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Learning Darijaالدارجة

Lesson 7 · A1

Where is the station

Seven question words and seventeen for finding your way round a town. The order is the one you already use. What you have to drop is the “is”.

  • Ask who, what, where, when, why, how and how much.
  • Name the places you look for in a Moroccan town.
  • Ask the way and follow the answer: straight on, right, left.
  • Keep wash for yes-or-no questions only.
1

Seventeen words

Places, two ways of getting there, and the words of the answer. You will hear the last family more than you say it.

In town

  • مْدِينَة mdina town; the old town

    Any town, and above all the walled old quarter. l-mdina l-qdima is the medina, with the article.

  • زَنْقَة zenqa street

    The word on every street sign: real Moroccan street plates say زَنْقَة.

  • سُوقْ suq market

    The market in general. “souk” in English guidebooks is this word.

  • مْحَطَّة m7etta station

    Bus or train. Feminine, by the -a: hadik l-m7etta.

  • سْبِيطَارْ sbitar hospital

    Borrowed from Spanish “hospital”, long ago. Nothing like the Standard Arabic word on the building.

  • حَمَّامْ 7ammam hammam, public bath

    English took the word as it is. Say it with ح, not your h.

  • بَنْكَة banka bank

    Feminine in Darija, and it ends in -a to prove it.

  • جَامَعْ jame3 mosque

    The everyday word. Useful as a landmark: every neighbourhood has one.

Getting there

  • طَاكْسِي taksi taxi

    Starts with ط, the hollow t of lesson 5, not your t.

  • طُوبِيسْ tobis bus

    From French “autobus”, cut down. Masculine.

The answer

  • نِيشَانْ nishan straight on

    The answer you will get most. Literally “aim”: straight at the target.

  • عْلَى الْيْمِينْ 3la l-imin on the right
  • عْلَى الشّْمَالْ 3la sh-shmal on the left

    Also means “north” in Standard Arabic. In Darija directions it is only left.

  • قْرِيبْ qrib near

    Feminine qriba, for a station or a bank.

  • بْعِيدْ b3id far

    Feminine b3ida. ع in the middle.

  • تْمَّا temma there

    The pair of hna, “here”, from lesson 1.

  • مْنْ بَعْدْ mn b3d then; later

    In directions it is “and then”. Asked “when?”, it means “later”.

2

The question words

Four questions. Look at where the question word sits and at what is missing after it.

  1. فِينْ الْمْحَطَّة؟fin l-m7etta?
  2. شْكُونْ هَادَا؟shkun hada?
  3. إِمْتَى الطُّوبِيسْ؟imta t-tobis?
  4. عْلَاشْ نْتَ هْنَا؟3lash nta hna?

Where does the question word go, and what is not there that English would need?

The rule

The question word goes first, and the rest follows with no change: fin l-m7etta?, “where the station?”.

There is no “is” and no “do”, as in lessons 1 and 6. 3lash nta hna? is “why you here?”, and it means “why are you here?”.

And no wash. wash is for yes-or-no questions. A question word already says it is a question.

Seven question words

WordSayMeans
شْكُونْshkunwho
آشْashwhat (before a verb)
فِينْfinwhere
إِمْتَىimtawhen
عْلَاشْ3lashwhy
كِيفَاشْkifashhow
شْحَالْsh7alhow much, how many

You met a second “what” in lesson 1: shnu smitek?. shnu stands on its own; ash goes in front of a verb. For now, shnu is the one you will use. And 3lash is two words fused: 3la “on” plus ash “what”. English “what for” is built the same way.

What English hands you, and what it charges you

Free: the position. English puts who, where, when first, and so does Darija.

Charged: everything English puts after it. “Where is the station?”, “where do you live?”. English cannot ask a question without a verb in second place. Darija puts nothing there.

Charged: sh7al does the work of both “how much” and “how many”, and prices come with b in front: b-sh7al?, “for how much?”.

Your mistake, not someone else's

Last lesson, wash became your sign that a question is coming. English uses the same “do” for both kinds of question: “do you know?” and “where do you live?”. So your instinct carries wash into both. It belongs to one.

×وَاشْ فِينْ الْمْحَطَّة؟Two question marks where Darija uses one. It sounds like “is it that where the station?”.

✓فِينْ الْمْحَطَّة؟“Where is the station?” The question word is enough.

And the other one, from the same reflex: looking for the “is” in “where is”. Some learners reach for كَانْ again. It is the past, and fin kan… starts a question about where something was.

3

A street sign and the way to the station

Two signs of the kind you pass in any old town, and the exchange that follows. Moroccan street plates really do say زَنْقَة; the name on this one is ours. The dialogue is written for the lesson.

زَنْقَة الزِّيتُونَة

Street plate

الْمْدِينَة الْقْدِيمَة

الْمْحَطَّة

الْحَمَّامْ

Direction post

Did you follow it?

  1. Which street are you on?

    Show answers

    زَنْقَة الزِّيتُونَة — Zituna Street, the same name as the riad in lesson 1.

  2. What is the question word in the first line?

    Show answers

    فِينْ, fin, “where”. No wash and no verb after it.

  3. How do you get to the station?

    Show answers

    Straight on, then right: nishan, mn b3d 3la l-imin.

  4. Why b3ida and qriba, with -a?

    Show answers

    Because they describe l-m7etta, which is feminine. The adjective agrees, as in lesson 4.

4

Check

Which question word, and when wash and when not.

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.

1Match

Pair each question with its answer.

1فِينْ الْمْحَطَّة؟aمْنْ بَعْدْ
2شْكُونْ هَادَا؟bنِيشَانْ، مْنْ بَعْدْ عْلَى الْيْمِينْ
3إِمْتَى الطُّوبِيسْ؟cلَّا، قْرِيبْ
4وَاشْ السُّوقْ بْعِيدْ؟dهَادَا كَرِيمْ

2Supply the question word

Fill in with شْكُونْ, فِينْ, إِمْتَى or عْلَاشْ. The answer after the dash tells you which. Each is used once.

شْكُونْفِينْإِمْتَىعْلَاشْ

  1. ___ السّْبِيطَارْ؟ — تْمَّا، عْلَى الشّْمَالْ
  2. ___ هَادِيكْ؟ — هَادِيكْ مَرْيَمْ
  3. ___ الطَّاكْسِي؟ — مْنْ بَعْدْ
  4. ___ نْتَ هْنَا؟

3Ask the question

Each line is an answer. Write the question it answers. Use wash only where the answer is yes or no.

  1. الْمْحَطَّة تْمَّا

The rest is in the A1 book

2 more items, with the answers.

The A1 book

4Put it in order

Build the sentence from the pieces. It reads right to left.

  1. الْبَنْكَة؟سْمَحْ لِيَّا،فِينْ

The rest is in the A1 book

2 more items, with the answers.

The A1 book

5Write

Ask the way to a place in town, in four or five lines: excuse yourself, ask where, ask if it is far, thank.

سْمَحْ لِيَّافِينْوَاشْبْعِيدْبَارَكْ اللّٰهُ فِيكْ

The rest is in the A1 book

The A1 book
Show answers
1. Match1-b, 2-d, 3-a, 4-c
2. Supply the question wordفِينْ · شْكُونْ · إِمْتَى · عْلَاشْ

The A1 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 who, where, when and why with no verb after the question word.
  • Name eight places in a Moroccan town.
  • Follow “straight on, then right”.
  • Keep wash out of a question that already has a question word.
  • Ask the way and thank the person who gave it.