Lesson 65 · B2
Between Darija and Fusha
A Moroccan talking about history doesn't switch languages: they slide. Start in Darija, drop in a newspaper word, slide back. This lesson puts one event side by side in both, so you can see where they part ways.
- Tell a Fusha text from a Darija one.
- Move simple sentences between registers.
- Recognise educated Darija, which mixes both.
- Read unadapted texts, with glosses.
Twenty-four words
The second family is pairs: the Fusha word and the Darija word. Learn to recognise both; you'll hear them mixed.
Talking about language
-
الْفُصْحَى
l-fus7a
Classical / Standard Arabic
“The most eloquent”.
-
الدَّارِجَة
d-darija
Moroccan Arabic
“The everyday one”.
- الْعَرْبِيَّة l-3arbiyya Arabic
- اللّْهْجَة l-lahja dialect; accent
- خْلَطْ khlet to mix
Pairs: Fusha → Darija
- سَنَة ← عَامْ sana → 3am year
- فَقَطْ ← غِيرْ faqat → ghir only
- لَيْسَ ← مَاشِي laysa → mashi is not
- الَّذِي ← اللِّي alladhi → lli who; which; that
- هٰذَا ← هَادَا hadha → hada this
- ذٰلِكَ ← دَاكْ dhalika → dak that
- مَاذَا ← أَشْنُو madha → ashnu what?
History
- تَأَسَّسَ ta'assasa was founded (Fusha)
- التَّأْسِيسْ t-ta'sis founding
- الْهِجْرَة l-hijra migration
- مَطْرُودْ matrud expelled
- الْمِعْمَارْ l-mi3mar architecture
Chefchaouen
- الْجِيرْ l-jir lime (whitewash)
- مْبَيّْضْ mbeyyed whitewashed
- زْرْقْ zreq blue
-
الْعِينْ
l-3in
eye; evil eye
l-3in l-khayba, the evil eye.
Register
- رَسْمِي rasmi official; formal
- عَامِّي 3ammi colloquial
- الْمُسْتَوَى l-mustawa level; register
Two grammars, one continuum
Four sentences about the same town. Two are Fusha, two Darija. Which? And what's odd about the fourth?
- تَأَسَّسَتْ مَدِينَةُ شَفْشَاوَنَ سَنَةَ 1471ta'assasat madinatu shafshawana sanata 1471
- عَامْ 1471 كِيتّْعْتَابْرْ عَامْ تَأْسِيسْ لْمْدِينَة3am 1471 kaytt3tabar 3am ta'sis l-mdina
- فْدَاكْ الْوَقْتْ كَانُو كِيسْكْنُو فِيهَا غِيرْ نَاسْ قْلَالْf dak l-weqt kanu kayskunu fiha ghir nas qlal
- وْعْرْفَتْ الْمْدِينَة وَاحْدْ الِارْتِفَاعْ كْبِيرْ فْعَدَدْ السُّكَّانْu 3erfet l-mdina wa7ed l-irtifa3 kbir f 3adad s-sukkan
Which word does each use for “year”? What happens to “they lived”? What about wa7ed l-irtifa3?
The rule
Fusha and Darija share roots, not grammar. A handful of words give the register away:
Copula: hiya madina in Fusha; in Darija, nothing: mdina.
Tense: kanu yaskununa → kanu kayskunu. Darija adds ka- and drops the endings.
Function words: sana → 3am, alladhi → lli, hadhihi → had, laysa → mashi, faqat → ghir.
Educated Darija borrows Fusha nouns and phrases (l-irtifa3, 3adad s-sukkan) but keeps its own grammar: wa7ed l-irtifa3 kbir, with Darija's indefinite article.
