Algerian Arabic

Not to be confused with Algerian Saharan Arabic.

Algerian Arabic
Dziria, دزيرية
Native to	Algeria
Native speakers	27 million (2012) 3 million L2 speakers in Algeria (no date)
Language family	Afro-Asiatic Semitic Central Semitic Arabic Maghrebi Arabic Algerian Arabic
Writing system	Arabic script, Latin script
Language codes
ISO 639-3	arq
Glottolog	alge1239

Algerian Arabic, or Algerian (known as Darja, or Dziria in Algeria) is a language derived from a variety of the Arabic languages spoken in northern Algeria. It belongs to the Maghrebi Arabic language continuum and is mutually intelligible with Tunisian and Moroccan.

Like other varieties of Maghrebi Arabic, Algerian dialects have a mostly Semitic vocabulary, with significant Berber substrates and numerous loanwords from French, Ottoman Turkish and Spanish.

Algerian Arabic is the native language of 75% to 80% of Algerians, and is mastered by 95% to 100% of them. It is essentially a spoken language used in daily communication and entertainment, while Classical Arabic is generally reserved for official use and education.

Dialects

Algerian Arabic includes several distinct dialects belonging to two genetically different groups: pre-Hilalian and Hilalian dialects.

Hilalian dialects

Hilalian dialects of Algeria belong to three linguistic groups:

• Eastern Hilal dialects: spoken in Hautes Plaines around Sétif, M'Sila and Djelfa;
• Central Hilal dialects: of central and southern Algeria, south of Algiers and Oran;
• Mâqil dialects: spoken in the western part of Oranais (nited fot the third singular masculine accusative pronoun is h, for example, /ʃʊfteh/ (I saw him) that would be /ʃʊftʊ/ in the other dialects).

Modern koine languages, urban and national, are based mainly on Hilalian dialects.

Pre-Hilalian dialects

Pre-Hilalian Arabic dialects are generally classified in three types: urban, "village" sedentary and Jewish dialects. Several Pre-Hilalian dialects are spoken in Algeria:

• Urban dialects are in all of Algeria's big cities. Urban dialects were formerly also spoken in other cities such as Azemmour and Mascara, where they are no longer spoken.
• Lesser Kabylia dialect (or Jijel Arabic) is spoken in the triangular area north of Constantine, including Collo and Jijel (it is noteworthy for its pronunciation of [q] as [k] and characterised, such as other Eastern pre-Hilalian dialects, by the preservation of the three short vowels).
• Traras-Msirda dialect is spoken in the area north of Tlemcen, including the eastern Traras, Rachgun and Honaine (it is noted for its pronunciation of [q] as [ʔ]) ;
• Judeo-Algerian Arabic is no longer spoken after Jews left Algeria in 1962, following its independence.

Phonology

IPA phonemes as transliterated in this article:

24 consonants:

/b/

/t/

/dʒ/

/ħ/

/χ/

/d/

/r/

/z/

/s/

/ʃ/

/sˤ/

/dˤ/

/tˤ/

/ʕ/

/ʁ/

/f/

/q/

/ɡ/

/k/

/l/

/m/

/n/

/h/

/w/

/j/

b

t

j

ḥ

x

d

r

z

s

š

ṣ

ḍ

ṭ

ε

γ

f

q

g

k

l

m

n

h

w

y

ب‎

ت‎

ج‎

ح‎

خ‎

د‎

ر‎

ز‎

س‎

ش‎

ص‎

ض/ظ‎

ط‎

ع‎

غ‎

ف‎

غ/ق‎

ݣ/ڨ‎

ک/ك‎‎

ل‎

م‎

ن‎

ه‎

و‎

ی/ي‎

• ^1 The letter Ghayn (غ) is only pronounced /q/ in some Berber loanwords.
• ^2 The letter ݣ is only used in occidental Algeria, near the Morocco border. Elsewhere, it is written ڨ.

