9ana قناة
Algerian Darja · noun
“9ana” (قناة) is a noun in Algerian Darja meaning TV channel.
Meanings
- TV channel
- YouTube channel
Usage
9ana comes from Standard Arabic. It has become established in darja to mean a television channel or, very often today, a YouTube channel. It is heard in sentences like chouf 9ana ta3 fulan (watch so-and-so's channel) or abonniw f la 9ana (subscribe to the channel). The plural is 9anawat. In conversation, many speakers also use the French "la chaîne", often interchangeably. In darja, the final t is heard only in a construct phrase: 9anat Ennahar. The word belongs to a neutral register, influenced by the media.
Example
شفت هاد القناة فاليوتيوب؟
chefti had el9ana f youtube?
“Have you seen this channel on YouTube?”
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “9ana” but also “qana”, “kana”, “9anat” and “qanat”. No spelling is official: people write the sounds as they hear them.
Digits stand in for Arabic letters that have no Latin equivalent: 9 is qaf (ق), a k pronounced at the back of the throat.
Type “9ana” on the Arabic keyboard
In Moroccan Darija
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Moroccan Darija, where it means “TV channel”; “online channel (YouTube)”: 9anat in Moroccan.
In Tunisian Derja
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Tunisian Derja, where it means “television channel”; “YouTube channel, online channel”: 9ana in Tunisian.