azma ازمة
Algerian Darja · noun
“azma” (ازمة) is a noun in Algerian Darja meaning crisis.
Meanings
- crisis
- shortage of a product
- medical attack, fit
Usage
Azma is a loanword from Standard Arabic, well integrated into darja. It is heard in azmat sakan, "housing crisis", or azma iqtisadiya, "economic crisis". In everyday speech the word is also used for a shortage: kayen azma ta3 zit, "there is an oil shortage". It also appears in medical expressions such as azma qalbiya, "heart attack". For an English speaker, the key point is to remember this sense of shortage, very common in speech, which the English word "crisis" does not cover.
Example
كاين أزمة تاع الحليب في الحوانت
kayen azma ta3 l7lib fel 7wanet
“There is a milk shortage in the shops.”
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “azma” but also “2azma”, “azme” and “azmat”. No spelling is official: people write the sounds as they hear them.
Digits stand in for Arabic letters that have no Latin equivalent: 2 is hamza (ء), a glottal stop.
Type “azma” on the Arabic keyboard
In Moroccan Darija
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Moroccan Darija, where it means “crisis”; “shortage”: azma in Moroccan.