shokran!!Did I spell it right?
Yes, correct :).
I checked on that conjation problem. I asked somebody from Fes and I was told, that there is no difference in durativ between nta ans nti, but in the perfect there is. The form for nta is the same as for ana and only nti has the -ti ending-form.
And by durative you mean present continuous for example?
Like in: You are eating --> M.S : Katakôl.
–> F.S: Katâklî.
?
And what did you mean about the similarity between ana and nta?
I know that time form as durative tense. So it’s just (nta) ka-tekteb and (nti) ka-tekteb. But (nta) ktebt just like (ana) ktebt and (nti) ktebti.
Actually, it’s nta katkb, ntî katktbî.
Ana ktbt, nta ktbtî, ntî kbtbtî.
Like I wrote above, it’s how I learnt it from a Fessi.
Well, as a matter of fact, I know that Fassi people have a very special way of speaking, but what I know also is that when they address both females and males they use the same pronoun: ntînâ. But that’s not the norm, it’s specific to one city, and the rest of the country doesn’t speak like that, and addressing different genders with the same pronoun will be particularly funny for other Moroccans.
My opinion :).
[quote=SimplyMoroccan]Actually, it’s nta katkb, ntî katktbî.
Ana ktbt, nta ktbtî, ntî kbtbtî.[/quote]
The above is confusing me now:
“nta katkb”…? Present 2. pers. m: nta katktb -> there is missing the “t”??
“ntî kbtbtî”…? Perfect 2. pers w: ntî ktbtî -> there is a “b” too much?
Concerning the topic of the 2. person m./w. you can actually find lots of different informations, for example:
See http://www.speakmoroccan.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=1060&p=1
for past tense:
1ère pers. m./f. ktebt j’ai écrit
2e pers. m. ktebt tu as écrit (m.)
2e pers. f. ktebti tu as écrit (f.)
3e pers. m. kteb il a écrit
3e pers. f. ketbât elle a écrit
1ère pers. m./f. ktebna nous avons écrit
2e pers. m./f. ktebtô vous avez écrit
3e pers. m./f. ketbô ils/elles ont écrit
In the course of “freinds of morocco” it is:
“to write” ktb ???
I wrote ktbt ???
you wrote (masc. sing.) ktbti ???
you wrote (fem. sing.) ktbti ???
he wrote ktb ???
she wrote ktbat ???
we wrote ktbna ???
you wrote (plur.) ktbtu ???
they wrote ktbu ???
There is even a extra remark:
In my language course we have also learnt, that there can be two different forms for m. and w. in past tense.
In my small travel guide book I found a note that depending on the region they don’t make a difference between 2.pers. sing. m. and w. in the past tense.
:crazy:
For present it seems quite clear:
See also http://www.speakmoroccan.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=1060&p=1
1ère pers. m./f. ne-kteb j’écris
2e pers. m. te-kteb tu écris (m.)
2e pers. f. t-ketb-i tu écris (f.)
3e pers. m. ye-kteb il écrit
3e pers. f. te-kteb elle écrit
1ère pers. m./f. n-ketb-ô nous écrivons
2e pers. m./f. t-ketb-ô vous écrivez
3e pers. m./f. y-ketb-ô ils/elles écrivent
Same thing in FriendsOfMorocco (with prefix “ka-” this time):
“to write” ktb ???
I write kan-ktb ???
you write (masc. sing.) kat-ktb ??? *
you write (fem. sing.) kat-ktbi ??? *
he writes kay-ktb ???
she writes kat-ktb ???
we write kan-ktbu ???
you write (plur.) kat-ktbu ???
they write kay-ktbu ???
And a special note on *:
:flag:
For that I know people, who never say “ta-” but “ta-”:
tan-ktb, tat-ktb, tat-ktbi…
I was very confusing for me for a along time.
See my postings in http://www.speakmoroccan.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=1031&p=2
But the most interesting to me:
[color=#F4210A]How did the story finish?[/color]
The beginning was quite dramatically and I liked the discussion about “who was the sender of the SMS” like in a criminal story “who was the murder” ;-)))) Sorry Gina, for you it was probably no fun at all! Hope everything is ok now, whatever “ok” menas to you!
Bsslama…
[quote=SimplyMoroccan]Actually, it’s nta katkb, ntî katktbî.
Ana ktbt, nta ktbtî, ntî kbtbtî.[/quote]
The above is confusing me now:
“nta katkb”…? Present 2. pers. m: nta katktb -> there is missing the “t”??
“ntî kbtbtî”…? Perfect 2. pers w: ntî ktbtî -> there is a “b” too much?
