words like once, twice, three times; first, second third

Darija, Moroccan Arabic Forums - Forums de darija, Moroccan Arabic Translation - Traduction de l'arab
#1

Thank you for your help.

I have not seen these particular words listed

what is the darija equivalent?

#2

i don’t think there is one word that means twice, thrice

the word marra (mra, mara) means ‘time’ as in ‘one time, two times’

soooo…if you want to say

once – marra wa7ida or you can simply say marra

twice – jouj marat…this is only for morocco, in many other places (and maybe sometimes around morocco) you could hear maratayn

thrice – tlata mrat

i also hear very often the french for this phrase, for example ‘deux fois’ or a mix, like ‘jouj fois’

first – awal (masc) awla (fem)

2nd – tani (masc) tania (fem)

3rd – talit (masc) talita (fem)

you can see these are based on the numbers (except the stem for ‘one’ is a little different), and using a certain form (not sure how familiar you are with arabic grammar):

first letter of the number – alef – second letter – 3rd letter

so for example the number seven -saba3

to say the seventh we say saabia3

i hope that makes sense, i could really see how it might not :SS

ask more questions if you dont understand : )

#3

also i think there is a thread on the ordinals somewhere but i just searched and couldnt find it offhand

#4

I am not very familiar with grammar at all. I know a list of nouns and simple phrases but not much more than that. Thank you for your help.

#5

ok! it’s good, i encourage you!!

the numbers one through ten in darija (most of them are closely related to their classic arabic roots)

1 wa7ed
2 jouj
3 tlata
4 rba3a
5 khamsa
6 sita
7 sba3a
8 tmania
9 tisa3oud
10 3achira

– we write 7 as a letter to mean a very aspirated ‘h’ sound, like…um if your throat was really dry and you were breathing, we write 3 for an ‘a’ sound with a twist to it…i dont know kind of like you say a but wiggle the back of your throat haha…we say kh for an aspirated ‘k’, which is the stereotypical sound that people who dont speak arabic assume there is a lot of, the hacking and spitting sound perhaps they would say

soooo…from those 10 (which i think maybe you already know), we can derive 10 ordinals

first- awal
second- tani
third- talit
fourth- rabi3a
fifth- khamis
sixth- sadis
seventh- sabi3a
eighth- tamin
ninth- tasi3a
tenth- 3achir

i think you can see how these are derived from their roots, the exception being one/first, two/second six/sixth

soooo these are words that describe something (the 5th whatever, the first time i saw you, etc), now depending on if the word you are describing is a masculine word or a feminine word, the describing word will take the masculine or feminine form (i guess you could call it adjective agreement…), all of these, to make them from the masculine form listed to the feminine, just add an ‘a’ on the end (which in arabic is a very common identifier of something being grammatically feminine)

the only exception is of course ‘first’- awal…the feminine is awla.

#6

where are u from in mississippi

#7

I certainly appreciate the time you took to write that lesson on sounds–they are very hard for me to pronounce. The numbers will come in handy. Good description. Yes, I do know the numbers from one to ten, and I do speak French. However, many of the people I know in Morocco do not speak French.
I am writing down your lessons.
Actually, Mississippiqueen is the name of a song and I lived there years ago, but only for a couple of years. I lived in Greenwood–the cotton capital of the world!
Will go to Morocco this week actually, and again in July.

#8

you can search online and find some audio of letter or word/number pronunciation, this is better

#9

Yes, I have listened to as many Darija videos that exist online. They are very helpful. Thank you.