chghol شغل
Algerian Darja · noun
“chghol” (شغل) is a noun in Algerian Darja meaning business, matter, one's concern.
Meanings
- business, matter, one's concern
- like, as if (in ki chghol)
- work, occupation
Usage
Chghol refers above all to a matter or thing that concerns someone. The most frequent expression is machi chghlek (it's none of your business), which is both curt and informal. With ki or kima, ki chghol or kima chghol means "sort of", "as if", "in the manner of": ki chghol rani fergh (it's like I have nothing to do). The word can also mean work or an occupation, but khedma is more often used in that sense. The plural chghalat refers to affairs or things to sort out.
Example
ماشي شغلك، خليني برك
machi chghlek, khellini berk
“It's none of your business, leave me alone.”
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “chghol” but also “ch3'ol”, “chghel” and “shghol”. No spelling is official: people write the sounds as they hear them.
Digits stand in for Arabic letters that have no Latin equivalent: 3 is ayn (ع), a voiced sound from deep in the throat with no English equivalent.
Type “chghol” on the Arabic keyboard
In Tunisian Derja
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Tunisian Derja, where it means “business, what concerns someone”; “work, handiwork”: chghol in Tunisian.