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Learning Darijaالدارجة

Lesson 68 · B2

The sea behind you

In 711 Tariq ibn Ziyad, governor of Tangier, crossed the strait that now bears his name: Gibraltar, “Tariq's mountain”. The speech tradition gives him opens by putting what matters first: “the sea, behind you; the enemy, ahead”. This is the lesson on focus.

  • Front a word and pick it up with a pronoun.
  • Highlight with huwa lli, hiya lli.
  • Insist with rah.
  • Read classical oratory and put it into Darija.
1

Twenty-four words

The first family is the focus toolkit. The rest come from the speech: sea, enemy, escape, endurance.

Highlighting

  • هُوَ اللِّي huwa lli he's the one who
  • هِيَ اللِّي hiya lli she's the one who
  • رَاهْ rah (emphasis) I'm telling you; look

    You've met it with the present. Here it insists.

  • بْرَاسُو b rasu himself; in person

    “With his head”.

  • غِيرْ ghir only; nothing but
  • بِالضَّبْطْ b d-dabt exactly

The speech

  • الْخُطْبَة l-khutba speech; sermon
  • خْطَبْ khteb to give a speech

    Also “to propose marriage”.

  • الْجِّيشْ j-jish army
  • الْعْدُوّْ l-3duw enemy
  • الْمْفَرّْ l-mferr way out; escape
  • الصّْبْرْ s-sber patience; endurance
  • الصّْدْقْ s-sedq truthfulness; loyalty

The strait

  • الْبْحَرْ l-b7er sea
  • الْجْزِيرَة l-jzira island; peninsula

    Al-Andalus was “the island”.

  • الْمْضِيقْ l-mdiq strait
  • جْبَلْ طَارِقْ jbel Tariq Gibraltar

    “Tariq's mountain”.

  • قْطَعْ qte3 to cross

    Also “to cut”.

Where and how

  • مُورَا mura behind
  • قُدَّامْ quddam in front of
  • هْرَبْ hreb to flee
  • ضَايْعْ daye3 lost; forsaken

The final comparison

  • الْيْتِيمْ l-ytim orphan
  • اللّْئِيمْ l-la'im mean; base person

    Formal.

2

Putting what matters first

Four lines from the Darija version. Look at what comes first and which pronoun picks it up later.

  1. الْبْحَرْ رَاهْ مُورَاكُمْ، وْ الْعْدُوّْ رَاهْ قُدَّامْكُمْl-b7er rah murakum, u l-3duw rah quddamkum
  2. الْفْلُوكَة، أَنَا اللِّي حْرْقْتْهَا؟ لَاl-fluka, ana lli 7reqtha? la
  3. هَادْ الْجْزِيرَة، حْنَا اللِّي غَادِي نْدْخْلُوهَاhad l-jzira, 7na lli ghadi ndekhluha
  4. غِيرْ الصّْبْرْ وْ الصّْدْقْ اللِّي بْقَاوْ لِيكُمْghir s-sber u s-sedq lli bqaw likum

In line 3, which word picks up had l-jzira? What does lli do in lines 2, 3 and 4?

The rule

Fronting: what you want to highlight goes first, with a pause, and a pronoun picks it up in its normal slot: had l-ktab, qritu, “this book, I read it”.

Cleft: person + huwa / hiya / huma lli + clause: A7med huwa lli ja, “it was Ahmed who came”. With pronouns: ntuma lli ghadi trebe7u.

rah before a clause insists: rah qult lik, “I told you!”.

b rasu: “in person”: huwa b rasu ja.

ghir … lli: “only … is what”: ghir s-sber lli bqa likum.

Ways to highlight

FormSay itMeans
قْرِيتْ هَادْ الْكْتَابْ ← هَادْ الْكْتَابْ، قْرِيتُوqrit had l-ktab → had l-ktab, qrituI read this book → this book, I read it
الْبْحَرْ، رَاهْ مُورَاكُمْl-b7er, rah murakumthe sea — it's behind you
أَحْمَدْ هُوَ اللِّي جَاA7med huwa lli jait was Ahmed who came
هَادِي هِيَ الْمُشْكِيلَةhadi hiya l-mushkilathis is the problem
نْتُومَا اللِّي غَادِي تْرْبْحُوntuma lli ghadi trebe7uyou're the ones who'll win
رَاهْ قُلْتْ لِيكْrah qult likI told you!
هُوَ بْرَاسُو جَاhuwa b rasu jahe came in person
غِيرْ الصّْبْرْ اللِّي بْقَا لِيكُمْghir s-sber lli bqa likumall you have left is patience

Row 1: the -u in qritu can't be dropped.

What English gives you, and what it costs

Free: “it was Ahmed who came”. English clefts map straight onto huwa lli, and huwa doesn't change for tense.

Free: “this book, I read it” — casual English does the same thing.

