises go back over all eighteen.
- Ask the time and tell it the Moroccan way.
- Name the seven days and say “on Saturday”.
- Read a timetable: when a train leaves and when it arrives.
- Use everything from A1 in one short exchange.
Nineteen words
The days, the words around them, and the station. The clock times are in the grammar table.
The week
-
الْحَدّْ
l-7edd
Sunday
From “one”. Sunday is day one of the week. Hold on to that: the next four are counted too.
-
الِاتْنِينْ
l-etnin
Monday
From “two”.
-
التّْلَاتْ
t-tlat
Tuesday
From “three”. Hear tlata in it.
-
الْأَرْبَعْ
l-arbe3
Wednesday
From “four”, reb3a.
-
الْخْمِيسْ
l-khmis
Thursday
From “five”, khamsa. Where English has gods, Darija has a count.
-
الجَّمْعَة
j-jem3a
Friday
The day of gathering, for the midday prayer. Offices often close early.
-
السَّبْتْ
s-sebt
Saturday
The same word as Sabbath.
Calendar words
-
السَّاعَة
s-sa3a
the hour; the clock; the watch
One word for all three. The time question is built on it.
-
نْهَارْ
nhar
day
Put it before a weekday for “on”: nhar s-sebt, “on Saturday”. No preposition.
-
السِّيمَانَة
s-simana
the week
From French semaine. You will also hear the Arabic word, l-usbu3.
- الشّْهَرْ sh-shher the month
-
الْيُومْ
l-yum
today
The article is part of it: l-yum.
- غَدَّا ghedda tomorrow
- الْبَارَحْ l-bare7 yesterday
At the station
-
التّْرَانْ
t-tran
the train
From French train. The Arabic word, l-qitar, is for signs and the news.
-
لَاڭَارْ
lagar
the station
French la gare, article included, swallowed whole. The ڭ is the hard g of “go”: Moroccan spelling adds a stroke to ك for it.
-
الْبِيِّي
l-biyye
the ticket
French billet, said the Moroccan way.
-
كَيْخْرَجْ
kaykhrej
it leaves
Lesson 16's present, for “he” or “it”: ka- plus y-.
- كَيْوْصَلْ kaywsel it arrives
The hour takes an article
Four sentences: a time, a departure, a working day, and today. Look at what comes before each number and each day.
- شْحَالْ فْالسَّاعَة؟ — الْخَمْسَة وْنُصّْsh7al f s-sa3a? — l-khamsa u nuss
- التّْرَانْ كَيْخْرَجْ مْعَ الْعَشْرَة وْرْبَعْt-tran kaykhrej m3a l-3ashra u rbe3
- كَنْخْدَمْ نْهَارْ السَّبْتْkankhdem nhar s-sebt
- الْيُومْ الْخْمِيسْl-yum l-khmis
What stands in front of khamsa when it is a time? And how do you say “at” and “on”?
The rule
The hour is a noun, so it takes the article: l-khamsa, “the five”. Two o'clock is j-juj. Without the article, khamsa u nuss is just “five and a half”.
Minutes are fractions of the hour. u rbe3, and a quarter. u tulut, and a third: twenty past. u nuss, and a half. After half past you count down with qell, “less”: s-setta qell rbe3 is a quarter to six. Five minutes is a qsem.
“At” is m3a, the “with” of lesson 12: m3a l-3ashra, at ten.
Morning or evening goes after: t-tmenya d s-sba7, eight in the morning; t-tmenya d l-lil, eight at night. No 24-hour clock in speech.
“On” a day is nhar: nhar l-khmis. A date is nhar plus a number: nhar khamsa u 3eshrin, on the 25th. The months are the French ones in Moroccan dress: ghusht is August, shutanbir September.
Eight times
| Time | Say | Clock |
|---|---|---|
| الْوَحْدَة | l-wa7da | 1:00 |
| الجُّوجْ | j-juj | 2:00 |
| التّْلَاتَة وْرْبَعْ | t-tlata u rbe3 | 3:15 |
| الرَّبْعَة وْتُلُتْ | r-reb3a u tulut | 4:20 |
| الْخَمْسَة وْنُصّْ | l-khamsa u nuss | 5:30 |
| السّْتَّة قَلّْ رْبَعْ | s-setta qell rbe3 | 5:45 |
| السَّبْعَة وْقْسَمْ | s-seb3a u qsem | 7:05 |
| الطّْنَاشْ | t-tnash | 12:00 |
Look at row six. “Quarter to six” is s-setta qell rbe3: six, less a quarter. English builds it the same way. Look at row four too: twenty past is a third of the hour, tulut, not “twenty”.
What English hands you, and what it charges you
Free: the logic. “Quarter past”, “half past”, “quarter to”: English already cuts the hour into pieces and counts back after the half. Darija does exactly that.
Charged: the article. “Three o'clock” has none. t-tlata needs one.
