9edach قداش
Algerian Darja · adverb
“9edach” (قداش) is an adverb in Algerian Darja meaning how much, how many.
Meanings
- how much, how many
- how, to what extent (exclamatory)
- how long
Usage
Qeddach is the basic interrogative of quantity. For a price, people mostly say "beqeddach ?" ("how much is it?"). Before a noun, it is often constructed with men: "qeddach men merra" ("how many times"). In exclamatory use, it translates "how…!" or "what a…!": "qeddach chbab !" ("how beautiful!"). "Qeddach fe sa3a ?" is used to ask the time. Pronunciation varies by region: q, g or a glottal stop. This explains the spellings 9edach, gedach or kedach.
Example
بقداش هاد السروال؟
be9edach had sserwal?
“How much are these trousers?”
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “9edach” but also “gedach”, “9addach”, “kedach” and “qadach”. 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 “9edach” on the Arabic keyboard
In Tunisian Derja
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Tunisian Derja, where it means “how much, how many”; “how long”: 9adech in Tunisian.