batima باطيما

Algerian Darja · noun

“batima” (باطيما) is a noun in Algerian Darja meaning apartment building, residential block.

Meanings

1. apartment building, residential block
2. building (in the general sense)

Usage

Batima is an adapted borrowing from French "bâtiment". It refers above all to the multi-unit residential building, typically a housing block or tower, as opposed to the individual house (dar, villa). The usual plural is batimat. One says naskoun f batima ("I live in an apartment building"). The word is neutral and used daily throughout Algeria. It is often associated with housing estates and social housing. The pitfall is that batima does not mean just any public building: it almost always evokes collective housing.

Example

How to write it in Latin letters

In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “batima” but also “battima” and “batiima”. No spelling is official: people write the sounds as they hear them.

Type “batima” on the Arabic keyboard

How to say “apartment building” in Moroccan, Algerian and Tunisian