3amel عامل
Algerian Darja · adjective
“3amel” (عامل) is an adjective in Algerian Darja meaning doing, having done.
Meanings
- doing, having done
- worker, employee
- pretending (3amel rouhou)
Usage
The word 3amel is above all the active participle of 3mel (to do). It is used to describe a state or a completed action: wach rak 3amel? (how are you?), 3amel el makla (he has prepared food). With rouhou, it means "to pretend": 3amel rouhou ma chafch (he pretends he didn't see). As a noun, it refers to a worker or an employee. The sense of "factor" in the abstract sense belongs to Standard Arabic. The feminine is 3amla. Note that its value is often that of a perfect tense.
Example
واش راك عامل؟
wach rak 3amel?
“How are you doing?”
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “3amel” but also “3amal”, “aamel”, “amel” and “3emel”. No spelling is official: people write the sounds as they hear them.
Digits stand in for Arabic letters that have no Latin equivalent: 3 is ayn (ع), a voiced sound from deep in the throat with no English equivalent.
Type “3amel” on the Arabic keyboard
In Moroccan Darija
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Moroccan Darija, where it means “governor (of a province, prefecture)”; “having done (participle of 3mel)”: 3amel in Moroccan.
In Tunisian Derja
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Tunisian Derja, where it means “who has done, who has prepared”; “worker, laborer”: 3amel in Tunisian.