Darija lesson 20: say, see, bring

1

Twenty words

Talking, asking, understanding. The first family is the six hollow verbs from the grammar table; the second is regular verbs you can already conjugate.

The hollow verbs

قَالْ qal to say
Present kanqul. With “to whom”: kanqul lik, I'm telling you.
شَافْ shaf to see; to look
Present kanshuf. Also “watch TV”: kanshuf t-tilifizyun.
جَابْ jab to bring; to fetch
Present kanjib. jib liya, bring me, is heard in every kitchen.
دَارْ dar to do; to make; to put
Present kandir. The all-purpose verb: you “do” tea, “do” lunch, “do” the salt.
بَاعْ ba3 to sell
Present kanbi3. Hence beyya3, seller.
خَافْ khaf to be afraid
Present kankhaf, with a: the only one in the table that keeps it. With men: afraid of.

Conversation

هْضَرْ hder to talk; to speak
The Moroccan verb for speaking. kanhder, I speak.
سْوَّلْ sewwel to ask
With 3la: sewwel 3la t-taman, ask about the price.
جَاوْبْ jaweb to answer
عَاوْدْ 3awed to repeat; to do again
3awed, 3afak: say that again, please. Your most useful sentence this year.
فْهَمْ fhem to understand
ma fhemtsh, I didn't understand: past and negation, lessons 22 and 11. Learn it whole.
سْمَعْ sme3 to hear; to listen

What gets said

الْهْضْرَة l-hedra talk; way of speaking
From hder. l-hedra dyal Fas, the way they speak in Fez.
الْكَلْمَة l-kelma the word
الْخْبَارْ l-khbar the news
Plural of khbar. Plural, like English “news” pretends not to be.
الصُّوتْ s-sut the voice; sound
السُّؤَالْ s-su'al the question
The hamza in the middle almost vanishes in Darija: su-al.

In which language

بْالدَّارِجَة b d-darija in Darija
b- + the language: “in”. kanhder b d-darija.
بْالْفْرَانْسِيَّة b l-fransiya in French
The other language of the street. English is creeping in with the young, but French still runs the paperwork.
بْالشّْوِيَّة b sh-shwiya slowly; little by little
A variant of b shwiya from lesson 19, with the article. Both are heard.

2

The vowel in the middle

Four sentences with qal, shaf, jab and dar. In the dictionary all four have a. See which vowel they have in the present.

آشْ كَتْقُولْ؟ash katqul?
كَنْشُوفْ الْخْبَارْ فْاللِّيلْkanshuf l-khbar f l-lil
هِيَ كَتْجِيبْ الْخُبْزْhiya katjib l-khobz
هُومَا كَيْدِيرُو أَتَايْhuma kaydiru atay

Is any a left? What replaced it?

The rule

Verbs with a long a in the middle —qal, shaf, jab— are called hollow: the middle consonant of the root has turned into a vowel.

In the present that vowel becomes u or i: kanqul, kanshuf; kanjib, kandir. A few keep a: kankhaf.

You cannot work out which from the dictionary form. You learn it with the verb, the way you learnt sing/sang and bring/brought.

Everything else is lesson 16: ka-, the person letter, -u for plurals, -i for “you” to a woman. kanqulu, we say; katjibi, you bring (to her).

Six verbs, three vowels

Dictionary → present	Say it	Means
قَالْ ← كَنْقُولْ	qal → kanqul	say → I say
شَافْ ← كَنْشُوفْ	shaf → kanshuf	see → I see
جَابْ ← كَنْجِيبْ	jab → kanjib	bring → I bring
دَارْ ← كَنْدِيرْ	dar → kandir	do → I do
بَاعْ ← كَنْبِيعْ	ba3 → kanbi3	sell → I sell
خَافْ ← كَنْخَافْ	khaf → kankhaf	fear → I'm afraid
حْنَا كَنْقُولُو	7na kanqulu	we say
نْتِ كَتْجِيبِي	nti katjibi	you bring (to a woman)

Two with u, three with i, one with a. From now on, the present of every hollow verb is given in its vocabulary note.

What English gives you, and what it costs

Free: the idea of a vowel swap. English does it all over its past tense: sing/sang, ride/rode, find/found.

Costly: where it happens. English swaps vowels to change tense. Darija swaps them just to be in the present, which will feel like changing something for no reason.