Fusha → Darija
| Form | Say it | Means |
|---|---|---|
| هِيَ مَدِينَةٌ فِي شَمَالِ الْمَغْرِبِ ← مْدِينَة فْالشّْمَالْ | hiya madinatun fi shamali l-maghribi → mdina f sh-shamal | it is a city in northern Morocco → a city in the north |
| سَنَةَ 1471 ← فْعَامْ 1471 | sanata 1471 → f 3am 1471 | in the year 1471 |
| كَانُوا يَسْكُنُونَ ← كَانُو كَيْسْكْنُو | kanu yaskununa → kanu kayskunu | they lived |
| الَّذِينَ طُرِدُوا ← اللِّي تّْطْرْدُو | alladhina turidu → lli tterdu | those who were expelled |
| هٰذِهِ الْهِجْرَةُ ← هَادْ الْهِجْرَة | hadhihi l-hijratu → had l-hijra | this migration |
| لَيْسَ لِلصَّلَاةِ فَقَطْ ← مَاشِي غِيرْ لْلصّْلَاة | laysa li s-salati faqat → mashi ghir l s-sla | not only for prayer |
| وْعْرْفَتْ الْمْدِينَة وَاحْدْ الِارْتِفَاعْ كْبِيرْ | u 3erfet l-mdina wa7ed l-irtifa3 kbir | the city experienced a large increase (educated Darija) |
| كِيتّْعْتَابْرْ ← يُعْتَبَرُ | kaytt3tabar → yu3tabaru | is considered |
Row 7: Fusha noun, Darija grammar. It's what you hear on the radio.
What English gives you, and what it costs
Free: English mixes Latinate and Germanic words by register: “experience an increase” vs “go up a lot”. Educated Darija does that with Fusha nouns.
Costly: in English, register changes vocabulary. In Arabic it changes grammar too: conjugation, demonstratives, negation.
Costly: “Fusha is proper Arabic”. No: it's a different register with a different job. Fusha at the market sounds like the evening news.
Your mistake, not someone else's
If you learnt Fusha first, hybrid forms slip out: the Fusha ending with the Darija prefix.
×كَيَسْكُنُونَka- on a Fusha conjugation.
✓كَيْسْكْنُو“They live”, in Darija.
Pick one grammar per verb. Words mix; conjugations don't.
Chefchaouen, twice
Real extracts from the Chefchaouen articles in Arabic Wikipedia (Fusha) and Darija Wikipedia. From B2 on, texts aren't adapted: you read them as they are, with glosses.
شَفْشَاوَنُ أَوِ الشَّاوَنُ (وَتُلَقَّبُ مَحَلِّيًّا بِالْمَدِينَةِ الزَّرْقَاءِ) هِيَ مَدِينَةٌ فِي شَمَالِ الْمَغْرِبِ، بِجِهَةِ طَنْجَةَ تِطْوَانَ الْحُسَيْمَةِ.
تَأَسَّسَتْ مَدِينَةُ شَفْشَاوَنَ سَنَةَ 1471 عَلَى يَدِ مَوْلَايْ عَلِيِّ بْنِ رَاشِدٍ، لِإِيوَاءِ مُسْلِمِي الْأَنْدَلُسِ بَعْدَ طَرْدِهِمْ مِنْ طَرَفِ الْإِسْبَانِ […].
عَامْ 1471 كِيتّْعْتَابْرْ حْتَّى هُوَ عَامْ تَأْسِيسْ لْمْدِينَة؛ فْدَاكْ الْوَقْتْ كَانُو كِيسْكْنُو فِيهَا غِيرْ نَاسْ قْلَالْ، وْغَالْبِيَّتْهُمْ مْنْ الْأَمَازِيغْ.
وْعْرْفَتْ الْمْدِينَة وَاحْدْ الِارْتِفَاعْ كْبِيرْ فْعَدَدْ السُّكَّانْ فْعَامْ 1492، مْلِّي جَاوْ لِيهَا مُسْلِمِينْ وْيْهُودْ مَطْرُودِينْ مْنْ سْپَانْيَا […].
