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Learning Darijaالدارجة

Lesson 44 · B1

It broke by itself

Nobody broke the glass: it broke. Nobody cut the water: it went off. English does this three ways, “broke”, “was cut off”, “got stolen”. Darija does it one way: tt- in front of the verb.

  • Report events without saying who did them.
  • Build the tt- verb and make it agree with the thing.
  • Talk about water and power cuts, thefts, fires.
  • Read a week of local incidents.
1

Twenty-four words

The first family is tt- verbs. The last is participles describing the state things were left in.

It just happened (tt-)

  • تّْكْسَرْ ttkser to break; get broken

    l-kas ttkesrat, the glass broke.

  • تّْفْتَحْ ttfte7 to open; come open
  • تّْسَدّْ ttsedd to close; get shut
  • تّْسْرَقْ ttsreq to get stolen

    ttsreq liya l-portabl, my phone got stolen.

  • تّْحْرَقْ tt7req to burn; burn down
  • تّْقْطَعْ ttqte3 to be cut off (water, power, road)
  • تّْلْقَى ttlqa to turn up; be found
  • تّْنْسَى ttnsa to be forgotten

    ttnsat liya, I forgot it: “it got forgotten on me”.

What

  • الْعَافْيَة l-3afya fire

    Also “health”: l-3afya. Context separates them.

  • الْمَا l-ma water

    Masculine: l-ma rje3, the water's back.

  • الضَّوْ d-daw power; electricity
  • الْكَانْيُو l-kanyu pipe

    From French or Spanish, both possible.

  • الْبُومْبْيَة l-bumbya fire brigade

    French pompier.

  • الْأَضْرَارْ l-adrar damage

    Newspaper word.

No one to blame

  • بْلَا مَا bla ma without (doing)

    bla ma y3ref 7tta wa7ed, without anyone knowing.

  • بُوحْدُو bu7du by itself

    “On its own”. bu7dha, by herself.

  • مَا عْرَفْنَاشْ ma 3refnash we don't know

    Past form with present meaning, like bghit.

  • شِي وَاحْدْ shi wa7ed someone
  • الْحَمْدُ لِلّْه l-7amdu lillah thank God

    After a scare with no one hurt.

How it ended up

  • رْجَعْ rje3 to come back

    Water, power: d-daw rje3.

  • تّْصْلَحْ ttsle7 to get fixed

    tt- form of sle7.

  • مْقْطُوعْ mqtu3 cut off

    Passive participle, lesson 47.

  • مْحْرُوقْ m7ruq burnt
  • مْسْدُودْ msdud closed; blocked
2

tt-: when nobody did it

Four sentences where something happens and nobody does it. In the first, someone gets blamed and pushes it back.

  1. كْسَرْتْ الْكَاسْ. — لَا، الْكَاسْ تّْكْسْرَاتْ بُوحْدْهَا!kesert l-kas. — la, l-kas ttkesrat bu7dha!
  2. الْبَابْ تّْفْتَحْ وْ مَا دْخَلْ حْتَّى وَاحْدْl-bab ttfte7 w ma dkhel 7tta wa7ed
  3. الطُّومُوبِيلْ دْيَالُو تّْسَرْقَاتْ الْبَارَحْt-tomobil dyalu ttserqat l-bare7
  4. الْمَا تّْقْطَعْ فْالْحُومَة كُلّْهَاl-ma ttqte3 f l-7uma kullha

What's the difference between kesert l-kas and l-kas ttkesrat? What does the verb agree with?

The rule

To say something happens without saying who does it, put tt- in front of the plain verb: kser → ttkser; fte7 → ttfte7.

The thing is the subject, and the verb agrees with it: l-bab ttfte7 (masculine), l-kas ttkesrat (feminine), l-flus ttserqu (plural).

In the present, with ka-: l-bab kayttfte7 bu7du, the door opens by itself.

In the north you'll hear n- instead: nkser. Both are understood everywhere.

To say who it happened to, l- with a pronoun: ttsreq liya, it got stolen on me.

From doing to happening

FormSay itMeans
كْسَرْ ← تّْكْسَرْkser → ttkserbreak → get broken
فْتَحْ ← تّْفْتَحْfte7 → ttfte7open → come open
سْرَقْ ← تّْسْرَقْsreq → ttsreqsteal → get stolen
الْكَاسْ تّْكْسْرَاتْl-kas ttkesratthe glass broke
الْبَابْ تّْفْتَحْl-bab ttfte7the door opened
الْفْلُوسْ تّْسَرْقُوl-flus ttserquthe money got stolen
الْبَابْ كَيْتّْفْتَحْ بُوحْدُوl-bab kayttfte7 bu7duthe door opens by itself
نْكْسَرْ (فْالشّْمَالْ)nkser (f sh-shmal)it broke (northern)

Row 6: “money” is plural in Darija (l-flus), so the verb is plural.

