ajnabi اجنبي
Algerian Darja · adjective
“ajnabi” (اجنبي) is an adjective in Algerian Darja meaning foreign, from another country.
Meanings
- foreign, from another country
- a foreigner (person)
Usage
Ajnabi describes what comes from another country: film ajnabi, logha ajnabiya, "foreign language". Used as a noun, it refers to a person who is foreign to the country. The word comes from Standard Arabic and belongs to a neutral register, common in the media and in commentary. Note: for someone who is a stranger to the family or the neighborhood, people rather say berrani. The usual plural is ajanib. In colloquial speech, the borrowed word étranger is also heard for a tourist.
Example
هاد الفيلم أجنبي ولا جزايري؟
had el-film ajnabi wella dzayri?
“Is this film foreign or Algerian?”
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “ajnabi” but also “adjnabi”, “ajnebi” and “ajnabiya”. No spelling is official: people write the sounds as they hear them.
Type “ajnabi” on the Arabic keyboard
In Moroccan Darija
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Moroccan Darija, where it means “foreign, from another country”; “a foreigner (person)”: ajnabi in Moroccan.
In Tunisian Derja
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Tunisian Derja, where it means “foreign (from another country)”; “a foreigner”: ajnabi in Tunisian.