هَادْ الْهِجْرَة بَاقَا مْأَثّْرَة حْتَّى لْيُومْ فْالْمِعْمَارْ دْيَالْ لْمْدِينَة الْقْدِيمَة: بْحَالْ الْقُرَى الْأَنْدَلُسِيَّة، كَايْنِينْ دْرُوبْ صْغَارْ وْمْتْشَعّْبِينْ بِينْ دْيُورْ مْبَيّْضِينْ بْالْجِيرْ،
وْحُدُودْ غِيرْ مْنَظّْمَة، وْغَالِباً فِيهُمْ دَرَجَاتْ دْيَالْ لّْلُونْ زْرْقْ (بَاشْ يْبْعْدُو الْعِينْ الْخَايْبَة).
«شفشاون», Wikipedia en árabe (ar.wikipedia.org) y Wikipedia en darija (ary.wikipedia.org), autores de Wikipedia. Extractos con cortes marcados […]; vocalización de Learning Darija · CC BY-SA 4.0
Did you follow?
Who founded the town, according to the Fusha text?
Show answers
Moulay Ali ben Rashid, in 1471.
Who lived there at first, according to the Darija text?
Show answers
Few people, mostly Amazigh.
What happened in 1492?
Show answers
Muslims and Jews expelled from Spain arrived.
Why are the houses painted blue, according to the Darija text?
Show answers
To ward off the evil eye.
Check
First lesson of B2: all five are open.
All five exercises of this lesson are open. It is the sample of the level: from lesson 66 on, three of the five are in the B2 book.
1Match
The Fusha word with the Darija one.
| 1 | سَنَةَ | a | مَاشِي |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2 | فَقَطْ | b | عَامْ |
| 3 | لَيْسَ | c | اللِّي |
| 4 | الَّذِينَ | d | غِيرْ |
| 5 | مَاذَا | e | أَشْنُو |
2Sort
Fusha or Darija?
هٰذِهِهَادْيَسْكُنُونَكَيْسْكْنُوفِيفْذٰلِكَدَاكْ
Fusha
Darija
3True or false?
According to both texts.
- Both texts give 1471 as the founding year.
- According to the Darija text, the first inhabitants were Andalusians.
- According to the Darija text, blue wards off the evil eye.
- The Fusha text says the town was founded for the Portuguese.
4Into Darija
Rewrite each Fusha sentence in Darija.
- هٰذِهِ الْمَدِينَةُ جَمِيلَةٌ
- كَانُوا يَسْكُنُونَ فِي الْجَبَلِ
- لَيْسَ هُنَا فَقَطْ
- مَاذَا تُرِيدُ؟
5A town
In five sentences of Darija, tell the history of a town you know.
عَامْكَانُو كَيْ…اللِّيغِيرْمَاشِي
A model
تِطْوَانْ مْدِينَة قْدِيمَة فْالشّْمَالْ. فْالْقْرْنْ الْخَامْسْطَاشْ جَاوْ لِيهَا نَاسْ بْزَّافْ مْنْ الْأَنْدَلُسْ. هَادُوكْ النَّاسْ اللِّي جَاوْ كَانُو كَيْخْدْمُو فْالصّْنْعَة وْ التّْجَارَة. عْلَى هَادْشِّي الْمْدِينَة الْقْدِيمَة دْيَالْهَا بْحَالْ شِي مْدِينَة أَنْدَلُسِيَّة. مَاشِي غِيرْ الْمِعْمَارْ، حْتَّى الْمَاكْلَة وْ الْمُوسِيقَى فِيهُمْ الْأَنْدَلُسْ.
Show answers
| 1. Match | 1-b, 2-d, 3-a, 4-c, 5-e |
|---|---|
| 2. Sort | Fusha: هٰذِهِ · يَسْكُنُونَ · فِي · ذٰلِكَ / Darija: هَادْ · كَيْسْكْنُو · فْ · دَاكْ |
| 3. True or false? | 1-True, 2-False, 3-True, 4-False |
| 4. Into Darija | هَادْ الْمْدِينَة زْوِينَة · كَانُو كَيْسْكْنُو فْالْجْبَلْ · مَاشِي غِيرْ هْنَا · أَشْنُو بْغِيتِي؟ |
I can now
- Tell Fusha from Darija in a text.
- Turn simple Fusha sentences into Darija.
- Recognise educated Darija.
- Read an unadapted real text.