Charged: “at”. Your reflex is to translate it with f-, “in”. For the time, Darija uses m3a.
Charged: the days. English names them after gods and planets. Darija counts: Sunday one, Monday two, up to Thursday five. Once you see it, you can rebuild the week from the numbers of lesson 8.
Your mistake, not someone else's
Timetables, phones and “five forty-five” have taught you to read the time as digits. Put that into Darija and you get the hour, then forty-five minutes, counted out.
×الْخَمْسَة وْخَمْسَة وْرْبْعِينْ“Five forty-five”, digit by digit. Understood, and nobody says it.
✓السّْتَّة قَلّْ رْبَعْ“Quarter to six.” The way the whole country says it.
And the unit comes first even here, if you do count minutes: “twenty-five past” is u khamsa u 3eshrin. Lesson 17 has not gone away.
A timetable and a ticket window
This timetable is our own, made up for the lesson: real cities, invented times. It is not any railway company's. A real one gives the times in figures; this one writes them as they are said.
مْنْ طَنْجَة لْفَاسْ
مْنْ الِاتْنِينْ لْلسَّبْتْ
كَيْخْرَجْ: السَّبْعَة وْنُصّْ · كَيْوْصَلْ: الْعَشْرَة وْرْبَعْ
كَيْخْرَجْ: الطّْنَاشْ · كَيْوْصَلْ: التّْلَاتَة قَلّْ رْبَعْ
كَيْخْرَجْ: الْخَمْسَة وْتُلُتْ · كَيْوْصَلْ: التّْمَنْيَة وْقْسَمْ
الْبِيِّي: تْمَانِينْ دَرْهَمْ
نْهَارْ الْحَدّْ مَا كَايْنْشْ التّْرَانْ
السَّلَامُ عْلِيكُمْ. وَاحْدْ الْبِيِّي لْفَاسْ، عَافَاكْ.
إِمْتَى؟
الْيُومْ، مْعَ الطّْنَاشْ.
تْمَانِينْ دَرْهَمْ.
Did you follow it?
How long is each journey?
Show answers
Two hours and three quarters, every time. 7:30 to 10:15, 12:00 to 2:45, 5:20 to 8:05.
Can you go to Fez on a Sunday?
Show answers
No. The last line: نْهَارْ الْحَدّْ مَا كَايْنْشْ التّْرَانْ, “on Sunday there is no train”.
Which train does the traveller in the dialogue take?
Show answers
The noon one, m3a t-tnash. It gets in at a quarter to three.
What does the ticket cost?
Show answers
Eighty dirhams, tmanin derhem: singular after the number, as in lesson 17.
Check, and look back
The last check of A1. These mix the time with the article, dyal, 3end, wash, kayn, the negation and the present. Two here, three in the book.
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.
1True or false
Each line comes from this lesson. Is the statement about it true?
- السّْتَّة قَلّْ رْبَعْ This means a quarter past six.
- الْخَمْسَة وْتُلُتْ This means twenty past five.
- كَيْخْرَجْ: الطّْنَاشْ · كَيْوْصَلْ: التّْلَاتَة قَلّْ رْبَعْ In the timetable, the noon train gets in at a quarter to three.
- نْهَارْ الْحَدّْ مَا كَايْنْشْ التّْرَانْ In the timetable, this says there is a train on Sunday.
2Sort
Put each word in its column. The third column comes from lesson 17.
الْخْمِيسْرْبَعْدَرْهَمْالسَّبْتْتُلُتْرْيَالْالِاتْنِينْنُصّْالصَّرْفْ
Days
Pieces of the hour
Money
3Fill the gap
Use نْهَارْ, مْعَ, قَلّْ, عَنْدِي or مَاشِي. Each once. Four lessons are hiding in here.
نْهَارْمْعَقَلّْعَنْدِيمَاشِي
- كَنْخْدَمْ ___ الْخْمِيسْ
4Put it in order
Build the sentence from the pieces. One question, one negation.
مْعَالتّْرَانْالْعَشْرَةكَيْخْرَجْ
5Put the vowels back
Vowel each line: one day, one time, one age, one house. A1 in four lines.
- الخميس
Show answers
| 1. True or false | 1-False, 2-True, 3-True, 4-False |
|---|---|
| 2. Sort | Days: الْخْمِيسْ · السَّبْتْ · الِاتْنِينْ / Pieces of the hour: رْبَعْ · تُلُتْ · نُصّْ / Money: دَرْهَمْ · رْيَالْ · الصَّرْفْ |
The A1 book: In preparation
Write and I will tell you the day it is out. One email, no list.
I can now
- Ask the time and tell it with u rbe3, u nuss and qell rbe3.
- Say “at ten” with m3a and “on Thursday” with nhar.
- Read a timetable and buy a ticket.
- Greet, count, ask, deny, and say what I have and what I do: A1, whole.