ghle9 غلق
Algerian Darja · verb
“ghle9” (غلق) is a verb in Algerian Darja meaning to close (door, shop).
Meanings
- to close (door, shop)
- to lock, bolt
- closure (noun, formal register)
Usage
ghle9 means "to close": ghle9 lbab, "close the door". The participle maghlou9 means "closed": lhanout maghlou9a, "the shop is closed". The opposite is 7al, "to open". The word can also refer to an administrative closure, such as that of an airport or an account, but this use as a verbal noun (ghal9) belongs to Standard Arabic and journalistic language. In everyday speech, the loanword ferma, taken from French fermer, is also used, especially for a business. The register of ghle9 is everyday, used throughout the country.
Example
غلق الباب وراك
ghle9 lbab wrak
“Close the door behind you.”
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “ghle9” but also “ghla9”, “ghlaq”, “ghl9” and “ghle9t”. No spelling is official: people write the sounds as they hear them.
Digits stand in for Arabic letters that have no Latin equivalent: 9 is qaf (ق), a k pronounced at the back of the throat.
Type “ghle9” on the Arabic keyboard
In Moroccan Darija
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Moroccan Darija, where it means “to close (door, shop)”; “to lock, to bolt”: ghle9 in Moroccan.
In Tunisian Derja
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Tunisian Derja, where it means “closure (of a place, a border)”; “shutdown, lockdown”: ghlaq in Tunisian.