6 vowels: 3 long vowels:

• /aː/ /sˤɑːħəb/ friend
• /iː/ (as in "ski") e.g. قريت /qriːt/ I read, in the past
• /uː/ (as in "flu") e.g. تِلِفون /tilifuːn/

3 short vowels:

• /a/ (as in "man") [æ], e.g. سامح /sæməħ/ forgave
• /e/ (as in "men") e.g. قَهوَة, or a shorter version of a as in father [ɑ]

e.g., rɑbbi my God

• /i/ (as in sit) e.g. هِيَ /hijjɑ/ she
• /u/ (as in foot) e.g. قُبَّة /qu:bɑ/ dome

plus the schwa, which replaces /e/ in some positions e.g. انتَ /ənte/

Arguably, one of the most notable features of Maghrebi Arabic dialects, including Algerian Arabic, is the collapse of short vowels in some positions: Standard Arabic كِتاب kitab (book) is /ktæb/

kalam كَلام (speech) is /klæm/

The feature is also sometimes present in Levantine Arabic. Standard Arabic words containing three syllables are simplified:

/ħɑdʒɑrɑ/ حَجَرة is /ħɑdʒrɑ/.

Algerian Arabic is particularly rich in uvular, pharyngeal, and pharyngealized ("emphatic") sounds. The uvular and emphatic sounds are generally considered to be q, x and ṣ, ḍ, and ṭ respectively.

Non-emphatic /r/ and emphatic /rˤ/ are two entirely separate phonemes, almost never contrasting in related forms of a word.

/ərrɑmle/ الرَّملة (sand), as in arrive

/jədʒri/ يجري (he runs), as in free

Original /q/ splits lexically into /q/ and /ɡ/ in most dialects but /q/ is preserved all the time in all of the big cities such as Algiers, Oran, Constantine, etc. and all of the montagneious regions; for all words, both alternatives exist.

Grammar

Nouns and adjectives

English	Pronunciation	Algerian Arabic
drink	shrââb	شراب
sky	smâ'	سما
water	mâ'	ما
woman, women	mra	مرة
fire	nâr	نار
big	kbir	كبير
man, men	rajel \ rjal	(راجل)(رجال)
day	nhâr, yom	نهار، يوم
moon	Qmar	قمر
night	liil	ليل
bread	khobz	خبز
small	ṣghir	صغير
sand	rmel	رمل
winter, rain	shtâ \ nu (rain)	شتا \ نو
ball	balon	بالون
napkin	servita	سرڥيتة
toilet, bathroom	beit el ma'; beit er-râHa ; Twâlaat	بيت الماء، بيت الراحة

Conjunctions and prepositions

English	Conjunctions	Algerian Arabic	Notes of usage
But	bâṣṣâh	بالصح	Also used is ولكن
If	ila, lakan	،إيلا، إيدا، لاكان، كون	Used for impossible conditions and comes just before the verb
If	loukan	لوكان	For possible conditions, Also used is لو, لاكون and إذا
So that, that	bash	باش
That	beli	باللي
As if	shgol	شغل	Also used is كي اللي
Because	ala khatach, ala khatr, Khatrekch	على خاطر, على خاطش	خخ
When	ki/weenta	كي	Used before verbs
Before	Qbel ma	قبل ما	Used before verbs
Without	bla ma	بلا ما	Used before verbs
Whether	kash ma	كاش ما	Used before verbs
under	that	تحت
over, on top of	fuq	فوق
after	Men beεd/mora/Bääd	عمن بعد	ب
before	Qbel	قبل	Used only for time
next to, beside	qodam	قدام Also used is حدا	قدام
at	εend	عند
with	ma'	مع
among, between	been, beenat (plural)	بين، بينات
lion	sba', sayd	سبع، صيد
same as, as much as	A'la hsab ged	قد	amount
oh, oh so much	ya, ah	يا، آه

Some of them can be attached to the noun, just like in other Arabic dialects. The word for in, "fee", can be attached to a definite noun. For example, the word for house has a definite form "eddar" (الدار) but with "fee" (في), it becomes "feddar" (فالدار).