What English gives you, and what it costs

Free: “get” + participle. “Got stolen”, “got broken”: English already has an event-without-agent form. tt- is that “get”.

Costly: ergative verbs. “The glass broke”, “the door opened”: in English the plain verb does it. In Darija the plain verb needs an agent; without one, you need tt-.

Costly: “money” as plural.

Your mistake, not someone else's

English “the glass broke” uses the same verb as “I broke the glass”. You copy that, and the Darija glass “broke” something.

×الْكَاسْ كْسْرَاتْ“The glass broke (something)”.

✓الْكَاسْ تّْكْسْرَاتْ“The glass broke”. With tt-.

And “I forgot” versus “it slipped my mind”: nsit and ttnsat liya are both fine, like the English pair.

3

This week's incidents

A week of neighbourhood incidents, day by day, written for this lesson. Almost every verb has tt-: nobody knows who.

الْحَوَادْتْ دْيَالْ السِّيمَانَة

الِاتْنِينْ: الْكَانْيُو دْيَالْ الْمَا تّْكْسَرْ فْالزَّنْقَة الْكْبِيرَة، وْ الْمَا تّْقْطَعْ سِتّْ سْوَايْعْ.

الثّْلَاتْ: الْعَافْيَة شْعْلَاتْ فْحَانُوتْ دْيَالْ الثّْوْبْ. الْحَانُوتْ تّْحْرْقَاتْ، وَلَكِنْ مَا تّْجْرَحْ حْتَّى وَاحْدْ.

الْأَرْبَعْ: جُوجْ مُوطُورَاتْ تّْسَرْقُو قُدَّامْ الْمَحَطَّة. الْبُولِيسْ مَا عْرْفَاتْشْ شْكُونْ.

الْخْمِيسْ: الطّْرِيقْ دْيَالْ الْجْبَلْ تّْسَدَّاتْ عْلَى قْبَلْ الشّْتَا.

الْجُّمْعَة: صَاكْ فِيهْ الْوْرَاقْ دْيَالْ شِي وَاحْدْ تّْلْقَى فْالطُّوبِيسْ. رَاهْ عَنْدْ الْبُولِيسْ.

السَّبْتْ: الْمَا رْجَعْ، وْ الطّْرِيقْ تّْفْتْحَاتْ. الْحَمْدُ لِلّْه.

This week's incidents

Did you follow?

  1. What happened on Monday?

    Show answers

    A water pipe broke and the water was off for six hours.

  2. Was anyone hurt in the fire?

    Show answers

    No: ma ttjre7 7tta wa7ed.

  3. Why was the mountain road closed?

    Show answers

    Because of the rain.

  4. What turned up on the bus?

    Show answers

    A bag with someone's papers.

4

Check

Two here, three more in the B1 book.

Exercises 1 and 2 are here, with answers. Exercises 3 to 5 are in the B1 book, the PDF this site lives on: you can see the first item of each below.

1No one to blame

Remove “someone”: the thing becomes the subject.

  1. شِي وَاحْدْ كْسَرْ الشَّرْجَمْ
  2. شِي وَاحْدْ سْرَقْ الطُّومُوبِيلْ
  3. شِي وَاحْدْ فْتَحْ الْبِيبَانْ
  4. شِي وَاحْدْ قْطَعْ الضَّوْ

2Fill in

With the verb from the box that agrees. No vowels.

تكسرتسرقاتتحرقاتتلقاوتسد

  1. البورطابل طاح و ___
  2. البشكليطة ديالي ___ من قدام الدار
  3. الماكلة ___، نسيتها فالعافية
  4. المفاتح ___ تحت الطبلة
  5. المحطة مسدودة، الباب ___

3True or false?

According to the incidents.

  1. The water was off for six hours.

The rest is in the B1 book

3 more items, with the answers.

The B1 book

4Pick the right one

The one that agrees with the thing.

    1. الْكَاسْ تّْكْسْرَاتْ
    2. الْكَاسْ كْسْرَاتْ
    3. الْكَاسْ تّْكْسَرْتْ

The rest is in the B1 book

3 more items, with the answers.

The B1 book

5A day of disasters

In five sentences, tell a day when everything went wrong and it was nobody's fault.

تّْكْسَرْتّْقْطَعْتّْسْرَقْمَا عْرَفْنَاشْ شْكُونْبُوحْدُو

The rest is in the B1 book

The B1 book
Show answers
1. No one to blameالشَّرْجَمْ تّْكْسَرْ · الطُّومُوبِيلْ تّْسَرْقَاتْ · الْبِيبَانْ تّْفَتْحُو · الضَّوْ تّْقْطَعْ
2. Fill inتكسر · تسرقات · تحرقات · تلقاو · تسد

The B1 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 something broke, opened or was cut off without saying who.
  • Make the verb agree with the thing.
  • Say “it slipped my mind”, “it got stolen on me” with liya.
  • Read an incidents column.