Costly: the long vowels. The u of kanqul is not “oo-w” and the i of kanjib is not “ee-y”. No glide at the end; hold the vowel steady and stop.

Your mistake, not someone else's

The dictionary form is the one you memorised, so it is the one that comes out. With regular verbs that works; with these, the a has to go. “I say to you” with the dictionary a sounds like someone reading from a list.

×أَنَا كَنْقَالْ لِيكْWith the dictionary a. Understood, but plainly foreign.

✓أَنَا كَنْقُولْ لِيكْ“I'm telling you”. The u, and it stays put.

And kankhaf the other way round: once you know the a changes, you change it here too. kankhuf does not exist. Fear keeps its a.

3

Neighbourhood news

A local news item written for this lesson, with a quote in inverted commas. Khadija and the market are invented. The quote is direct speech: her words exactly, introduced by katqul, she says.

خْبَارْ الْحُومَة

فْالسُّوقْ الْجْدِيدْ، الْفْلَّاحَة كَيْبِيعُو الْخْضْرَة بْلَا وْسِيطْ.

خَدِيجَة، مُولَاتْ الْحَانُوتْ، كَتْقُولْ:

«النَّاسْ كَيْجِيوْ بْكْرِي، كَيْشُوفُو، كَيْسْوّْلُو عْلَى التَّمَنْ.»

«أَنَا كَنْجِيبْ الطُّومَاطِيشْ مْنْ الْعْرُوبِيَّة كُلّْ صْبَاحْ.»

«مَا كَنْخَافْشْ مْنْ الزّْحَامْ. الزّْحَامْ مْزْيَانْ.»

Neighbourhood news

Did you follow?

What is special about the new market?
Show answers
Farmers sell vegetables with no middleman: bla wsit.
Who is Khadija?
Show answers
The shop owner: mulat l-7anut.
What do customers do, according to her?
Show answers
They come early, look, and ask about the price.
Does the crowd bother her?
Show answers
No: ma kankhafsh mn z-z7am. She says it is good.

4

Check

Two here, three more in the A2 book. The middle vowel is what is being tested.

Exercises 1 and 2 are here, with answers. Exercises 3 to 5 are in the A2 book, the PDF this site lives on: you can see the first item of each below.

1Pick the right one

Only one of the three forms exists.

1. أَنَا كَنْقَالْ
2. أَنَا كَنْقُولْ
3. أَنَا كَنْقِيلْ
1. هُوَ كَيْجِيبْ
2. هُوَ كَيْجُوبْ
3. هُوَ كَيْجَابْ
1. حْنَا كَنْشُوفُو
2. حْنَا كَنْشُوفِيوْ
3. حْنَا كَنْشَافُو
1. نْتِ كَتْدِيرْ
2. نْتِ كَتْدِيرِي
3. نْتِ كَتْدُورِي

2Sort

By the vowel they take in the present.

كَنْقُولْكَنْجِيبْكَنْخَافْكَنْشُوفْكَنْدِيرْكَنْبِيعْ

With u

With i

With a

3Fill in

Each verb in the box once. Check the subject.

كَيْبِيعُوكَتْقُولْكَنْشُوفْكَتْخَافِيكَيْجِيبْ

آشْ ___ نْتَ؟

The rest is in the A2 book

4 more items, with the answers.

The A2 book

4Put in order

Build the sentence from the pieces.

مَاعَافَاكْ،فْهَمْتْشْعَاوْدْ

The rest is in the A2 book

2 more items, with the answers.

The A2 book

5Write

In four sentences, describe the day of someone who sells something. Use all four verbs in the box.

كَيْقُولْكَيْجِيبْكَيْشُوفْكَيْدِيرْ

The rest is in the A2 book

The A2 book

Show answers

1. Pick the right one	1-b, 2-a, 3-a, 4-b
2. Sort	With u: كَنْقُولْ · كَنْشُوفْ / With i: كَنْجِيبْ · كَنْدِيرْ · كَنْبِيعْ / With a: كَنْخَافْ

The A2 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

Ask ash katqul? and say 3awed, 3afak.
Conjugate qal, shaf, jab, dar, ba3 and khaf.
Remember that the present vowel never goes back to a.
Read a direct quote.