bgha بغا
Algerian Darja · verb
“bgha” (بغا) is a verb in Algerian Darja meaning to want.
Meanings
- to want
- to desire, feel like
- to be about to
Usage
A very common verb, especially in western Algeria, but understood everywhere. Elsewhere, notably in Algiers, habb is more usual in the same sense. It is conjugated bgha, bghit, yebghi. It is often followed directly by an imperfect verb: bgha yrouh (he wants to leave). It can also precede a noun: nebghi qahwa (I want a coffee). Used in the past followed by a verb, it sometimes expresses an almost completed action: bgha ytih (he almost fell). In li bgha, it means "whoever wants". The register is neutral.
Example
بغيت نروح للبحر غدوة
bghit nrouh lel bhar ghadwa
“I want to go to the sea tomorrow.”
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “bgha” but also “bghaa” and “bra”. No spelling is official: people write the sounds as they hear them.
Its Arabic spelling is not fixed either: you will find بغا and بغى, all the same word.
Type “bgha” on the Arabic keyboard
In Moroccan Darija
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Moroccan Darija, where it means “to want, to desire”; “to love, to like”: bgha in Moroccan.