9issa قصة
Algerian Darja · noun
“9issa” (قصة) is a noun in Algerian Darja meaning story, tale.
Meanings
- story, tale
- matter, situation, what's going on
- complicated business, mess
Usage
Qissa (often pronounced 9issa or 9essa) refers to a story that is told: a tale, an anecdote, the plot of a film. The word is also used to talk about a situation or a matter. "Wach hiya el qissa?" is said to ask what is going on or what it's all about. With a negative nuance, it refers to a tangled affair, like "a story" in English. It is constructed with "7ka" (to tell): "7kali qissa". The register is common. The form stays close to Standard Arabic, but the word is used fully in the spoken language.
Example
حكيلي القصة كاملة
7kili el 9issa kamla
“Tell me the whole story.”
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “9issa” but also “qissa”, “9esa”, “9essa” and “kissa”. 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 “9issa” on the Arabic keyboard
In Moroccan Darija
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Moroccan Darija, where it means “story, tale”; “matter, situation”: 9issa in Moroccan.
In Tunisian Derja
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Tunisian Derja, where it means “story, tale, account”; “matter, situation”: 9essa in Tunisian.