Concerning the topic of the 2. person m./w. you can actually find lots of different informations, for example:
See http://www.speakmoroccan.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=1060&p=1
for past tense:
1ère pers. m./f. ktebt j’ai écrit
2e pers. m. ktebt tu as écrit (m.)
2e pers. f. ktebti tu as écrit (f.)
3e pers. m. kteb il a écrit
3e pers. f. ketbât elle a écrit
1ère pers. m./f. ktebna nous avons écrit
2e pers. m./f. ktebtô vous avez écrit
3e pers. m./f. ketbô ils/elles ont écrit
In the course of “friends of morocco” it is:
“to write” ktb ???
I wrote ktbt ???
you wrote (masc. sing.) ktbti ???
you wrote (fem. sing.) ktbti ???
he wrote ktb ???
she wrote ktbat ???
we wrote ktbna ???
you wrote (plur.) ktbtu ???
they wrote ktbu ???
There is even a extra remark:
In my language course we have also learnt, that there can be two different forms for m. and w. in past tense.
In my small travel guide book I found a note that depending on the region they don’t make a difference between 2.pers. sing. m. and w. in the past tense.
:crazy:
For present it seems quite clear:
See also http://www.speakmoroccan.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=1060&p=1
1ère pers. m./f. ne-kteb j’écris
2e pers. m. te-kteb tu écris (m.)
2e pers. f. t-ketb-i tu écris (f.)
3e pers. m. ye-kteb il écrit
3e pers. f. te-kteb elle écrit
1ère pers. m./f. n-ketb-ô nous écrivons
2e pers. m./f. t-ketb-ô vous écrivez
3e pers. m./f. y-ketb-ô ils/elles écrivent
Same thing in FriendsOfMorocco (with prefix “ka-” this time):
“to write” ktb ???
I write kan-ktb ???
you write (masc. sing.) kat-ktb ??? *
you write (fem. sing.) kat-ktbi ??? *
he writes kay-ktb ???
she writes kat-ktb ???
we write kan-ktbu ???
you write (plur.) kat-ktbu ???
they write kay-ktbu ???
And a special note on *:
:flag:
For that I know people, who never say “ka-” but “ta-”:
tan-ktb, tat-ktb, tat-ktbi…
All that was very confusing for me for a long time, and partly it still is… 
See also my postings concerning verbs in http://www.speakmoroccan.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=1031
But the most interesting to me:
[color=#F4210A]How did the story finish?[/color]
The beginning was quite dramatically and I liked the discussion about “who was the sender of the SMS” like in a criminal story “who was the murder” ;-)))) Sorry Gina, for you it was probably no fun at all! Hope everything is ok now, whatever “ok” means to you!
Bsslama…
And actually the original text was not imperfect nor perfect, but imperativ:
“READ!”
you (masc. sing.) kat-ktb ???
you (fem. sing.) kat-ktbi ???
you (plur. sing.) kat-ktbu ???
So why was the SMS sent to a man??? We still don’t know…
Do you mean the little Kauderwelch-book?
We know now that they conjugate verbs different in different parts of Morocco.
“ka-” and “ta-” is also regional different.
Yep, the “Kauderwelsch” :-)))
There are a lot of mistakes in that book and it’s written by a Tunisi.
Thanks, everybody, for an interesting and enlightening (albeit confusing!) grammar discussion.
I always warn my students (of English) that grammar is not always ‘black and white’, it’s not like math, with only one correct answer.
But I must admit this is particularly confusing. Let’s console ourselves that we’ll probably be understood even
if we use a wrong form ( as long as we are not sending important txt messages :hap:)
Hi nuwwara,
yes, none of the books is perfect. Mostly I use the Peace Corp Manual.
In http://www.speakmoroccan.com/forum/viewtopic.php?pid=10068#p10068 I asked for the opinions of the others about this book. I still would appreciate an answer… (and even more: audio files to the book!!!).
Bsslama, Xsara
Yes, but still there are better books out there than the Kauderwelsch one. The best I know is the PCM and the one from Richard S. Harrell.
Some audio file you get or the PCM with the learn-moroccan-arabic yahoo group, they also use the book and some help with the lessons with my forum (I think you just joined it). I’ve also started with the PCM but stopped, because there isn’t an explanation to every word used in the texts.
I don’t think that is right. I have never heard of a region in Morocco where they don’t distinguish between singular male and singular female, although they do have only one word for you as a plural. …I think.
Yes, the plural has one form: ntômâ.
As for the unified way to address both F.S and M.S, even the pronoun is the same: ntînâ. As far as I know, this is exclusive to the city of Fez.
And not even everybody in Fes use it.