3echrine عشرين
Algerian Darja · numeral
“3echrine” (عشرين) is a numeral in Algerian Darja meaning twenty.
Meanings
- twenty
Usage
A cardinal number, pronounced "ɛechrine" with the pharyngeal consonant ɛayn at the start. It goes directly before a singular noun: "ɛechrine sna" (twenty years), "ɛechrine dourou". For compound tens, the unit comes first: "wahed w ɛechrine" (twenty-one), "rebɛa w ɛechrine" (twenty-four). Note that when talking about money, sums are often counted in "dourou" or in centimes, so the same number does not always match the amount in dinars. In conversation, numbers are also often said in French.
Example
عندي عشرين سنة.
3andi 3echrine sna.
“I'm twenty years old.”
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “3echrine” but also “3achrin”, “3ochrine”, “3echrin” and “achrine”. 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 “3echrine” on the Arabic keyboard
In Moroccan Darija
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Moroccan Darija, where it means “twenty”: 3chrin in Moroccan.
In Tunisian Derja
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Tunisian Derja, where it means “twenty”: 3echrin in Tunisian.