darja دارجة

Algerian Darja · noun

“darja” (دارجة) is a noun in Algerian Darja meaning Algerian Arabic dialect.

Meanings

1. Algerian Arabic dialect
2. spoken language, as opposed to written

Usage

Darja refers to the Arabic spoken in everyday life in Algeria, as opposed to Standard Arabic (fos'ha) and French. One says "nahdar bed-darja" for "I speak in darja." To specify the Algiers variety, one speaks of "dziri". The word is often used when contrasting spontaneous speech with language seen as more formal or prestigious: "hdar darja 3adi", "speak normally, in darja." It is most often preceded by the article (ed-darja). Pitfall: darja refers to the language itself and does not mean "slang."

Example

How to write it in Latin letters

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

Type “darja” on the Arabic keyboard

In Tunisian Derja

Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Tunisian Derja, where it means “colloquial Arabic, dialect”; “Tunisian Arabic”: derja in Tunisian.