Gender

There is the masculine and the feminine. Masculine nouns and adjectives generally end with a consonant while the feminine nouns generally end with an a.

Examples:

• [ħmɑr] "a donkey", [ħmɑrɑ] "a female donkey".
• [tˤfal] "a little boy", [tˤoflɑ] "a little girl".

Pluralisation

Hilalian dialects, on which the modern koine is based, often use regular plural while the wider use of the broken plural is characteristic to pre-Hilalian dialects.

Unlike Classical Arabic's use of the suffix -un for the nominative, Algerian Arabic uses, for all cases, the suffix -in, used in Classical Arabic for the accusative and the genitive:

mumen مومن (believer) → mumnin مومنين

For feminine nouns, the regular plural is obtained by suffixing -at:

Classical Arabic: bint (girl) → banat

Algerian Arabic: bent → bnat

The broken plural can be found for some plurals in Hilalian dialects, but it is mainly used, for the same words, in pre-Hilalian dialects:

Regular plural: ṭabla → ṭablat ("Table") ;

Broken plural: ṭabla → ṭwabəl.

Article

The article el is indeclinable and expresses definite state of a noun of any gender and number. It is also prefixed to each of that noun's modifying adjectives.

It follows the solar letters and lunar letters rules of Classical Arabic: if the word starts with one of these consonants, el is assimilated and replaced by the first consonant:

t, d, r, z, s, š, ṣ, ḍ, ṭ, l, n.

Examples:

rajel → errajel "man" (assimilation)

qmar → elqmar "moon" (no assimilation)

Verbs

Conjugation is done by adding affixes (prefixes, postfixes, both or none) that change according to the tense.

In all Algerian Arabic dialects, there is no gender differentiation of the 2nd and 3rd person in the plural forms. However, there is also no gender differentiation of the 2nd person in the singular form in pre-Hilalian dialects unlike Hilalian ones where it has been preserved.

Person	Past		Present
	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural
1st	- t	- na	n -	n(e) - u
2nd (m)	- t	- tu	t -	t - u
2nd (f)	- ti	- tu	t - i	t - u
3rd (m)	-	- u	i/y(e) -	i/y(e) - u
3rd (f)	- t	- u	t(e) -	i/y(e) - u

• Example with the verb kteb "To write":

Person	Past		Present
	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural
1st (m)	ktebt	ktebna	nekteb	nekketbu
2nd (m)	ktebt	ktebtu	tekteb	tekketbu
2nd (f)	ktebti	ktebtu	tekketbi	tekketbu
3rd (m)	kteb	ketbu	yekteb	yekketbu
3rd (f)	ketbet	ketbu	tekteb	yekketbu

Person	Past		Present		Future		Present continuous
	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural
1st (m)	كتبت	كتبنا	نكتب	نكتبوا	رايح نكتب	رايحين نكتبوا	راني نكتب	رانا نكتبوا
2nd (m)	كتبت	كتبتوا	تكتب	تكتبوا	رايح تكتب	رايحين تكتبوا	راك تكتب	راكم تكتبوا
2nd (f)	كتبتي	كتبتوا	تكتبي	تكتبوا	رايحة تكتبي	رايحين تكتبوا	راكي تكتبي	راكم تكتبوا
3rd (m)	كتب	كتبوا	يكتب	يكتبوا	رايح يكتب	رايحين يكتبوا	راهو يكتب	راهم يكتبوا
3rd (f)	كتبت	كتبوا	تكتب	يكتبوا	رايحة تكتب	رايحين يكتبوا	راهي تكتب	راكم تكتبوا

Future tense

Speakers generally do not use the future tense above. Used instead is the present tense or present continuous.

Also, as is used in all of the other Arabic dialects, there is another way of showing active tense. The form changes the root verb into an adjective. For example, "kteb" he wrote becomes "kateb".