Costly: English focuses mostly by stress, keeping word order fixed. In Darija, moving words is the normal way to focus. Use it.

Your mistake, not someone else's

Written English fronts without a pronoun (“This book I've read”). Darija wants the pronoun back.

×هَادْ الْكْتَابْ قْرِيتْFronted object, no pronoun.

✓هَادْ الْكْتَابْ، قْرِيتُو“This book, I read it”.

The pronoun agrees: had d-dar, shritha; had l-ktub, qritham.

3

The speech at the strait

Two sentences from the speech tradition attributes to Tariq ibn Ziyad before the battle of 711, in the version recorded by al-Maqqari in the 17th century. Whether he said it this way is doubtful; that it's been recited this way for centuries isn't. Below, the same speech in Darija, written for this lesson.

أَيُّهَا النَّاسُ، أَيْنَ الْمَفَرُّ؟ الْبَحْرُ مِنْ وَرَائِكُمْ، وَالْعَدُوُّ أَمَامَكُمْ، وَلَيْسَ لَكُمْ وَاللهِ إِلَّا الصِّدْقُ وَالصَّبْرُ.

وَاعْلَمُوا أَنَّكُمْ فِي هٰذِهِ الْجَزِيرَةِ أَضْيَعُ مِنَ الْأَيْتَامِ فِي مَأْدُبَةِ اللِّئَامِ.

The speech, in Fusha

آ النَّاسْ، فِينْ غَادِي تْهْرْبُو؟ الْبْحَرْ، رَاهْ مُورَاكُمْ. وْ الْعْدُوّْ، رَاهْ قُدَّامْكُمْ.

وَاللَّهْ مَا بْقَا لِيكُمْ غِيرْ الصّْدْقْ وْ الصّْبْرْ: هُوَمَا اللِّي غَادِي يْنْجِّيوْكُمْ.

وْ رَاهْ فْهَادْ الْجْزِيرَة، نْتُومَا ضَايْعِينْ كْثَرْ مْنْ الْيْتَامَى فْعْرْضَة دْ النَّاسْ اللِّي مَا فِيهُمْ خِيرْ.

The speech, in Darija

Arenga atribuida a Ṭāriq ibn Ziyād (711), versión de al-Maqqarī, Nafḥ aṭ-ṭīb (s. XVII); la primera frase, citada en ar.wikisource (مجلة الرسالة، العدد 521). Vocalización y versión en darija de Learning Darija · dominio público

Did you follow?

  1. What's behind the army? And ahead?

    Show answers

    The sea behind, the enemy ahead.

  2. What do they have left, according to Tariq?

    Show answers

    Only loyalty and endurance.

  3. Who does he compare them to?

    Show answers

    Orphans at a feast of mean-spirited people.

  4. Which focus devices does the Darija version use?

    Show answers

    Fronting with rah, and the cleft huma lli.

4

Check

Two here, three more in the B2 book.

Exercises 1 and 2 are here, with answers. Exercises 3 to 5 are in the B2 book, the PDF this site lives on: you can see the first item of each below.

1Highlight it

Rewrite as the brackets say.

  1. قْرِيتْ هَادْ الْكْتَابْ (قَدّْمْ الْكْتَابْ)
  2. جَا أَحْمَدْ (هُوَ اللِّي)
  3. شْفْتْ الْفِيلْمْ (قَدّْمْ الْفِيلْمْ)
  4. خْتِي صَاوْبَاتْ الْكِيكَة (هِيَ اللِّي)

2Fill the gap

With the focus word that fits.

هوهيراهبراسو

  1. يوسف ___ اللي خلص
  2. مك ___ اللي عيطات
  3. ___ قلت ليك، ما تمشيش
  4. المدير ___ جا يشوف

3True or false?

According to the speech.

  1. The sea is behind the army.

The rest is in the B2 book

3 more items, with the answers.

The B2 book

4Pick the right one

The correctly focused sentence.

    1. هَادْ الدَّارْ، شْرِيتْهَا
    2. هَادْ الدَّارْ، شْرِيتْ
    3. هَادْ الدَّارْ شْرِيتْهَا هِيَ

The rest is in the B2 book

2 more items, with the answers.

The B2 book

5Your speech

Write six sentences to rally your neighbours. Highlight with huwa lli, rah and fronting.

هُوَ اللِّيرَاهْغِيرْبْرَاسُو

The rest is in the B2 book

The B2 book
Show answers
1. Highlight itهَادْ الْكْتَابْ، قْرِيتُو · أَحْمَدْ هُوَ اللِّي جَا · الْفِيلْمْ، شْفْتُو · خْتِي هِيَ اللِّي صَاوْبَاتْ الْكِيكَة
2. Fill the gapهو · هي · راه · براسو

The B2 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

  • Front a word with a pronoun back in place.
  • Highlight with huwa lli.
  • Insist with rah and b rasu.
  • Read a classical speech.