Negation

Like all North African Arabic varieties (including Egyptian Arabic) along with some Levantine Arabic varieties, verbal expressions are negated by enclosing the verb with all its affixes, along with any adjacent pronoun-suffixed preposition, within the circumfix ma... š (/ʃ/):

• « lεebt » ("I played") → « ma lεebtš /ʃ/  » ما لعبتش ("I didn't play")
• « ma tţabbaεniiš » ("Don't push me")
• « ma yšaddu-lekš haaðu l-qraε » ("Those bottles won't last you long")
• « ma şaħħeet-liiš plaaşa » ("I couldn't get a seat / parking place")

Person	Past		Present		Future
	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural
1st (m)	ماكتبتش	ماكتبناش	مانكتبش	مانكتبواش	مارانيش رايح نكتب	ماراناش رايحين نكتبوا
2nd (m)	ماكتبتش	ماكتبتوش	ماتكتبش	ماتكتبواش	ماراكش رايح تكتب	ما راكمش رايحين تكتبوا
2nd (f)	ماكتبتيش	ماكتبتوش	ماتكتبيش	ماتكتبوش	ماراكيش رايحة تكتبي	ماراكمش رايحين تكتبوا
3rd (m)	ماكتبش	ماكتبوش	مايكتبش	مايكتبواش	ماراهش رايح يكتب	ماراهمش رايحين يكتبوا
3rd (f)	ماكتبتش	ماكتبوش	ماتكتبش	مايكتبوش	ماراكمش رايحين تكتبو	ماراهمش رايحين يكتبوا

Other negative words (walu, etc.) are used in combination with ma to express more complex types of negation. ʃ is not used when other negative words are used

• ma qolt walu ماقلت والو ("I didn't say anything")
• ma šuft ħetta waħed ما شفت حتى واحد ("I didn't see anyone")

or when two verbs are consecutively in the negative

• ma šuft ma smeεt ما شفت ما سمعت ("I neither saw nor did I hear").

Verb derivation

Verb derivation is done by adding suffixes or by doubling consonants, there are two types of derivation forms: causative, Passive.

• Causative: is obtained by doubling consonants :

khrej "to go out" → kherrej "to make to go out"

dkhel "to enter" → dekhkhel "to make to enter, to introduce".

• Passive:It is obtained by prefixing the verb with t- / tt- / tn- / n- :

qtel "to kill" → tneqtel "to be killed"

šreb "to drink" → ttešreb "to be drunk".

The adverbs of location

Things could be in three places hnaya (right here), hna (here) or el-hih (there).

Pronouns

Personal pronouns

Most Algerian Arabic dialects have 8 personal pronouns since they no longer have gender differentiation of the 2nd and 3rd person in the plural forms. However, pre-Hilalian dialects retain 7 personal pronouns since gender differentiation of the 2nd person in the singular form is absent as well.

Person	Singular	Plural
1st	ana / anaya	ḥna / ḥnaya
2nd (m)	enta / ntaya	entuma
2nd (f)	enti / entiyya	entuma
3rd (m)	huwa	huma
3rd (f)	hiya	huma

Example : « Ana tani. » — "Me too."

Person	Algerian Arabic	Pronunciation
I am	راني	rani
You are (m)	راك	rak
You are (f)	راكي	raki
He is	راهو	rahu
She is	راهي or راها	rahi or raha
We are	رانا	rana
You or Y'all are	راكُ	raku
You or Y'all are	راكم	rakum (m)and (f)
They are	راهم	rahum (m)and (f)

Example : « Rani hna. » — "I'm here." and « Wech raki. » or « Ki raki(western dialect). » — "How are you." to a woman.

Possessive pronouns

Dar (دار) means house.

Person	Singular	Plural
1st	i (داري)	na (دارنا)
2nd	(e)k (دارك)	kum (داركم)
3rd (m)	u (داره, دارو)	hum (دارهم)
3rd (f)	ha (دارها)	hum (دارهم)

Example : « dar-na. » — "Our house" (House-our) Possessives are frequently combined with « nteε or teε (تاع)» "of" and « dial » "property" : « dar nteε-na » — "Our house.", « dar dial-kum » ...etc.

Singular: تاعي = my or mine (pronounced ta'ee) تاعك = your or yours (m) (pronounced ta'ak) تاعكِ = your or yours (f) (pronounced ta'ik) تاعه = his (pronounced ta'u) تاعها = hers (pronounced ta'ha)

Plural: تاعنا = our or ours (pronounced ta'na) تاعكم = your or yours (m) (pronounced ta'kum) تاعكن = your or yours (f) (pronounced ta'kun) تاعكُ = your or yours (pronounced ta'ku) تاعهم = their or theirs (m) (pronounced ta'hum) تاعهن = their or theirs (f) (pronounced ta'hun)

"Our house" can be "Darna" (دارنا) or "Dar ta'na" (دار تاعنا), which is more like saying 'house of ours'. Ta' can be used in other ways just like in English in Spanish. You can say "Dar ta' khuya" (دار تاع خويا), which means 'house of my brother' or 'my brother's house'.

Interrogative pronouns

Interrogatives	Other ways of saying it	Algerian Arabic	Pronunciation
What?	اش، شنو، واشنو	واش	wash/ sha ?
When?	فاوك, وقتاه، وينتا، إمتى	وقتاش	weqtash/ weenta ?
Why?	علاه، وعلاش، لاه، لياه,	علاش	alash / lech ?
Which?	واش من	وينه	ama ?
Where?	فين	وين	ween ?
Who?	أشكون , من	شكون	shkoon?
How?	كيفاه، كي	كيفاش	kifash ?
How many?	أشحال، قداش، قداه	شحال	shHal ?
Whose?	ديال من	تاع من	ta'men ?

Verbal pronouns

Person	Singular	Plural
1st	ni	na
2nd (m)	(e)k	kum
3rd (m)	u (after a consonant) / h (after a vowel) / hu (before an indirect object pronoun)	hum
3rd (m)	ha	hum

Examples:

« šeft-ni. » — "You saw me." (You.saw-me)

« qtel-u. » — "He killed him." (He.killed-him)

« kla-h. » — "He ate it." (He.ate-it)

Demonstratives

Unlike Classical Arabic, Algerian Arabic has no dual and uses the plural instead. The demonstrative (hadi) is also used for "it is".

Interrogatives	Emphasized	Algerian Arabic	Pronunciation
This	هذا (m), هذه (f), هاديا	هاد (m), هادي (f)	had (m), hadi (f)
That	هداك (m), هديك (f)	داك (m), ديك (f)	dak (m), dik (f)
These	هدوما	هدو	hadu
Those	هدوك	دوك	duk

Sample text

The text below was translated from Kabylie, in Auguste Moulieras's Les fourberies de si Djeh'a.

Buzelluf

Sheep Head

Waḥed nnhar, jeḥḥa med-lu baba-h frank, baš yešri buzelluf. šra-h, kla geɛ leḥm-u. bqa γir leɛḍam, jab-u l baba-h. ki šaf-u qal-lu: "wešnu hada?" qal-lu: "buzelluf". -A ššmata, win rahum wedni-h? -Kan ṭtrash -Win rahum wednih? -Kan ɛwer. -Win rah lsan-u? -Kan ɛeggun. -U jeldet ras-u, win raha? -Kan fertas.

One day, Jehha's father gave him one cent so he buys a sheep head. He bought it and ate all of its meat. Only an empty carcass was left. He brought it to his father. Then, when he saw it, he said: "what is that?" Jehha said: "a sheep head". -You vile, where are its ears? -It was deaf. -Where are its eyes? -It was blind. -Where is its tongue? -It was dumb. -And the skin of its head, where is it? -It was bald.

See also

• Varieties of Arabic
• Maghrebi Arabic
• Moroccan Arabic
• Tunisian Arabic
• Hassaniya Arabic
• Libyan Arabic
• Languages of Algeria